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No. 1 Bayfield football one step away from finishing its ladder

Ladder symbolizes No. 1 Bayfield’s lessons learned en route to state championship trip
Bayfield High School head coach Gary Heide, left, and defensive coordinator Mike Wnorowski, right, want nothing more than for their team to put the final rung on their 12-step ladder with a state championship win Saturday at No. 3 Platte Valley.

Bayfield High School football fans have probably noticed a black and gold painted wood ladder propped up prominently on the team’s sideline this season.

After each win, the team has brought the ladder out to the middle of the field and added another rung to their 12-step ladder. It represents the climb the top-ranked Wolverines have made to the Colorado High School Activities Association Class 2A State Football Championship game, which will be played at 1 p.m. Saturday at No. 3 Platte Valley in Kersey.

The Wolverines are one step away from completing the ladder they’ve built this season.

“Coach (Mike) Wnorowski came to me and said that he was looking for a ladder – a 12-step ladder,” senior lineman Noah Loutherback said, “because we knew that it would take 12 steps, one step at a time, to get to the state championship.”

Loutherback said the coolest aspect of the ladder is the history it represents.

“Bayfield actually rebuilt the bleachers at the middle school. The 1996 team that won state here played on that field with those bleachers,” the son of Brad and Jennifer Loutherback said. “That ladder was built from the wood from those bleachers. We’ve got wood that is from Bayfield. It all just seems to go into the symbolic thing of the ladder. Step by step, we’re getting to where we want to be.”

Wnorowski had the idea early in the season. After the Wolverines competed in a summer camp against four teams in four days at Colorado State University-Pueblo, the first-year defensive coordinator began thinking of ways to encourage the team to step up their play each week in the new defensive scheme he was trying to introduce.

After the Wolverines dismantled Class 1A Paonia the third week of the season and ended the Eagles’ 26-game winning streak in the process, Wnorowski knew the symbol he wanted to help keep the team focused week-to-week to get to a state championship.

“We knew the foundation of our season was planted firmly in what we did in Pueblo in our preseason camp,” Wnorowski said. “I thought what we needed to do each week from there was step up, grow each week. It’s my first year here, and I needed the players to learn more each week and step up.

“Then we thought, what are we basing our steps up on? It’s the experiences we got against each one of the teams. Each team we played this year taught us something, made us better because the way they played. We thought, let’s memorialize it by putting down the team’s name we played, what the score was and then use what we’ve learned to prepare us to step up to the next level.”

Wnorowski can point to each step, each team name and reel off the exact lessons learned in each game, whether it was learning to stop the double-twins receiver package of Montezuma-Cortez or how to mitigate the running game of Pagosa Springs despite the Pirates’ trips empty package that spread the field. Bayfield also learned a lot about itself in the state quarterfinals at Brush, where they trailed for the first time all season. The team learned then that it wouldn’t quit when facing adversity.

Wnorowski said the team has taken those lessons into practice each week to get better for the next opponent.

“Having the will to win doesn’t really matter. Everybody’s got that,” Wnorowski said. “We want to have the will to prepare to win. Are you willing to do that hard work to step up to the next level? That’s what the ladder is all about.”

On each rung, Loutherback has carved the name of the team Bayfield played and the game’s final score, and he’s painted each step gold along the way. It’s become his project this year in wood shop, and he’s had help from teammates such as Cade Killough, Brian Mashak and Broedy McGhehey as well as wood shop teacher Curtis Gillespie.

The ladder took roughly a week to build, and Loutherback has taken pride in producing each rung. He said all of his teammates track him down in the hallways the Monday after each win to ask if the next step has been crafted.

“With the ladder, you don’t want to have to build a step that signifies a loss and you can’t put the next one on there,” Loutherback said. “All year, those gold steps signify we’ve got another one to put on. Take it to the top and don’t leave it incomplete.”

Bayfield will look to finish its ladder Saturday.

jlivingston@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

Nov 25, 2015
The 1996 Bayfield football team that started it all
Nov 24, 2015
Current Bayfield football team channeling 1996 state championship squad that refused to lose


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