What a difference a year makes.
La Junta's 10-yard touchdown grab in the 2017 Class 2A State Championship only gave the Tigers the satisfaction of snapping one of Colorado's most impressive shutout streaks of five consecutive games and 24 consecutive quarters.
It wasn't enough to spark a comeback. With 22 seconds left in the first half, LJHS still trailed BHS by two touchdowns.
Longtime head coach Clint Buderus could have thanked counterpart Gary Heide for more or less restraining his defense after intermission. Junior La Junta quarterback Jon Nuschy may not have escaped Wolverine Country Stadium and the local equivalent of the NFL's iconic "Purple People Eaters" intact.
In Bayfield's sights ever since he rallied La Junta to a 14-13 victory in last season's Class 2A State Playoffs semifinal, the quarterback was shown no quarter at all and pummeled mercilessly as Bayfield bagged the school's second title in three years, by a 34-7 margin. It was the Wolverines' third football championship, with the others coming in 1996 and 2015.
"As the defensive backs coach, I have a clock in my head, know what's going on," Heide said, discussing the Wolverines' constant pressure on the Tiger quarterback. "Either the ball's coming or we've just creamed 'em! I'm watching to see if we're in coverage properly, waiting for that ball, but four out of five times the ball never came! Hats off to that front seven: Amazing, punishing football to set the tone, deliver our will through the course of the game."
"Nuschy's a great quarterback," said one of those BHS linebackers, senior Kirk Malone. "Last year we missed a lot of tackles on him, and we actually had to install drills just to learn how to break down and make sure that doesn't happen again. So we've been doing that every day all season; it was an important part of our plan to...make them use other players to win. Obviously we did that and we came out on top!"
Added senior Dax Snooks, "Because of what he did to us last year, I knew they were going to do it, going to stop him. And it was a big-time help for us (defensive backs.) It takes a lot of weight off our shoulders when they get him stopped in the backfield."
Capping a record-setting campaign, BHS (13-0 overall) took charge late in the first quarter after both crews swapped multiple punts during the game's opening plays.
Bayfield pinned LJHS (11-2) nearer and nearer their own goal line with each Ryan Phelps kick, forcing Nuschy to eventually kick from his own end zone. Bayfield completed a six-play drive from the Tiger 44-yard line when junior Hayden Farmer connected with senior Carl Heide from 14 yards out with 3:29 left.
"When they have to punt it and we're inside the 50... half the game's won, you know?" Malone said. "You've just got to keep pushing the ball, and eventually you're going to get across the goal line more than once."
Senior Chris Mooney's point-after kick was good, and the Pine River Valley crowd, expanding well beyond its borders on this unique occasion, exploded in applause to cheer the locals' 7-0 advantage.
"I saw a Mancos letterman," recalled senior Hunter Killough. "There was kids from all over the place to just take pride in some southern Colorado football. To see people coming from out of town to watch us - there was people from Durango here, and they were all wearing purple! That's really special."
After last year's loss to La Junta, the Wolverines were out to obliterate the Tigers, along the lines of the the teams' 2015 semifinal game won 47-7 by Bayfield. And under similar, idyllic atmospheric conditions, their lead grew when Farmer hit Snooks for a 15-yard score as the first quarter expired, with Mooney's PAT making the score 14-0.
With every spot in any nearby parking lot filled by possibly the largest crowd to witness a sporting event at BHS, the Wolverines' pace lost steam in the second quarter but still produced a two-yard Carl Heide rushing touchdown with 5:48 left. Mooney's kick was no good, but the Tigers failed to gain game-changing momentum despite Kain DiRezza's catch and junior Zach Archuleta's resulting PAT kick.
"We had back-to-back touchdowns, and then it kind of got slow," Killough said. "We had some streaks, but we had more streaks than they did. And when it comes to defense, I believe we're going to get it every time if it's a defensive battle."
"We just decided we were going to be more physical," he continued. "The way we play, it's eventually going to wear teams down and that's what we did."
"I think we definitely shut down their middle run, which was pretty good," said junior Isaac Lorenzen. "We started to force them to do stuff they didn't really want to do; that helped us because it got them out of their comfort zone, off their game."
And while the Wolverines enjoyed working on offense, they appeared to relish their defensive duties much more during the first grand finale held locally since 1968, when Limon defeated Ignacio 86-26 for the Class A title.
"They're really disciplined, so what we like to do, we draw their audible," Lorenzen explained. "Run different defensive formations and make them audible so we can stop it - a lot of contain and break-down work, designed after what happened last year. That helped stop them from getting around us."
Spearheading the defensive effort was senior Cole Wood, who totaled 14 tackles and logged three quarterback sacks. Killough was in on 12 stops, Malone nine and Lorenzen eight, including a sack. Junior David Hawkins totaled six tackles with one sack, while four of Phelps' eight tackles flattened Nuschy, giving the defensive end a statewide single-season record 24 sacks.
"We knew we were going to have to hit him," Killough said of Nuschy. "He's a good athlete and we knew we were going to have to put him down, and put him down early."
Senior Mike Kirk contributed to seven tackles and classmate Wyatt Killinen was in on six, and while La Junta did not fumble the ball away, Wood and junior Keyon Prior each intercepted Nuschy once.
Prior's pro-grade, toe-drag snag along the Tigers' sideline set up Carl Heide's short-range score, polishing off a 47-yard drive, while Wood's gathering of a Phelps-altered pass set up Killough's 11-yard touchdown burst with 5:43 left in the game. That was only two minutes, 42 seconds after Farmer, rolling to his right and showing LJHS an option look, found Heide unguarded downfield for a decisive 60-yard score.
"Based on our stellar defense we were playing conservative in the third quarter, didn't want to do anything stupid," Coach Gary Heide said. "We had a chance on third down to try to open it up a little bit; Hayden Farmer recommended that play earlier, about halftime, said 'They can't cover it!' And Hayden was right; it was perfect timing because they weren't expecting three receivers and one pitch man."
"Me and Cole have been trying to get interceptions all year!" Malone said. "So when we finally got it in this one - I almost had a couple - it was important for us to be able to make plays. So obviously Carl's touchdown was big, and then putting the nail in the coffin with that interception."
Concluded Killough: "From there it was just about 'How far can we spread the lead and get more comfortable?' And get more people to play in such a big game."
Picked off once by Tiger senior Riley Remick, Farmer finished 7-of-12 aerially for 109 yards, putting him near the 2,100-yard mark for the season. Carl Heide finished with three receptions for 74 yards and also rushed seven times for 47, leaving him 80 yards short of 1,000, while totaling three touchdowns.
Hawkins paced BHS' ground attack with 59 yards on 14 hard carries, and Killough picked up 20 on five. Snooks caught three passes for 20 yards, and senior Dawson Heide snared one for 15.
Nuschy somehow managed a reported 58 yards passing on a painful 6-of-14 day, but LJHS finished with negative yardage rushing, as Nuschy (18 att., minus-38 yds.) and senior Wyatt Buhr (8-20) were particularly well-marked.
"I kept talking about the opportunity that we have, being able to play at home, earning the right to play La Junta, earning that right to host this game on a beautiful, sunny Saturday," said Gary Heide, last to exit the venue and ready to make the short walk back to his Bayfield High School office with the state championship trophy. It was presented by CHSAA Assistant Commissioner Bert Borgmann to Heide and the team after the game.
"Those young men had to play great the 12 previous games to get here," he continued. "I'm just totally amazed, and still (have to) pinch myself to think about what those gentlemen have done!"
"This tradition, it's all about family," said Malone. "Born and raised, this is my hometown. It was great to have people in Platte Valley (at the 2015 championship game), but in Bayfield, everybody was going to come out and support."
"The whole stands, both sides, were filled! The whole street was filled, no room to get in," he added, glancing out at BHS' main parking lot. "I can still see cars trying to get out and it's just not happening! That's Bayfield Football."
"Never seen that many people (in Bayfield) in my life!" Snooks said, reflecting from a senior's point-of-view.
"Coach told us before we walked in, 'Before you step on the field, take a minute. Take a breath, look around and notice this because it's not going to happen again.' But once you step on the field, you just play the game. That's what we did."
"It was a slow start, good defenses both ways," he continued. "But once we got control we could keep going. And it's a big deal to take a state title in front of our community. Means a whole lot!"
"The community's huge," said Killough. "It was really cool just to feel that support and know that we have a town to put in our hearts, and a town to carry on our backs."
"I have a great group of coaches to work with, and I have been blessed with great talent, great youngsters that have heart to go play like this every minute of every game," declared Heide, now 55-13 in six years at BHS. "That's what it means to me personally - how blessed I am to be standing here."
"I want to thank the entire Wolverine Nation!"
