When Bayfield head coach Gary Heide said his defense has been playing lights out football, he wasn’t lying.
The Class 2A No. 2 Bayfield High School football team put on a defensive show that put the 2A Western Slope (South) league game out of reach for the Olathe Pirates before halftime with the end score of 42-7.
Bayfield (4-0, 1-0) sniffed out six turnovers in the game and caused the Olathe (3-2, 0-1) offense to sputter in every aspect of the game.
Of the six turnovers Bayfield caused, four resulted in scores.
“The defense played very well. We saw them on film, and we knew they have some pretty good running backs, but our defense kept playing lights out again,” Heide said.
Senior Wyatt Freier hurt Olathe on both sides of the field with an interception and a touchdown reception. Just before halftime, Freier made an amazing one-handed interception that killed Olathe’s scoring drive. Then, in the third quarter and with Bayfield up 21-0, Freier took the ball 34 yards on a halfback pass from senior Taed Heydinger. According to Heide, the play was something Bayfield practiced coming into the game.
All in all, it seemed more like a feeding frenzy for the Wolverines than an actual football game.
“We just studied and prepared for their option offense, so we played a lot of assignment football and came out and hit them in the mouth,” said Freier, son of Chuck Freier and Jennifer Deluzio. “This is a blessing, I wouldn’t have had it any other way. We’re on the track to a great season.”
It took the Wolverines a while to get warmed up, however. The first score of the game didn’t come until 4:52 in the first quarter on a Zane Phelps touchdown run from three yards out. The senior finished the day with 110 yards on 14 carries and three touchdowns. Bayfield’s running attack was on point like usual with contributors from senior Brody Mcghehey, who scored on a pretty 65-yard sweep. Mcghehey finished the day with 112 yards on seven carries.
The first turnover came when senior Noah Loutherback recovered a fumble on the seventh play of the game to put the Wolverine offense in scoring position. Shortly after the turnover, Phelps rumbled into the end zone for his first score.
“Our defense is really high powered, we have so much strength up front on our defensive line,” Loutherback said. “It was really about respect, and we knew we had to force turnovers and we had to go out and smash them in the mouth and show what we’re made of. We watched a lot of film and learned their techniques and figured it out.”
The Wolverines were all over Olathe quarterback Dillon Harris. After the first Wolverines score, Bayfield caused Harris to fumble on the first play of the second series for the Pirates. Olathe recovered that fumble bus lost a fumble two plays later when Olathe running back Jake Jimenez ran into the stout Wolverine defensive line. A dog-pile ensued, and sophomore Ryan Phelps came away from the with the second turnover.
In the third quarter, sophomore Hunter Killough intercepted a Harris pass that resulted in a Phelps score. And in the fourth quarter, senior Clyde Leonard recovered a fumble and took the ball in for a 24-yard score.
If it weren’t for its tough defense, Bayfield might be singing a different tune. The Wolverines were hit with eight penalties and didn’t convert a single third-down conversion. Senior quarterback Kelton McCoy was off, too, completing 2-for-9 on passing for 53 yards.
“We have to clean it up, made a lot of mistakes. Once we get it clean, we’ll show our potential,” Loutherback said.
Bayfield is on the road next week when it will visit Gunnison (3-2, 1-0) for another 2A Western Slope (South) League game.
jmentzer@durangoherald.com
