Iconic, yet mysterious Mississippi musician Robert Johnson recorded “32-20 Blues” back in 1936.
The Bayfield Wolverines felt a different sort of “32-20 Blues” on Friday. They fell behind early at Salida, fought back, but never fully rallied in losing on the road by a dozen points.
“To be honest, it was kind of weird … before we knew it,” said head football coach Glenn Wallace. “They recovered an onside kick on the first kickoff, and just scored in bunches – scored their first drive, then scored on the first play of their second drive.”
Psyched up for senior night, and even more so over surprising the Wolverines out of gate, Spartan junior Christopher Graf (10-80 rushing) broke through the line for an early 32-yard touchdown run, and classmate Ashton Walker’s first pass of the game went to 6-feet, 3-inch senior Drew Johnson for a 64-yard TD.
“Our guys definitely had the chance to kind of pack it in, say ‘Well, I guess they’re going to kick our butt,’” Wallace admitted, “but they never did. We went back and scored on our second drive … and at that point it was, like, 12 to 8 – we went for a two (-point conversion).”
SHS sophomore Wyatt Farney had an 88-yard kickoff return TD in the 2A Southwestern contest, and also broke free on a second-and-18 tote for about a 70-yard score and finished with a reported 117 yards on just seven carries. Walker would later add a deceptive naked-bootleg TD run from three yards out as Salida – held scoreless by both Montezuma-Cortez and Delta the previous two weeks – improved to 4-4 overall, 1-2 in conference.
BHS senior quarterback Deegan Barnes threw for 75 yards and a couple TDs on 7-of-16 passing, but was unfortunately ejected in the third quarter after being flagged for a second personal-foul infraction.
“I was surprised that happened as well,” Wallace said. “There were just times in the game where it felt like it was definitely a reach, and still our boys never quit.”
Sophomore receiver Lincoln Williams (4-34 receiving, TD; 10-34 rushing) took over under center, and performed admirably considering the circumstances. Twice intercepted deep in enemy territory – by Farney and junior Brady Potts – he still finished 14-of-30 through the air for 119 yards and a touchdown.
“He’s a special type of kid. We kind of always knew that if something happened to Deegan, Lincoln’s gotten some reps in practice,” Wallace said. “He was uncomfortable his first two drives, but he stepped in and ended up getting into a rhythm … trying to get us back in the game … as the second half wore on.”
Junior Keaton Pickering totaled four receptions for 28 yards and a TD, and junior Donovan ‘Dante’ Candelaria (10-20 rushing) caught one pass for a 33-yard score. Junior Granite Truby proved a reliable target, grabbing eight throws for 71 yards, though Bayfield dropped to 0-7, 0-2 SWC prior to hosting undefeated Delta – on Senior Night – at 7 p.m. Friday.
The Panthers beat Salida 41-0 two weeks ago and stand 7-0 overall.
“The only setback that I feel happened was against Centauri; I was a little disappointed with our performance there,” said Wallace. “But we’ve had some really close games the last couple weeks, and we’re just going to work on getting better. Improving every single week, that’s been our mantra all year and I feel like we really have improved on a week-to-week basis.”
“We’re not going to place too much emphasis on the fact that Delta looks tough,” he added. “Our players are tough too, and we know we can go out there and compete with a lot of schools.”
