CRAIG – Witnessing a teammate being wheeled off the field shouldn’t have been what ultimately sparked the struggling Bayfield football team on Saturday in nonconference action.
But after observing trainers join on-site medical personnel in securing, then removing sophomore defensive back Estevan Gonzales to a waiting Memorial Regional Health EMS ambulance, fearing a possible head/neck injury, head coach Glenn Wallace’s bunch buckled down.
Gonzales was speared backwards while tackling MCHS running back Aron Alcantar, but stopped the big senior five yards short of a touchdown reception.
Three plays and 39 seconds of game-clock time after Gonzales’ exit, Moffat County punched the football into the end zone via senior quarterback Evan Beaver’s keeper around right end from four yards out. Junior kicker Ceasar Quezada’s fourth point-after try was true, re-increasing MCHS’ lead to 28-13 with 0:19 left until halftime.
Having brought Bayfield back to as close as 14-13 with 7:44 left until intermission via a 38-yard interception return, Bayfield senior Donovan ‘Dante’ Candelaria returned Quezada’s kickoff 33 yards, but the visitors managed nothing more before the stanza expired.
Two frames later, however, after the full 48 regulation minutes had been played, the scoreboard showed 42-33 – meaning the Wolverines, though defeated, not only won the second-half battle but seemed to have proven something upon the aptly-named Bulldog Proving Grounds to their second-year skipper.
“So close to being so great,” was the highlight of Wallace’s postgame address to the Wolverines.
“We were just missing a couple key plays on the defensive side – and the offensive side,” said senior quarterback Cody Ross. “We’re just starting off slow and it’s costing us at the end of the game.”
Ross threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to junior Lincoln Williams, with 3:13 left in the third quarter, and a 20-yard touchdown pass to sophomore Tyler Harriman, with 2:45 left in the fourth during Bayfield’s attempted comeback, which began in earnest after the ’Dogs went up 35-13 with 4:52 left in the third.
“I think we’re at a really good point to beat some teams,” junior Austin Wilmer said. “We’re playing very competitive teams, obviously, but now we’re about to go back and hopefully find a couple Ws … try to be in contention for … a playoff, maybe. We’ve just got to figure out how to start fast and keep that momentum building like we can. I think that’ll make us great.”
Immediately behind the 8-ball when Beaver heaved a 65-yard TD to senior Ian Hafey on the very first snap from scrimmage, the Wolverines went three-and-out on their opening series. BHS caught a break when junior Kegan Schweyer recovered a Moffat County fumble at MCHS’ 31 with 8:10 left in the first quarter.
Able to advance the ball to the Bulldogs’ 8 in four plays, BHS failed to profit from the turnover when Ross was sacked by Hafey on fourth-and-goal. Four false-start penalties prevented the Bulldogs from capitalizing on their defensive stop, but after a Beaver punt pinned Bayfield back at their own 12, Moffat County (2-1 overall, 0-0 2A Western Slope) forced another BHS three-and-out. Candelaria punted, and after post-return penalty yardage positioned MCHS at the Wolverines’ 47, the ’Dogs doubled their lead to 14-0 with 1:07 left via a 29-yard Beaver-to-Bryant Carlson connection, plus Quezada PAT.
Candelaria again gave the guests good field position with a 24-yard kickoff return, and Bayfield (0-3, 0-0 2A Intermountain) went on offense at their own 38 with 1:00 remaining. Senior Keaton Pickering carried 18 yards on first down, and nine plays later Williams winged a 20-yard receiver-option TD to Wilmer with 8:50 left in the second quarter.
“Lincoln was being covered tight, like everyone knew, and luckily they were putting weaker guys on me,” Wilmer said. “And we were able to convert on that, take advantage of it.” Wilmer caught four balls for 56 yards, unofficially.
“I know teams are going to start keying on Lincoln,” said Ross, who’d initially lateraled to Williams on the breakthrough scoring play, “so I’ve been trying to get other people worked into the passing game. And they came strong today.”
Candelaria’s PAT halved MCHS’ lead, but his try following his aforementioned pick-six failed. Moffat County then gained breathing room with a 5-play, 80-yard drive capped by Beaver’s two-yard QB sneak with 5:38 to go in the half. Another Hafey sack plus a botched snap to Ross combined to disrupt Bayfield’s next series. After Candelaria punted, the Bulldogs put together a 10-play, 73-yard possession producing their 15-point halftime pad.
Pickering returned the third-quarter kickoff 16 yards to BHS’ 40, and the Wolverines put together a 10-play drive of their own. Bayfield reached MCHS’ 16, but was ultimately halted at the 25 after back-to-back sacks.
The Bulldogs’ ensuing series began with two false-starts, but was saved when Hafey carried for 61 yards on second-and-20. Williams broke up Beaver’s ensuing pass attempt, but Moffat County persisted and found the end zone six plays later when senior Adolfo Jimenez carried the ball in from a yard out. Quezada’s PAT increased MCHS’ lead to 22 points.
A penalty tacked onto Candelaria’s already-excellent kickoff return set Bayfield up at MCHS’ 37 with 4:44 left in the third. Bulldog junior Clayton Vandersluis sacked Ross for a three-yard loss on first down from the 24, but after an extracurricular penalty against Moffat County pushed the ball up 15 yards, the Wolverines struck with Ross lobbing to Williams in the deep left corner of the end zone. Williams unofficially caught five balls for 48 yards and completed 2-of-2 passes for 39 yards.
Ross’ two-point conversion pass went incomplete, but BHS’ defense forced the ’Dogs to go three-and-out. Beaver punted, and Bayfield went back on offense at their 25 with 0:17 left in the third. After starting with an 11-yard Candelaria run on the last play of the third quarter and Williams’ 19-yard option throw to Wilmer on the first play of the fourth, the Wolverines shook off an Alcantar sack to finish off a quality 8-play, 75-yard surge with Candelaria scoring from 11 yards out.
Ross then linked with Wilmer for the bonus two points, cutting Moffat County’s lead to 35-27 with and with 8:20 remaining.
The Bulldogs responded by going 51 yards in two plays and 40 seconds, with senior Hudson Jones grabbing a Beaver bomb – placed just over Williams’ extended leaping reach – and taking it 49 yards to the house. Quezada’s boot made it 42-27 lead with 7:33 left.
Starting their next drive at their 31, the Wolverines fought their way down to MCHS’ 19, but Ross’ fourth-down pass attempt went incomplete with 4:23 remaining. Still, Bayfield wasn’t done and suddenly regained possession at the Bulldogs’ 20 by diving upon a botched handoff. Ross then hit Harriman for six points on first down, but couldn’t tack on a two-pointer – leaving Moffat County with a nine-point lead, and BHS with one timeout left. Ross completed 14 of 24 passes for 112 yards unofficially.
Bayfield then tried an onside kick, but MCHS senior Kenny Fredrickson recovered at midfield. Two run plays netted just a yard, and Wallace burned his last timeout with 1:47 to go, hoping for one last defensive stand. Unfortunately, Beaver carried for 18 yards and a fresh set of downs, the first two of which he spent kneeling down in ‘victory’ formation.
“The first half, we didn’t get the run game started,” Candelaria said. “But in the second half we definitely got it going and it felt really great. It’s little things that are making us give up those big plays; we just need to stay calm as a team … stay positive and work on the little things.” Candelaria ran the ball 13 times for 60 yards.
Following a bye week, Bayfield will next see action on Sept. 22, when Centauri (1-2, 0-0 1A South Central) visits Wolverine Country Stadium for a 7 p.m. kickoff.
“I think we can do it,” Harriman said. “Just have good practices, and go into Centauri ready.”
