Loaded at every position in 2017, depth may have worked against Bayfield when it came time to release the All-2A Football Team.
That's about the only way a player absolutely dominated by the Wolverines with the State Championship at stake would actually win Player-of-the-Year over one of the players who dominated him in the penultimate game.
It was pretty obvious that as junior quarterback Jon Nuschy went, so went La Junta.
And if he went nowhere during the regular season, the Tigers probably wouldn't have even reached the grand finale, let alone actually have hopes of winning it inside the den of the classification's stingiest defense.
How miserly, you ask?
Led by the new statewide single-season sack king, senior defensive end Ryan Phelps (24 in 2017, 38 in three years on varsity), as well as second-tier terror Cole Wood, Bayfield had eight shutouts going into the championship game. Bayfield would have finished with nine shutouts had Nuschy not managed a touchdown throw just before halftime.
Riding a BHS-like, five-game clean-sheet streak into the postseason, only Class 1A 8-Man State Runner-up Kremmling West Grand came close and totaled seven (one by forfeit) shutouts.
"Every team...we've been able to wear down," said Wolverine senior Hunter Killough earlier in the season. "Makes it a lot easier-everyone on our team feels fresh all game, we have good substitutions, good people to back us up. After the first half, we just keep strong!"
4A State Runner-up Colorado Springs Pine Creek kept five foes scoreless before losing the title to Pueblo South (which blanked just three opponents). Class 3A State Champion Monument Palmer Ridge finished with just three shutouts, 1A State Champion Strasburg four and 1A State Runner-up La Jara Centauri five (one via forfeit).
8-man State Champion Sedgwick County (Julesburg-Ovid Revere) booked three. But neither 6-Man finalist had one and 5A's-State Champion Arvada Pomona and Runner-up Centennial Eaglecrest-combined for just one.
With Wood complimenting Phelps well and registering 14.5 sacks, BHS totaled a state-record 65.5 at just over five per game. The Wolverines also stole 30 interceptions and recovered eight fumbles while allowing only 56 points in achieving a perfect 13-0 record.
Phelps (94 total tackles) and Wood (130; 25.5 total sacks in two varsity seasons) were named First Team All-2A along with seniors Carl Heide (5 interceptions) and Killough (147 tackles, 7 INT).
Exploding for 506 points offensively, Bayfield finished 2017 with 5,014 total yards of offense and over 5,800 all-purpose yards with Phelps and Wood helping drive the team forward from their o-line positions along with Second Team All-2A picks and seniors Wyatt Killinen and Kirk Malone.
Junior David Hawkins (95-596, 6 TD rushing; 47 total tackles) was also a Second Team selection. He was just as disruptive a force on either side of the line of scrimmage, whether joining Heide (106-920, 10 TD rushing; 23-476, 4 TD receiving) and Killough (113-701, 9; 10-231, 5) in BHS' ball-carrying rotation or Phelps, Wood and company in dishing out hurt to enemy ball-carriers defensively.
Also named second team was junior quarterback Hayden Farmer, who threw for over 2,000 yards with 35 touchdown passes against only 11 interceptions.
With his win-loss record in Wolverine Country now 55-13 overall (with two 2A State Championships) after six seasons, Gary Heide was an easy choice as Class 2A Coach-of-the-Year.
"One of my goals this year as an offensive coordinator having so much talent," he'd said following Bayfield's 34-7 win over La Junta, "was to never take the game out of those gentlemen's hands. Always make a call that would allow them to perform."
Done and done.
Also representing the Intermountain Conference as First Team All-2A was Pagosa Springs senior kicker Keaton Anderson, with senior running back/safety Ty Kimsey earning a Second Team nod along with Alamosa senior receiver/safety/punter Angelo Ramirez.
The complete All-Intermountain list still has not been submitted as of this week.
