Irate about having an apparent completion slip his grip and end up in enemy hands, Ignacio junior Marcus Chapman came over to the visitors' sideline and disgustedly drove his helmet into the grass.
Montezuma-Cortez senior Juan Arballo's second first-quarter interception last Friday had bolstered the Panthers' Homecoming hopes, Chapman decisively destroyed those hopes.
Chapman took full advantage to define the 'ONE WAY' verbiage written at the base of his headgear's backside when the moment arose.
And that "way" was away, far away, from Montezuma-Cortez pursuers when one play after senior Ethan Appenzeller broke up a pass from Cortez quarterback Ike Dennison, Chapman snared his next attempt and sprinted at least 55 yards to record what would be the last score in a resounding 37-12 Bobcat victory.
"I think we were ready," said IHS senior QB Zach Weinreich. "You know, we were excited -had two weeks off - and we were ready. I mean, we started off a little bit slow, but we got it rolling. That's all that matters!"
Bobcats Stocker Robbins and Dalton Labarthe also each picked off Dennison passes, and Lorenzo Pena almost intercepted another.
"The first half, we weren't doing our jobs right," concurred classmate Timmy Plehinger, who caught Weinreich's two-yard TD toss with 0:55 left before halftime for Ignacio's first six-pointer - pulling the 'Cats back to 12-11 after Pena's point-after kick. "And in the second half, we got our heads right and came out as a team."
Set up by a Lucas Monroe fumble recovery at the Panther 47, it would be the first of four touchdown throws for Weinreich, who unofficially totaled an impressive 332 yards on 23-of-45 accuracy.
"It was just so cool," he said. "And the momentum, you know, I knew we were going to win. As soon as we scored, you couldn't stop us."
Robbins' pick and long return down to the M-CHS 28 was the perfect way to bring momentum into the locker room, though the Bobcats (2-1, 0-0 1A Southern Peaks) still trailed by a point. He was denied a touchdown by a horse-collar tackle right before the quarter-ending gun, but no penalty was called.
And after forcing a Panther three-and-out beginning the third quarter, IHS took the lead with a 30-yard Weinreich-to-Chapman connection and 9:03 left. Pena's PAT upped the new advantage to six points, and two Montezuma-Cortez plays later, the Bobcat offense was summoned back to work when Labarthe intercepted Dennison at the home 45.
The resulting series died on downs at the 28, but after Ignacio's defense hurried Dennison into another three-and-out, ending with another Zeke Vargas punt, the offense said its thanks with Weinreich hitting Pena with a third-down middle screen. Pena turned on his jets to stretch it into a 47-yard touchdown with 4:15 left. His extra-point try failed, but there was still more to come with the Bobcats' lead increased to 24-12.
"We just had confidence in our quarterback," said sophomore Lawrence Valdez, whose 55-yard TD catch-and-run through the middle of Panther Field with 8:24 left in the fourth all but ripped the collective heart out of Panther Stadium's loyalists.
"We got to where we needed to be, on time, and it worked out for us." The Valdez touchdown was just 31 seconds before Chapman's clinching theft.
"You just don't think," Weinreich explained of his longest pass. "I saw he was open, threw, and got it to him. I mean, you practice it every week, all five days, and it comes out in the game - that's what you've got to do!"
That and, of course, play stifling defense. Before Appenzeller ended the game sacking Herrmann at the Bobcat 6, IHS booked five takeaways, forced four turnovers-on-downs, four punts, and two first-quarter safeties.
Seniors Dalton Mickey (who'd already recovered a fumble to halt Montezuma-Cortez's first drive, offsetting Arballo's early INT) and Colten Smithson crunched Vargas in the Panthers' end zone to give Ignacio a 2-0 lead with 5:15 left in the opening frame.
And not long after M-CHS took a botched backwards lateral the distance for a 6-2 lead (Ignacio junior Cole McCaw batted away Dennison's two-point pass) with 3:18 to go, then held Ignacio at the Panther 1 with a fine goal-line stand, IHS junior Cesar Corona flattened Panther senior running back Elisha Vaquera behind the goal line to bring the guests back to 6-4 with 0:49 left.
M-CHS' lead maxed out with a seven-yard Dennison-to-Cordell Baer dart with 6:12 left before intermission.
"Little things, you know?" said Weinreich. "That's why we were losing, because we messed up on little things. If we did what we were supposed to do, we were going to win. And that's what we did ... execute."
Proving a weapon out of the backfield, Pena caught a team-high 11 passes for 119 yards and also rushed for 27 on only four carries.
Valdez snagged five catches for a leading 123 yards, Chapman (who completed a three-yard pass to Pena) two for 42, Plehinger two for 16 and junior Kruz Pardo four for 35.
"We just needed to realize if we were good enough or not, because we won that last game and they (Crownpoint, N.M.) weren't that good," Valdez said. "So we needed to make a statement that we really are good."
"Well, the (42-0) victory at Crownpoint's pretty high because it was my first," said Weinreich, making a personal comparison between Ignacio's triumphs so far in 2016. "But this one is close to number-one!"
Up next for the Bobcats will be a visit Friday (7 p.m. kickoff) from Pagosa Springs (0-3, 0-0 IML).
"Mentally, we are prepared for this," Plehinger said.
"Friday, we will definitely be ready for Pagosa."
