The Farmington High School football team’s offense was virtually perfect Friday night at Bayfield High School, as the Scorpions scored 10 touchdowns on 12 possessions.
Farmington quarterback Caleb Carrillo threw for five first-half TDs and ran for two more, and the Scorpions put on a second-quarter show, as they scored three times in the final six minutes of the half. They went on to win 68-19.
“Caleb is getting smarter every week,” said Farmington head coach Jeff Dalton. “He read the defense really well tonight. This is the cleanest our offense played all year. It’s a credit to our work in practice. A lot of plays looked big, but they were built from simple things. We controlled the ball and kept it very simple.”
The Scorpions (6-1) got to work right away, as Carrillo led an effective opening drive. Farmington started on the 20-yard line after the opening kickoff, and Carrillo converted two short-yard plays, including a fourth-and-1. Later in the drive, he found his younger brother, Chance, on a 28-yard TD pass. The extra point was missed, and Farmington had a 6-0 lead. Carrillo found Thomas Montoya for a 21-yard strike to make it 13-0 on the next FHS possession, but Bayfield (2-4, 1-0 2A Intermountain League) found an answer.
On the first play of its second drive, Bayfield’s Dillon Vroman took a reverse pitch 58 yards down the far sideline into the end zone to cut the deficit to 13-7.
Bayfield head coach Gary Heide said having Vroman back from injury will be key moving forward.
“He’s a huge weapon for us,” Heide said. “If we get all our horses together, that could work out really well for us with Cade (Carlson). We had a lot of energy, but after it became a two-score game, the wheels fell off for us.”
On the ensuing drive, Bayfield’s Crosby Edwards disrupted a long drive by the Scorpions after Farmington got to Bayfield’s side of the field, as Edwards recovered a fumble at the Bayfield 20-yard line.
Quarterback Isaac Ross led a seven-play drive for the Wolverines, and Vroman had a big-time reception of 33 yards down to the Farmington 25. The Wolverines moved into the red zone, and after three unsuccessful shots at the end zone, Heide called a timeout. On fourth-and-goal, Ross found Kalon Mead on a screen pass, and Mead ran it into the end zone. After a missed extra point, it was tied at 13-13 with 2:07 left in the opening quarter.
The tie was short-lived, as Carrillo threw a strike to Ethan Thomas with two seconds left in the quarter to make it 20-13 in favor of the Scorpions.
After another touchdown by Farmington, Mead delivered again for BHS, as he caught his second touchdown pass of the game from Ross on fourth-and-goal from the 8-yard line. He caught a short screen and ran home from there to make it a one-possession game at 27-19.
Carrillo responded by running in one touchdown and throwing for two more before the halftime homecoming festivities began. It was 48-19 Farmington at the break.
In the second half, Bayfield’s defense was kept on the field for long drives and was unable to force stops. Defensively, Farmington was able to thwart Bayfield’s trickery.
“It wasn’t anything really complicated but a lot of deception stuff that worked in the first half didn’t work in the second,” Heide said. “The tables turned, but the first-half execution gives me hope moving forward.”
The Scorpions recovered an onside kick to open the third quarter and forced two turnovers, including one in the end zone which kicked off a mercy-rule running clock. The Scorpions added two more scores for good measure.
BHS will return to league play, with a trip to Montezuma-Cortez (1-4, 0-1 2A Intermountain League) at 7 p.m. Friday. Farmington will travel to Albuquerque to face Highland.
“We have to take it one game at a time as we get back to league play,” Heide said. “We’ve just got to go back and dig out again. We’ve dug out twice already, and there’s no reason why we can’t dig out a third time.”
bpoen@durangoherald.com
