Senior Tauer Crotty’s 57th-minute penalty kick at last got Bayfield on the scoreboard Tuesday afternoon, but wasn’t enough to lift the Wolverines to victory against visiting Telluride as the Miners left Bayfield with a 3-1 win.
For by that time the Miners (6-2-0 overall) had netted three goals, with senior Spencer du Toit – a transfer this year from Liberty Common High School in Fort Collins – netting two in true highlight-reel fashion.
His first strike came not even 40 seconds after THS took and sent the opening kickoff toward the left elbow of BHS’ 18-yard box, and he found himself in a position to shoot when sophomore Ethan Shupp outfought a defender just hard enough to knock the ball in du Toit’s direction.
Timing it perfectly, du Toit struck a shot arcing away from BHS goalkeeper Orion Botsford’s right, then reversing itself slightly before reaching Botsford’s back post and descending into the net for one of – if not the – fastest goals ever scored inside Wolverine Country Stadium.
Bayfield (4-6-0, 1-0-0 3A Intermountain) then fell behind 2-0 in the 15th minute when, after a purple jersey played a ball back to Botsford, meaning he couldn’t scoop it up to gain control, THS junior Thomas Mahoney pressured Botsford into a hurried clearance kick which Mahoney intercepted hardly 12 yards from goal and easily cashed.
In the 20th minute, Telluride was granted a free kick from midfield and du Toit blasted an absolute rocket. Helpless to do more than track its high-flying trajectory, Botsford stepped hesitantly backward more and more until sensing he was upon his goal line.
He wasn’t; the demarcation was still maybe a yard further back. Though ably leaping for the ball, it still dropped sharply over his gloves and into the net for a jaw-dropping, 60-yard finish increasing the visitors’ lead to 3-0 barely halfway through the first half – which ended with Bayfield still having not responded and THS head coach Ramon Rodriguez wisely cautioning his crew against complacency.
After Crotty’s conversion, he nearly struck again barely two minutes later but couldn’t get to senior Ayden Casillas’ crossing pass before Miner junior Gunnar Drew cleared it away after it bypassed goalie Maddox Slosberg.
The skilled sophomore then stopped Casillas’ 23-yard free kick in the 62nd, robbed Casillas on a golden 78th-minute chance set up by freshman Diego Cuddie and saved a Crotty try in the 79th as the Wolverines refused to concede. Senior defender Lane Hunter received a red card in the 80th minute and was sent off the pitch after desperately slide-tackling THS sophomore Henry Raible from behind.
Botsford made an acrobatic save on the resulting 24-yard free kick, nudging Raible’s shot over the crossbar, but the final whistle sounded only seconds later as the Miners won their first outing in 17 days.
The Wolverines will resume league work hosting Pagosa Springs (7-1-0, 2-0-0 IML) on Saturday afternoon. Varsity action will follow the 11 a.m. JV match.
