Pirates batter Ignacio on Senior Night

Kaidon Wenta (7) gets into the open field to score his first of two touchdowns on Friday night. (Courier photos by Stephen Jiron)

MONTE VISTA — A win on Harvey Sullivan Field was a welcome sight for the Pirates faithful. Especially considering Friday was the Pirates final home game for 2018. Friday night Monte Vista (3-4) played host for a league game against Ignacio (2-5), defeating the Bobcats 62-8.

Admittedly the start to the season for Monte Vista had been less than ideal. But the Pirates are still making moves. They’ve inched closer, bettering their position on CHSAA’s unofficial RPI ranking in a loss last week to Centauri.

Friday night The Bobcats got first possession. After forcing a punt, Monte Vista’s offense also started slow with a turnover on downs. The Pirate defense came up big on Ignacio's second possession. A sack from junior Andrew Smith on third down got Monte Vista's defense off the field. Smith was in the backfield all game long, also registering a sack fumble and tackling the punter to force a turnover on downs.

 The punt gave Monte Vista possession at the Bobcat 38 yard line. Monte Vista’s Tyler Vigil took the carry and cleared 38 yards in five seconds to score. Vigil got the call on the two-point attempt as well to open the floodgates at 8-0. The Bobcats gained seven yards on the ensuing possession before punting it back to Monte Vista.

From the 23 yard line Zach Hindes kept it, going off tackle to Ignacio’s 45-yard line. After a holding call moved Monte Vista back a yard it was Kaidon Wenta who burst through a gaping hole to score. Hindes to Vigil on the two-point attempt made it a 16-0 game.

Ignacio’s next drive gained 29 yards thanks to two big fouls; an unsportsmanlike and a pass interference, on Monte Vista. From the 18-yard line Ignacio would use three plays and lose sophomore Lawrence Toledo to a concussion before quarterback Ian Weinreich snuck in for six. A nifty field goal fake converted for two to make it 16-8.  The loss of Toledo cut Ignacio to a meager 12 total players.

The following kickoff went to Monte Vista’s Vigil who found a seam and took it 77 yards to the house, the two point conversion made it 24-8.  From there the band got plenty of practice with the Pirate fight song.  

Later in the second quarter Hindes got in from two yards out and Wenta from 27 yards to lift the Pirates to a 40-8 lead at the half.  The early in the third Monte Vista’s Payton Wilson went off the left side 44 yards to score and put and end to game stoppages. With the running clock Monte Vista sophomores Andres Maestas and Cobi Garcia joined the party with two more touchdowns to finalize the score at 62-8.

Fully tuned up Monte Vista will go to Center to test the Vikings (4-3) on Oct. 12 before closing their season on the road against No. 12 Buena Vista (3-4) on Oct. 26.