Last Friday's defeat certainly wasn't the worst loss Gary Heide's ever been part of.
A 72-0 home loss 10 years ago to Dodge Center Triton when he was a coach at Hayfield, Minn., would definitely contend for that distinction.
In fact, Heide knows that being on the Zero Week road game's losing end can only help humble and refocus Bayfield (0-1) in the long run, starting with tonight's Week One foe: Bloomfield, New Mexico.
But Heide also knows that if there's an opponent on his Wolverines' schedule that would be just as ready and energized to put last week's work behind them - especially back on its own field - it would be Bloomfield.
The NMAA 5A Bobcats took a sound 42-6 beating on the road from 5A Belen (which went just 3-7 in '15). Bayfield's defense of their CHSAA Class 2A Championship began with a 19-0 loss at 2A Blanding, Utah. San Juan High School was plenty hungry to put their own season-opening, non-region loss behind them.
Bronco senior Jordan Blake went a reported 11-of-23 passing for 164 yards and two touchdowns to senior Jaxon Lee (3-56 receiving), but the scores came extremely early and extremely late in the contest, leaving junior Dylan Ivins' 80-yard kick-return TD beginning the third quarter as the score which impacted the heart of the game.
Senior Jay McDonald led SJHS (1-1) with 51 yards on 13 carries, while classmate - and must-stop target - Kavika Su'esu'e managed just 16 on five. Senior Nathan Nielson matched Lee with three receptions, gaining an almost-identical 54 yards, and junior Baylr Eldredge snagged two for 30.
Defensively, San Juan also sacked BHS quarterbacks Josh Westbrook and Hayden Farmer four times and hurried them five more. Blake and senior Zach Brown each had an interception, and Brown recovered two fumbles.
But in trailing by only seven points at intermission, Bayfield's defense - and special-teams units, which blocked one Bronco point-after kick and two punts - certainly did its best to keep the crew in the game and will be counted upon to do so again tonight (7 p.m. kickoff) in Bloomfield.
