Exploding out to a three-score lead after only 12 minutes on the road inside hostile Golden Peaks Stadium, Bayfield had little problem pushing Pagosa Springs' Pirates off the proverbial plank while gaining momentum to take into tonight's tangle up in Delta.

Putting themselves in position to challenge the Panthers for a likely 2A Intermountain title, the Wolverines got two receiving touchdowns from Brian Mashak-including a 66-yarder to get the night's scoring started (Mashak's point-after kick was good), as well as two rushing touchdowns from sophomore David Hawkins in a 41-7 romp.

Both of Mashak's TD catches came via senior Josh Westbrook's arm and both came in the first quarter, with Hawkins' first trip into the end zone occurring in between. Pulling in a 29-yard strike and then nailing the PAT, the speedy senior had the visitors up 21-0 and couldn't be caught.

Head coach Gary Heide maintained his season-long trend of splitting quarterback duties between Westbrook (5-of-10, 108 yards) and sophomore Hayden Farmer, and Farmer's one-yard keeper (and another Mashak PAT) increased the margin to 28 points.

"We wanted to come out and execute, continue to elevate our game for whatever chances we have coming up," Heide stated on KLJH-FM in his post-game comments. "We've earned a chance to accomplish our dream, and that's go play...for the conference championship."

Senior Jesse Westbrook (6-36 rushing), seeing more work in the backfield in addition to being a defensive mainstay, plowed in a two-yard TD to put the Wolverines (5-2, 3-0) ahead by an unsurprising 35 at halftime.

Hawkins (10-107) then crashed in from 10 yards late in the third quarter to enact the mercy-rule running clock, and though sophomore Daniel Westbrook's extra point was unsuccessful, the imposing 41-0 showing on the scoreboard had some fans already making their way back to the parking lot.

All told, Bayfield had nine players log at least one carry and gained a reported 210 yards rushing on 30 tries. Mashak finished with his two grabs for 95 yards, and sophomore Keyon Prior snagged Farmer's single attempt and completion for 57. Juniors Dax Snooks and Ryan Phelps also had one catch apiece.

Up a notch to #7 in this week's CHSAANow.com Class 2A poll and now allowing just over nine points per game defensively, BHS will travel north to battle a Delta squad surrendering a little more (13.4 ppg) than but also producing a little more than the Wolverines (34.4 to 28.1).

"If we play to our potential, we will win that game," said Heide, looking to the long-anticipated showdown. "Football is a funny game, but we're ready to go. I really like our chances up there."

Also bumped up one place in the rankings, the #5 Panthers will come in also standing 5-2 overall (losses against 3A's Durango and Palisade, with the latter currently #6 in that classification). The Panthers are 3-0 in conference after trampling Montezuma-Cortez 42-6 last Saturday afternoon. Both M-CHS and PSHS - slated to square off in next week's regular-season finale - sank to matching 1-6, 0-3 marks after the expected blowouts.

CHSAANOW.COM CLASS 2A FOOTBALL POLL (issued 10/17): 1.La Junta, 2.Loveland Resurrection Christian, 3.Colorado Springs The Classical Academy, 4.Englewood Kent Denver, 5.Delta, 6.Keenesburg Weld Central, 7.BAYFIELD, 8.Manitou Springs, 9.Sterling, 10.Denver D'Evelyn.