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Current Bayfield football team channeling 1996 state championship squad that refused to lose

Bayfield High School vies for 1st state title since 1996

As the 2015 Bayfield High School Wolverines gear up to take on Platte Valley in this year’s Colorado High School Activities Association State Football Championship game, visions of 1996 dance in a periscope of yesteryear.

Bayfield’s championship pride was born that year, as the Wolverines beat the Meeker Cowboys 14-0 to give the school its only football title and first boys state championship in any sport in its history.

“It really brought the community together,” 1996 Bayfield defensive back and kicker Ryan Howard said. “It helped motivate the younger guys who wanted to participate. All around, I think it’s great to have a good winning football program that gets everyone excited. The community got really involved. It was one of the biggest things to happen in Bayfield as far as sports.”

This year’s top-ranked Bayfield squad hopes to repeat history with a win at the state championship game, where it will take on third-ranked Platte Valley at 1 p.m. Saturday in Kersey.

Before 1996, Bayfield wasn’t traditionally a football powerhouse. The school’s previous best season came in 1965, when Bayfield went 8-1-2.

It wasn’t until 1995 that Bayfield began to make a serious mark in high school football. However, that team never lived up to its potential, as a first-round, 28-6 loss to Meeker caused Bayfield to finish the year at 9-1. A full year later, Bayfield would exact revenge against Meeker.

The Wolverines put together an impressive senior class in 1996 that was highlighted by Kevin Prior, who led Bayfield at the running back position.

The trophy case and the aura of that year is still alive in the halls of Bayfield.

“It would mean a lot, I know all those football guys,” said current Bayfield senior Zane Phelps, son of Dion and Koel Phleps. “We all walk by the state championship in the trophy case, so it’s something we’ve dreamed of since we were kids. I think it would be great to win for the entire town.”

The 1996 championship team has lent confidence to this year’s team.

“It showed us that we can do it,” Phelps said. “They have had an influence on us for sure.”

While the two teams are nearly 20 years apart, both teams feature a running back who can change the course of a game. Prior currently holds the Bayfield single-season rushing record when he ran for 1,852 yards and 21 touchdowns his senior season. Phelps is right behind Prior with 1,511 yards and 22 touchdowns this season.

“There are a lot of connections,” Prior said. “Zane has gotten better and better. He has a great stiff arm. We are both pretty intense, but he’s just bigger, faster and stronger than I was.”

Part of Prior’s football legacy has stayed within Bayfield. His son, Keyon, is a freshman on the current Bayfield roster.

Prior’s dad, Butch, was head coach of the team between 1972-88, winning 71 games in the process. Butch was an assistant coach in 1996 and still remembers that team fondly.

“I don’t think we could have done anything better than we did,” Butch said. “It just snowballed. It was wonderful to have a group of kids like I did. We won the state championship, and you can’t beat anything like that.”

That season’s quarterback was Marshall Hahn, who holds the school record for passing yards in a season with 1,106 yards and 19 touchdowns to just one interception.

“When you’re 17 years old and you’re experiencing (a championship), you think it’s the best thing in the world, especially how the community got behind us,” said Hahn, who currently is an offensive coordinator and wrestling coach at Rogers High School in Arkansas. “For us, it was like a storybook ending to get the monkey off our back and to beat Meeker; all of it was positive to overcome the challenges.”

Hahn coached Bayfield from 2007-11 and went 43-12 while leading the Wolverines to the state title game in 2011. That year’s team lost to Florence, 34-0.

Hahn, Howard and Prior all created the longest running Bayfield football tradition when the three began picking up rocks in a field one day after practice. The three players found one big rock in particular and picked it up with the help of some other players. The rock was thrown in coach Keirns’ pickup truck and was eventually painted gold. It traveled everywhere with the team that season, even on the trip to Meeker for the state title game. Ever since then, the rock has been a fixture at Bayfield home games. Every player that has worn a Bayfield uniform and stepped onto the field at Wolverine Country Stadium since has touched that gold rock for good luck before entering the field.

The gold rock has remained as a steady connection between 1996 and 2015, and this year’s team hopes to make the founders of that rock tradition proud this Saturday.

“What that rock embodies is that just one individual person couldn’t have gotten that rock. The whole team had to pick it up together,” Hahn said. “If you touch it, that means you’ll do anything to get the win together.”

jmentzer@durangoherald.com

What you need to know to watch or follow the game

Who: No. 1 Bayfield (11-0) at No. 3 Platte Valley (11-1)

What: CHSAA Class 2A State Football Playoffs championship game

When: 1 p.m. Saturday

Where: Kersey

Ticket Information: Ticket sales will start at 10:30 a.m. at the west entrance of the stadium and 11 a.m. at the east entrance. All gates will open at 11 a.m.

Cost: $9 adults; $7 senior citizens and students (K-12). Prices are set by CHSAA. No passes will be accepted except for CHSAA and CHSCA passes. The pass gate will be located on the west side of the stadium. There is not a pass gate on the east side of the stadium.

Parking: Parking for Bayfield fans will be located in the east lot (weather permitting). There is no charge for parking.

Concessions: A full concessions stand will be available during the game under the west grandstands.

Championship Apparel/Programs: Merchandise will be available for purchase under the west grandstands.

Tailgating: Fans are permitted to tailgate. Bayfield fans are asked to tailgate in the east parking lot. Please do not tailgate in the main stadium parking lot. Alcohol and tobacco are not permitted on school grounds. The Kersey Police Department will provide security, and any violators will be cited.

Listen Live: KLJH 107.1 FM, KFKA 1310 AM

Twitter: @jonathanmentzer, @jlivi2, @durangoherald #copreps #bhstate

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