The Bayfield High School football team hit the No. 1-ranked in New Mexico’s Class 4A, Bloomfield, head on Friday during its homecoming contest.
Bloomfield ran a hurry-up offense that was pass-heavy and able to pick up yards in bunches. The Wolverines, however, were up to the challenge early and kept the Bobcats from scoring in the first quarter.
After Bayfield was forced to punt on its opening drive, the Wolverines caused Bloomfield to fumble, and Keaton Pickering recovered the ball for Bayfield.
The Wolverines then picked up a couple first downs. Quarterback Deegan Barnes connected with Nic Twedt, who shook off a face mask to make a catch for a 10-yard gain. The drive, however, stalled at midfield and Bayfield was forced to punt.
Both teams then went 3-and-out on their next drives and the first quarter ended scoreless.
Bloomfield, began the second with a 27-yard completion from Ryan Sharpe to Drew Perez, and two plays later the Sharpe tossed Perez a 2-yard touchdown pass. The extra point missed wide, and Bloomfield led 6-0.
After Bayfield was forced to punt, the Wildcats put together an 87-yard scoring drive, capped by a 9-yard touchdown run from Andres Gordo. After the two-point conversion was good, Bloomfield went up 14-0.
The Wolverines, however, answered with a pair of big plays to get on the scoreboard. First, Twedt returned the ensuing kick off about 40 yards to Bloomfield’s 38. On the next play, Barnes threw a 38-yard touchdown pass to Lincoln Williams. The extra point missed, but Bayfield cut the lead to 14-6.
Bloomfield answered with another score; Gordo’s second touchdown run, from 11 yards out, gave Bloomfield a 20-6 lead.
After an interception, Bloomfield went for the end zone again, but the half ended when a Bobcat caught a pass just out of bounds in the end zone.
Both teams played stingy defense in the third quarter, but Bloomfield extended its lead to 28-6 in the fourth quarter.
Bayfield kept fighting and reached the end zone once more. On a halfback option, Donovan Candalaria threw a 32-yard touchdown pass with 5:19 left in the game that cut Bloomfield’s lead to 28-12.
The Wolverines continued playing well on defense and shut down Bloomfield the rest of the way.
Unfortunately, Bayfield wasn’t able to score anymore and Bloomfield finished on top, 28-12.
Bloomfield improved to 6-0 with the win, but it was only the team’s second game decided by less than 40 points.
The Wolverines slipped to 0-5 with the loss, but showed big improvements.
The Ignacio High School football team rebounded from a loss last week to Montezuma-Cortez by blowing out Trinidad on Friday. Ignacio led 24-0 at halftime and eventually won the game 38-0. Ignacio is now 3-1 overall.
