For the second time in three games, the Bayfield Wolverines did all their damage – on the scoreboard, at least – before halftime. For the second time, it proved enough against a nonconference opponent.
Able to convert two second-quarter takeaways Friday night into 13 points with less than two minutes remaining until the break, BHS entered intermission leading Ignacio by 17 points and ultimately held on for a 23-18 road win in this season’s installment of the renewed Pine River Rivalry.
Bayfield improved to 3-0 overall and Ignacio dropped to 0-4 overall.
“It feels amazing,” said Wolverine senior Jack Waters. “The hype was real out here, our fans were cheering us on and it feels great to win against a rival.
Waters’ recovery of a failed Bobcat option pitch from senior quarterback Zane Pontine to senior running back Lincoln deKay set BHS up at IHS’ 10 with 1:35 left in the second quarter, and led to senior Estevan Gonzales’ four-yard TD carry three plays later. Senior Ayden Casillas’ point-after kick was good, putting Bayfield up 23-6 with 33.6 ticks left.
The Wolverines’ previous score, coming with 1:50 to go, was also the end product of an Ignacio turnover, as sophomore Maxus ‘Max’ Johnston picked off Pontine on the 12th play of a Bobcat march which began at IHS’ 45, reached BHS’ 12 and consumed 6:41 worth of clock.
Back on offense at their own 27 after a penalty against IHS, the Wolverines first gained 3 yards via two Gonzales carries. Junior quarterback Cole McWhirter then launched a perfect sideline bomb to junior James Sandoval, who caught it and outran all pursuers for a 70-yard score – and 16-6 advantage – with 1:50 left.
“The offensive line … I give all my credit to them, genuinely, because they’re the only reason I threw that ball, right?” said McWhirter. “Coach really just put a lot of faith in me to throw the ball and he knows we can throw the ball well with our offensive line this year. So he just gave me the opportunity to put one out there and I told him I would.”
All told, McWhirter ended up with 122 yards on 7-of-11 passing. Forty of those yards came on the first play from scrimmage, as things couldn’t have started better for BHS.
Gonzales returned IHS junior William Mendoza-Lechuga’s game-starting kickoff 25 yards and the Wolverines received another 15 thanks to Gonzales being pulled down via a yank on his face mask. McWhirter then lobbed a 40-yard touchdown along the Bayfield sideline, over Bobcat senior Aven Bourriague and into Gonzales’ hands.
Casillas nailed the PAT and, just 13 seconds in, Bayfield had a 7-0 lead. Which, after an Ignacio three-and-out and Mendoza-Lechuga punt, promptly grew to 10-0 when Casillas drilled a new school-record 47-yard field goal with 7:14 left in the first quarter.
The hosting ’Cats countered with 0:16 remaining, as deKay (13-57 rushing, 1-71 receiving) broke at least two tackles on a 9-yard run around left tackle and completed a 15-play, 70-yard drive which ate up 6:50. Pontine then hit senior D.J. Hendren with the conversion pass, but Hendren was stopped short, leaving the score Bayfield 10, Ignacio 6.
Almost foreshadowing Ignacio’s second-half intensity, freshman Zackariah Loudenburg got the second quarter underway dropping Gonzales (6-23 rushing, 2-43 receiving) for a 5-yard loss with a vicious tackle, and the Wolverines would punt three plays later – setting in motion the drive Johnston halted with his interception.
“If I wouldn’t have fumbled it or threw an interception then the game might have been different,” said Pontine. “But I like how our defense really just stepped up in the second half; in the first half we were just kind of letting stuff go.”
After starting the third quarter at their own 20 after a Casillas touchback, the Bobcats hit pay dirt on their second series when Pontine, after first scrambling to his right and then back to his left, zinged a 9-yard TD to freshman Keyon Alston with 4:54 left. Pontine’s two-point plunge, however, was stuffed at the goal line, and Ignacio trailed 23-12.
Perhaps sensing a need to keep IHS’ offense off the field as long as possible, Bayfield went ball-control for the rest of the game. Senior Caelan Ramos (6-42 rushing) was put in the backfield behind McWhirter, and shared carries with Waters (6-20), sophomore Harrison Williams and freshman Trinity McKee – a time-killing plan which worked, but only produced two turnovers-on-downs and two Casillas punts.
IHS, meanwhile, would strike once more when Pontine (14 completions, 226 yards passing) powered into the end zone from 8 yards out, capping a 70-yard push with 2:58 left in the fourth and final frame. His two-point toss went incomplete, allowing the Wolverines to keep a dwindling five-point lead.
Working from his own 30 with 98 seconds and zero timeouts left, Pontine first rushed for 5 yards but then missed Alston long. A shorter completion to Bourriague (5-62) advanced Ignacio to the 40 but not far enough to earn a new set of downs – IHS’ coaches certainly felt the ’Cats had – and BHS junior Kole Domingos then sacked a hurried Pontine for a 15-yard loss.
“Clutch scenario, you know? You’ve got to get the quarterback when you can,” said Domingos. “I’d really been fighting their tackle all night; he and I had a great battle, and they also moved a running back over to help stop me but it didn’t work.”
McWhirter then knelt the ball once in ‘victory formation,’ punctuating the exciting night at IHS Field.
Bayfield will host Centauri at 7 p.m. Friday, with the rested Falcons (2-1 overall) more than two weeks removed from a 37-27 home loss to nonconference Buena Vista.
After a second bye week this fall, Jake Nossaman’s Bobcats will return to action Oct. 4 and begin SCC play at home against Centauri. Kickoff at IHS Field that afternoon is set for 1 p.m.
