Friday’s Gunnison at Bayfield football game will be, by most measures, a top-10 matchup in Class 2A.
The Colorado High School Activities Association ant MaxPreps.com have both teams ranked that highly, and The Associated Press ranks BHS (3-2, 1-0 Western Slope League South) just outside its top 10.
Don’t mention that to BHS head coach Gary Heide or the Wolverines, though.
They’re focused on being 1-0 in league play and beating the Cowboys at 7 p.m. Friday at Wolverine Country Stadium.
“It’s a league game, and all of our league games are very important,” Heide said Thursday. “We only have five of them, and our goals are set high. It’s a league game, and we’ve got to play our best ball in the league.”
Gunnison certainly accomplished that last season.
The Cowboys won the old Western League with a perfect 7-0 record, including a physical 7-0 win over BHS last October.
They’re 1-0 so far in this season’s new WSL after routing Montezuma-Cortez 50-15 last week.
Gunnison (4-1, 1-0 WSL) only has lost to 2A consensus No. 1 Kent Denver in its first game of the season.
“They’re well-coached and run a lot of basic power football,” Heide said of Gunnison. “We have to be ready for their passion. They’re relentless. They’re what all football teams strive to be.”
The Cowboys don’t have statistics listed on MaxPreps but feature a roster with 11 seniors, including 6-3 quarterback Jake Wallin.
BHS, on the other hand, will enter the game with confidence after beating then-No. 10 Olathe 48-22 on Friday in Olathe to move up in the rankings.
“I think we’re feeling pretty confident,” Heide said.
None more so than BHS junior running back Zane Phelps.
Phelps ranks in the top 25 in Colorado across all classifications with 781 rushing yards and has scored 11 times already.
Two other Wolverines backs, junior Brody McGhehey and senior Colter McMenimen, have eclipsed 150 yards rushing, and junior quarterback Kelton McCoy adds balance with 265 yards passing and five touchdowns.
They’ll all get to showcase their skills in front of a home crowd for the first time since an Aug. 29 win against Kirtland Central.
BHS played on the road all four weeks in September, splitting the four games.
“Being home is great. If you’ve got the choice, you’d rather be at home,” Heide said. “We knew what was in store for us at the beginning of the year. We had to focus on being road warriors and look at the positives of that.”
In addition to the Wolverines coming home after their September road trip, Friday’s game literally will be homecoming for BHS, with all of the potential distractions that provides.
“I’m not concerned about it,” Heide said of the ancillary homecoming festivities. “It is the homecoming week, and we’re totally aware of that. We know that football is priority No. 1. Everything else is second to that.”
kgrabowski@durangoherald.com
