 ‘Four Saturdays’: Two left for IHS?
Written by: Joel Priest
3/5/2010
Trojans’ test first at regionals
Two down, only one to go. Hopefully.
After tomorrow, that is.
“We have this saying: ‘Four Saturdays.’ First Saturday is the league championship—we took care of that. Second—district championship, and we did that,” explained senior Shane Brooks. “Now it’s our third Saturday—the regional championship. And if we stay focused on that, we reach our goal.”
That would be next Saturday—the 2010 CHSAA Class 2A State Basketball Championship.
But in working for the weekends, the Ignacio boys haven’t clocked out early on Friday nights at all during the 2009-10 campaign, going 5-1 (losing only to 5A El Paso [Tex.] Montwood). Most recently came a 64-26 dusting of Telluride last Friday at Dove Creek HS, ending the Miners’ season, and setting themselves up to take the 2A-District 3 title against Mancos.
Despite an admitted blown call on the play of the night—senior Alex Herrera’s running two-hand jam over a posterized Blue Jay, ruled a charging foul, disqualifying Herrera—IHS seldom took their feet off the gas in an 84-49 blowout.
“The kids went out and took it—three times these kids have been district champions, in a row. Never happened in our school’s history before,” said interim head coach Shane Seibel. “They’re undefeated in the league, and we’re real proud of them. Played unselfish, played together, and like a championship team that they are.”
“Yeah it sounds good,” said senior Trae Seibel, “but this weekend we dedicated to our coaches, our fans, our moms, our dads, family, and the community. We dedicated it to Coach Valdez especially.”
Unceremoniously suspended following Ignacio’s record-smashing 144-35 rout of Nucla on Feb. 20, Chris Valdez still utilized the weekend by traveling to scout possible—and eventual—regional opponent Meeker (21-1; upset by Hayden in the District 5 finale). He’d already seen his team hitting on all cylinders anyways—something the Mustangs, nor Miners, nor Jays, nor even themselves could stop.
It began with a Seibel trey against THS, and a Herrera dunk with a symbolic message—likely aimed at the post-Nucla p.c. posse—attached, getting the packed house roaring.
The mob refused to quiet, especially in the fourth quarter against MHS as Bobcat reserve Deion Hudson tried killing time off the clock, standing motionless just across the midcourt line. A pass to Brooks didn’t waste any more; Brooks bricked a three from five feet behind the arc—just to break the boredom.
“The seniors talked to me about plays that they see, so they helped me be the coach out there,” said Shane Seibel. “It was fun because they were able to give me advice too. That’s something special.”
More impressively, IHS beat the Jays without junior Ryan Brooks—held out for precautionary reasons after a foot injury against Telluride, when he scored 11 points. Herrera led with 13 against THS and 19 against MHS, Seibel totaled 18 points in the two contests, junior Pedro Vigil netted 24, and Shane Brooks amassed 18 to help the ’Cats boost their record to 19-2.
Junior Emilio Marquez led Mancos with 12 points, while senior David Gerald led THS with six.
A rematch of 2009’s third-place game in Pueblo with Meeker could materialize tomorrow, if Ignacio aces their Region III test inside Durango’s DemonDome tonight (5:30 p.m.): the Antonito Trojans.
AHS (14-8; 55.2 ppg) took third in District 1, stunning La Veta 63-54 by speed rather than size. Seniors Gabe Martinez and Jose Uriarte, and junior Stefan Armenta combined for 38 points. Rounding out Region III is Alexander Dawson School [Lafayette] who took third in D-7, 57-26 over Longmont Christian.
“Our coach has done a ton of scouting so we’re going to be as prepared as we can get,” Shane Brooks said. “And we’ll come out and play our hardest because this could be our last game ever.”
The winners of Ignacio-Antonito, and Meeker-ADS (15-7) will square off tomorrow at 2:30 p.m.
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