Each team’s first kickoff return Friday all but predicted how the night’s gridiron action would play out.

“The outcome … was far from what we wanted,” new Bayfield boss Glenn Wallace said, with a matter-of-fact laugh.

Unafraid of using a little trickery, visiting Blanding, Utah, San Juan’s Zack Conway fielded BHS kicker Dominic Albo’s boot, took off to his left, then suddenly handed the ball to teammate Jerzy Nieves, who reversed field and completed the 84-yard runback paralleling the guests’ sideline.

A penalty flag negated the effort, but a statement had been made … and after beginning their opening series at their 19-yard line, the Broncos – last fall’s UHSAA Class 2A state champion – were in the end zone six snaps later, via a 24-yard Parker Snyder-to-Anthony Done pass.

Ready to see what their own offense could do for the first time in 2022, and under a nearly new coaching staff headed by Wallace, the Wolverines wouldn’t yet get that chance. Returner Lincoln Williams lost possession and San Juan – playing already their third game this season – recovered the fumble at BHS’ 28. Five plays later, Snyder hit Garrett Young for a four-yard score, and Shawn Black’s second PAT increased the lead to 14-0 with 9:24 still left.

Able to establish possession at their own 23, Bayfield managed a three-yard gain by senior quarterback Deegan Barnes on first down. A false-start on second, however, was followed by Nieves intercepting Barnes and returning the pick 21 yards to BHS’ 4 with 8:17 to go.

Conway promptly plowed in for a first-down touchdown, and after Black was again true the Wolverines found themselves down 21-0 with 8:13 remaining. By the time the first quarter’s 12 taxing minutes finally expired, San Juan’s lead had grown to an overwhelming 35-0 with the help of a punt blocked (and recovered at the Bayfield 33), a swift BHS three-and-out, plus the first of defensive back Brigham Nielson’s two interceptions.

Wolverine sophomore Hunter Mars gave Bayfield loyalists a glimpse of hope early in the second quarter when he intercepted a Snyder would-be TD toss bobbled and lost by his receiver. Set up 90 yards from pay dirt with 11:29 left until halftime, Bayfield appeared confident when junior Donovan ‘Dante’ Candelaria carried for 14 yards on first down and Barnes linked up with Williams for 32 yards down to the SJ 44.

A Bronco penalty advanced BHS ahead to the 29, but after Barnes hit junior Granite Truby for four yards, the Wolverines’ best shot to avoid a shutout died on downs three plays later.

Back on offense at their own 25, SJHS needed just two snaps and 19 second to capitalize; Snyder found Conway for 45 yards, then connected with Done for a 30-yard score.s

With CHSAA’s mercy-rule running-clock rule enacted, San Juan eased up on the gas pedal, but its defense continued to thwart Bayfield. Nielson’s second interception killed off the Wolverines’ last drive of the half, and Nieves’ second pick ended BHS’ drive beginning the third quarter – giving the Broncos the ball and allowing them to begin milking the clock en route to a 42-0 victory inside Wolverine Country Stadium.

“I think just getting out there as a staff – I didn’t know how cohesive we were going to be as a unit, you know? – was really good; everybody finally took a breath, and …. it was ‘Let’s just play some football!’” Wallace said about his debut as Bayfield’s head coach. “It went great from that standpoint.”

“This is probably going to be one of the better teams we play,” said Williams, a sophomore, “so we’re just going to take all this, put it into practice and build on it. Overall, we did decent but we could do much better.”

“Our first two games were pretty good,” Conway said, referring to SJHS’ season-opening 46-38 home win over Layton Christian Academy Aug. 12 and a 42-28 win Aug. 19 at Summit Academy, “but I feel we could have done better tonight. They hit hard, but we hit harder.”

“We had a few dropped passes that we need to clean up, but other than that we did pretty good on offense,” said Nieves. “We came here to win; we don’t like losing.”

Unofficially, Snyder fired for 307 yards on 18-of-29 accuracy, with Done totaling 99 yards on four grabs. Young caught four balls for 68 yards and Conway two for 46. Nieves logged three catches for 25 yards, and SJHS had four other players record at least one reception. Conway was the Broncos’ top rusher, unofficially gaining 85 yards on 14 carries.

Capable of generating yardage via an array of short passes including quick outs and screens, Barnes unofficially ended up 12-of-22 passing for 159 yards in defeat, and had no hesitation in owning his mistakes.

“The short game was phenomenal, but I tried to force the ball downfield a little too much and it cost us,” he admitted. “We had drives going and I threw picks that ended them, so I’ve got to work on finding the open guy.”

“A lot of times the aggression was probably on my end … and probably unwarranted,” said Wallace. “But we were able to get our playmakers the ball in space, and we’ve got some … on our team that are really promising.”

“I knew early on that it was probably going to be tough sledding in the run game,” he continued. “They’ve got some pretty good outside linebackers, and they were bringing four, five (blitzing) guys most of the time, creating pressure and penetration. So the game plan was to attack that ‘flat’ area, space that they leave open a lot of the time.”

“San Juan plays a bend-don’t-break style of defense; they want to keep everything in front of them, force you into third-down situations and blitz you on third. Which is exactly what they did to us.”

Unofficially, Williams caught six passes for 73 yards. Truby snagged four for 35 and senior Nic Twedt two for 51. Candelaria unofficially totaled 34 yards on eight carries. Barnes picked up 26 on six and Williams 19 on two.

“They gave up the flats really easy,” said Barnes, “and we moved little by little … just tried to play smash mouth football.”

Bayfield (0-1, 0-0 2A Southwestern) will next travel to Aztec for a 7 p.m. kickoff Friday at Fred Cook Memorial Stadium. After a 17-8 loss Aug. 27 at Montezuma-Cortez, the Tigers stand 1-1, 0-0 NMAA Dist. 1-4A.

“Really excited to get back to work,” Wallace said. “Bayfield has great tradition – Gary Heide was here for the last 10 years – but there’s some things I do a little differently, so we’re working to refine those processes … as a staff and as a program.”

“There’s stuff to work on, different terminology and all that,” Barnes said of his new coach’s style, “but I like it. It’s pretty similar to last year; we’ve just got to refine some stuff and figure it out.”