Bayfield High School can clinch a third consecutive Class 2A Intermountain League football championship with a win Friday night against Delta. The Wolverines can break a few records, too.
Bayfield (7-0, 3-0 IML) will welcome the Delta Panthers (3-4, 2-1 IML) to Wolverine Country Stadium at 7 p.m. Friday. Fresh off setting a new record for most consecutive home wins, the Wolverines will try to win another to secure an opening-round home game in the state playoffs.
Delta had a tough start to the season with four losses in its first five games, but the Panthers have won two in a row with an 18-15 win at Alamosa and a 23-7 victory at home against Montezuma-Cortez.
The Panthers lost many skill positions to graduation from last year’s team that made it to the state playoffs, but many of the linemen from that team returned. The line gave Durango fits in a 3-0 overtime loss at Durango to open the season.
Delta senior Drake Horn is the team’s top passer. He has 613 yards, five touchdowns and four interceptions in seven games, and he has only completed 37 percent of his passes. Colton Galvin is Horn’s go-to target. He has four touchdown catches and 307 receiving yards this year.
The Panthers make their living running the ball. Senior Brendon Starr leads the team with 1,052 rushing yards, while Horn has rushed for 263 yards.
BHS will try to get back to its power run game with the return of junior David Hawkins to the backfield. Hawkins ran for 52 yards and a touchdown on only six carries against Pagosa Springs last week. He and Hunter Killough bring the power up the middle, while Carl Heide has provided a big spark running outside of the tackles this year. He has a team-high 573 rushing yards and seven touchdowns. As a team, the Wolverines have rushed for 1,607 yards and 19 touchdowns.
The pass attack of Bayfield has been potent this year, too. Even after sputtering against Pagosa Springs last week, the pass attack is setting records. Junior quarterback Hayden Farmer has set new program records with 20 TD passes this season and 26 in his career. His 20 TD tosses are tied for seventh most in the state. Farmer can set a new single-season passing yards record Friday. With 61 yards, he will pass the previous mark of 1,313 yards set by Kelton McCoy in the 2015 state championship season. Farmer also needs only 25 more completions this year to set the single-season pass completions record.
BHS wide receiver Dax Snooks has been on the receiving end of nine of Farmer’s TD passes. The school record for most in a season is 11, set by Brian Mashak only a year ago. Snooks is only four receptions away from passing Brenen Harrison’s single-season reception record of 27 set in 2009.
Defensively, Ryan Phelps has a chance to break his own record for single-season sacks. He had 13 last year and already has 13 this season, which leads the state. Cole Wood has a chance to get to double-digit sacks, too. His nine are tied for seventh-most in the state.
No matter what records are broke Friday, the only thing the Wolverines want to celebrate is another league title.
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
If you go
Who: Delta at Bayfield
What: 2A Intermountain League football
When: 7 p.m. Friday
Where: Wolverine Country Stadium, Bayfield
Listen Live: KLJH 107.1 FM
Twitter: @jlivi2
