BAYFIELD – Hayden Farmer passed for six touchdowns, a new single-game Bayfield High School record, and the Wolverines’ defense held Bloomfield to only two first downs in a 52-0 rout of the Bobcats on Saturday at Wolverine Country Stadium.
Farmer finished Saturday’s game 8-of-13 passing for 179 yards, six TDs and one interception. The previous single-game passing TD record for Bayfield was four, most recently accomplished by Shay Beck in 2005. The state record is 10 TD passes in a game set by Longmont Christian’s Luke Puchino against Mountain Valley in 2016.
“That was remarkable,” Bayfield head coach Gary Heide said of his quarterback’s performance. “It wasn’t something we came into the game saying, ‘Hey, we can throw and torch them.’ It kind of kept happening in the game. They were blitzing the line so much we had to keep taking shots, and we had the athletes to do it. Hayden was on mark for almost every single one of them.”
Coach Heide said he watched Farmer go through multiple reads and take command of the entire field. With Bloomfield focused on stopping the rushing attack of David Hawkins and company, Farmer had his day.
Farmer’s second pass of the game was an interception by Bloomfield’s Adam Aguirre, who made the game’s first five tackles. Bayfield’s lead was only 6-0 after one quarter, but the offensive line made an adjustment on Bloomfield blitzing a specific gap in the second quarter. After the change, the offense exploded for 19 points to take a 25-0 lead into halftime.
Farmer hit Carl Heide down the seam for a 76-yard TD to open the scoring for Bayfield (2-0) and give the Wolverines a 6-0 lead. Heide was wide open and ran to the end zone untouched by the defense of Bloomfield (0-2).
“Wide open,” Heide said. “All I had to do was just run. Hayden got me the ball, nothing else to it.”
Dawson Heide hauled in the next Farmer TD pass, as he took it 28 yards for a score. Farmer threw two more in the first half, with an 8-yard strike to Dax Snooks and a 14-yard connection with Hunter Killough to cap off a one-play drive with only 21 seconds left in the first-half.
Farmer connected with Snooks again on another 28-yard TD with 4:42 to go in the third quarter. Snooks soared in the air on both of his TD grabs to haul in highly-contested passes in the end zone.
Farmer’s final strike was an 11-yard pass to a wide-open David Hawkins.
“I give literally all the credit to my O-line, receivers and backs,” Farmer said. “I can’t do it without them. We figured out Bloomfield’s blitz and really got it going. It’s really easy work for me when all I gotta do is put the ball in the right place and they go get it the way they did.”
Aside from Farmer’s record, the continued dominance from the Bayfield defense was the story of the game. The Bobcats finished with negative offensive yards and only one first down. Starting QB Rogelio Gonzales was held to 3-of-7 passing for 11 yards in the first half. Vince Marquez took snaps in the second half and finished 3-of-13 for 42 yards and four interceptions.
“We didn’t do much on the offensive line to give us much of a chance,” Bloomfield head coach Bob Allcorn said. “We were running for our lives all day. Bayfield is an outstanding team, very athletic and all over the place. We’re very young and it showed.”
Linebacker David Hawkins had Bayfield’s first interception early in the third quarter. With Bloomfield backed up inside its own 10-yard line, Marquez threw the ball directly into the hands of Hawkins, who took two steps forward to get into the end zone and give Bayfield a 32-0 lead.
Carl Heide intercepted a deep pass from Marquez and returned it out of the end zone before a penalty negated a strong return. Eli Monyek and Max McGhehey also had interceptions in the game.
Bayfield’s pass rush again was tenacious with five sacks. Ryan Phelps had 2½ sacks to give him 5½ on the season. Wyatt Killinen had a solo sack, while Cole Wood had sacks shared with Phelps and Isaac Lorenzen.
Phelps also forced and recovered a fumble in the third quarter when Bloomfield had the ball across midfield. His two solo sacks were worth a combined loss of 28 yards for the Bobcats.
“It’s nice to get in the backfield like that,” Phelps said. “Coach made the calls and I was able to get back there. My goal is to lead the state in sacks this year.”
Bloomfield ran backward in the game for negative 46 yards, though negative 48 of those yards came on sacks. With an inability to run against the Wolverines, the Bobcats turned to young QBs.
“It definitely gives us a lot more action,” Carl Heide said of teams’ decisions to not try to run against the Wolverines. “We got the best run defense in the state, so teams are going to try to throw on us. With four interceptions from four different people, it’s definitely a good game for us.”
Bayfield totaled 237 rushing yards on 37 carries. Hawkins totaled 85 yards rushing on 12 carries. He had a 68-yard TD run called back on a penalty 50 yards away from the play. Dylan Hilliker also had a 38-yard TD run for the Wolverines.
Carl Heide finished with 125 yards of total offense for the Wolverines.
Bloomfield will have a bye next week to evaluate the play of its young QBs on film. Bayfield will hit the road for the first time this year to face Aztec, which lost to Durango 35-14 on Friday night.
“It’s going to be a battle,” Farmer said of playing Aztec. “We gotta go to work this week. It’s going to be a good game, but I’m very confident in our abilities.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
