With excitement in the air and anticipation to fill the week, it was actually time to play football in Bayfield.
As the anticipation culminated at kickoff, the No. 1 Bayfield High School football team showed its teeth and played good old fashioned smash-mouth defense, holding the No. 16 Manitou Springs Mustangs out of the end zone for a 40-0 win to open the Colorado High School Activities Association Class 2A State Football Playoffs.
The Bayfield community was rocking the stands Saturday as it came out in support of the team.
“This feels great. We have these great fans behind us, it’s a privilege to play at home,” said BHS senior quarterback Kelton McCoy, son of Derek and Loresa McCoy. “This is a great community and support us no matter what we do.”
The temperatures were relatively warm at kickoff, however, Bayfield (9-0) took time to warm up despite scoring on its first drive of the game. The score came on a fourth-down play, as senior Brody Mcghehey caught a tipped pass from 35 yards out from McCoy. Mcghehey backpedaled into the end zone from there for a touchdown.
McCoy and the offense drove down the field before they stalled on third down, but head coach Gary Heide decided to go for the fourth-down conversion. That decision paid off with six points.
“I got up behind the defender because I figured it was going to be a tip, and it worked out in our way, and I found the ball in my hands,” said Mcghehey, son of Rob and Robin Mcghehey.
Mcghehey amassed 114 total yards and two touchdowns. McCoy scored four total touchdowns with two scores through the air and two on the ground. He threw for 168 yards on 9-of-17 passing with one interception.
It took the Wolverines time to gain their balance after the initial drive. It wasn’t until halfway through the second quarter that Bayfield would see the end zone again. The Wolverines were riddled with eight penalties for 70 yards in the game, which hindered the potent offense. Bayfield had favorable matchups all game with its outside receivers, which Heide exploited nicely.
The Mustangs (3-7) game planned for Bayfield senior running back Zane Phelps, which opened up the passing attack. Phelps still was not to be denied from the end zone, as the hefty running back scored Bayfield’s second touchdown on a 15-yard run. Phelps ran for 100 yards on 20 carries, but those carries were tough, grueling runs.
“(Manitou Springs) was really pre-determined to stop Zane,” Heide said. “Our plan was to take what they gave us.”
Because the Mustangs planned so heavily against Phelps, the Wolverines used other facets of the offense to score. Struggling to put points on the board, Bayfield still went into the locker room up 12-0 at halftime.
“We were trying to get a figure on how their defensive line was doing,” McCoy said. “I’ll give props to their defensive line, they played hard and fired off. But, in the second half, we made an adjustment and came out and got it done.”
To open the third quarter, the Wolverines drove the length of the field on its way to a Mcghehey 8-yard sweep touchdown from the right side to push the lead to 18-0. After Bayfield’s defense forced Manitou Springs to punt on the ensuing possession, McCoy then conducted another scoring drive by capping it off with a quarterback sneak from 3 yards out.
McCoy found senior Taed Heydinger in the fourth quarter on a 30-yard out route for a touchdown to extend the lead only to score again one minute later. McCoy capped his day off with another 1-yard quarterback sneak to put the Mustangs out of the game for good.
The Bayfield defense played as stout as it ever has Saturday, holding the Mustangs out of the end zone and under 100 yards of total offense. The Mustangs were limited to seven first downs while turning the ball over twice. Sophomore quarterback Cole Sienknecht fumbled the ball for the Mustangs on a botched lateral that was recovered by Bayfield’s Kyle Killough. In the third quarter, Manitou Springs again had a botched lateral, and this time it was junior Jesse Westbrook who came up with the recovery.
Sienknecht and senior running back Chase Norman had a tough game against the Wolverine defense. Sienknecht left the game in the end of the first half with an undisclosed injury and didn’t return. Many of the Mustangs were worn out by game’s end with multiple players succumbing to muscle cramps. The Wolverines, however, were in good shape by the end of the game.
Bayfield struggled with the point-after-attempts, converting only 2-of-6 tries. The two conversions were for 2-point conversions. In Bayfield’s next game, extra points could be a bigger factor.
“We’ll have to go back and look at the film and see exactly what was wrong,” Heide said. “We let the rushers in, we got a bad snap, then a low kick. I think it was a combination of everything, so we’ll have to go back and look at (the PATs), then we’ll have to redefine what we want to do.”
Bayfield will now travel to No. 9 Brush (7-3) to take on the Beatdiggers. Brush beat No. 8 Moffat County 49-27 on the road.
Because of CHSAA state tournament rules, teams that travel and win on the road in the first round will earn a home game the next round regardless of seeding. That means No. 1 Bayfield will travel to No. 9 Brush for the second round of the state tournament. The official date and time will be announced later this week.
“That was somewhat expected,” Heide said of traveling for the second round. “I expected Brush to beat Moffat County.”
jmentzer@durangoherld.com
