Trailing by one with 10 minutes left, the Bayfield football team rallied to beat Englewood High School on Saturday, 26-13.
Senior Cael Schaefer sparked the rally for BHS. Englewood took the lead on a 22-yard touchdown pass. But on on the ensuing kickoff, Schaefer fielded the ball about the 20 and returned it over 40 yards to Englewood’s 39.
“Cael got the juices flowing again and we realized it was ours for the taking,” said BHS head coach Gary Heide.
Deegan Barnes ran for 18 yards on the next play, then quarterback Isaac Ross completed a 17-yard pass to Schaefer to get to the 4-yard line. On first-and-goal, Ross completed another pass to Caden Wood, who caught the ball at the 1 and bulled his way into the end zone.
After a successful 2-point conversion, BHS went up, 20-13, with 7:14 left.
Bayfield’s defense then continued its strong play, making back-to-back tackles for losses and eventually forcing Englewood to punt.
“Our defense was stellar all game long,” Heide said.
Bayfield picked up a couple first downs and then Ross completed a 38-yard touchdown pass to William Sullivan for some insurance.
WIth the win, Bayfield improved to 1-1 overall and Englewood slipped to 0-1-1. Next, Bayfeild will have two weeks to prepare for its Sept. 17 game at Aztec (1-2).
Ignacio traveled to Newcomb, New Mexico, on Saturday to take on the Skyhawks. Ignacio, however, dominated the game and cruised to a 52-0 win to start its season 2-0.
The Fort Lewis Skyhawks kicked off its season Saturday at home against New Mexico Highlands. The Skyhawks, however, fell behind early and never recovered, losing the contest 44-7.
See Wednesday’s edition of The Durango Herald for the complete stories.
colivas@durangoherald.com
