On Halloween night, the Ganado Indians visited the Bloomington Bobcats and pulled out the 62-6 win. On top of the victory, the Indians claimed the district championship for the second time in as many years, marking only the third time in school history they’ve done so. Quarterback Landyn Arriaga spoke of the accolade, “It’s great to go back-to-back. We wanted to build off of what we accomplished last year, so it’s good to experience this again.”
Less than 30 seconds into the game, the Indians kicked the scoring off quickly. Austen Pena took a short pass from Arriaga and went 61yards to the endzone for the score to give Ganado the 7-0 lead. Bloomington’s offense was quickly forced into a punting situation, but a penalty against the Ganado defense gave them a first down in Indian territory. The penalty would be for naught, however, as a fumble would bounce into the hands of an Indian defender.
The Indian offense hit on another big play as Sean Willis went from the 31-yard line all the way down to the Bobcat 2 to set Ganado up nicely. Then Arriaga found Cade Nixon in the endzone for another touchdown pass, extending Ganado’s lead to 14.
Bloomington’s offense was stonewalled again and punted it to Pena, who returned it deep into Bobcat territory. However, the Bobcat defense would rise to the occasion and get a stop near the goal line to prevent the Indians from scoring. The Bobcat offense couldn’t carry that momentum into their possession and instead fumbled the ball again, which Indian defensive lineman Jayden Hernandez would fall on inside the 1-yard line. Arriaga would get his third touchdown of the night in the form of a tush push, making it 21-0 near the end of the first quarter.
Bloomington’s offense continued to be stifled and had to punt it back to Ganado. Pena continued to make his presence felt in the game. He lined up in the backfield and took the handoff 36-yards into Bobcat territory, then lined up out wide and caught a 17-yard pass from Arriaga in the endzone for his second touchdown catch of the night.
Following the Ganado touchdown, Bloomington’s offense began to string together momentum. They found success in the run game, picking up three first downs into Indian territory and setting themselves up in the redzone. However fumbles continued to plague the Bobcats as another one would be lost, and their first promising drive of the game was foiled.
Ganado’s offense continued to find the big plays, as after the fumble, Pena would took the handoff and dashed 80yards for his third touchdown of the night. On the kickoff, things would continue to go awry for Bloomington as a muffed kick would be recovered by Ganado and give them another possession to tack on more points. After the muffed kick, Sean Willis made his presence felt in the form of a 31-yard rushing touchdown on the first play of the drive and gave Ganado the 420 lead.
Bloomington’s offense strung together positive plays on the following drive, moving from their 36 to the 2 of Ganado. The Bobcats capped off the drive with a short rushing touchdown, but a blocked kick would keep them at 6 points.
Ganado’s offense continued to move the ball at will against the Bobcat defense. After picking up several first downs and setting themselves up at the Bloomington one-yard line, Arriaga floated the ball into the far corner of the endzone for Nixon, and he came down with it to give the Indians a 49-6 lead near the end of the half.
With a running clock in the second half, Bloomington was fighting that and the Indian defense. Following the kickoff, the Bobcats continued to find success on the ground, moving into Ganado territory and picking up a couple of first downs along the way. Ganado’s defense would tighten up and force them into a fourth down situation just outside the redzone. The pass would fall incomplete and a drive which chewed nearly all of the clock in the second half would net no points.
Ganado’s offense continued to pour salt on the wound as Arriaga would keep the ball and go 70yards for the touchdown on Ganado’s first play of the third quarter. Bloomington kicked off the fourth quarter on offense and again would drain much of the clock with their running game, but just like in the previous quarter, a fourth down pass attempt would fall incomplete and Ganado took over on their side of the field. Arriaga would put the icing on the cake with an 11-yard rushing touchdown as time expired and gave Ganado the 62-6 lead.
Pena spoke of the offense’s performance, “It was a great game and played to our standard, we played all four quarters and it was really fulfilling to win like that.” He added, “The offensive line and receivers did their thing, when everyone gets their hands on the ball, good stuff happens.”
Ganado claims the district championship for the second year in a row and stays undefeated in district play. Next week, the Indians welcome the Danbury Panthers in the final week of the regular season and look to finish strong before kicking off their postseason campaign.
