{"id":31894,"date":"2023-09-07T18:14:08","date_gmt":"2023-09-07T18:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/bayfield-soccer-beats-m-chs-to-grab-league-lead\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T07:48:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T07:48:15","slug":"bayfield-soccer-beats-m-chs-to-grab-league-lead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/bayfield-soccer-beats-m-chs-to-grab-league-lead\/","title":{"rendered":"Bayfield soccer beats M-CHS to grab league lead"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Bayfield's
Bayfield's Caden Ross advances the ball forward while being pressured by Montezuma-Cortez's Raul Soto during 3A Southwest League play Tuesday at BHS. The Wolverines won their home opener 6-0 over the Panthers. (Joel Priest\/Special to the Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Regardless of how their trip to Kirtland Central (1-5 overall, 0-0 NMAA Dist. 1-4A) panned out on Thursday, the Bayfield Wolverines traveled at full readiness and with morale surging after a 6-0 victory on Tuesday over Montezuma-Cortez.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that it\u2019s exactly what we needed,\u201d said sophomore Zach Hufnagel, who scored one goal and assisted on two others. \u201cEverybody at this school, all the parents have heard that, like, we\u2019ve been winning games away, and now we come home and win 6-0? I think it was a great showcase for our season and how it\u2019s going to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think our quality definitely improved,\u201d said head coach Chris Zoltowski. \u201cWe knew that they play it deep, and we were worried that we wouldn\u2019t be able to break their lines like \u2026 in Aztec; it was a whole different game plan for us, but they just came together and executed it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zoltowski and assistant coach Zac Keeler were honored before the game for coaching their 100th regular-season contest together earlier this season (their 100th overall was in last season\u2019s CHSAA Class 3A State Tournament against Roaring Fork).<\/p>\n

Stepping onto the grass inside Wolverine Country Stadium following the emotional pre-match commemoration, Bayfield\u2019s focus was tested virtually immediately.<\/p>\n

\"Bayfield
Bayfield head boys soccer coach Chris Zoltowski, right, and assistant Zac Keeler get recognized prior to kickoff Tuesday for having worked their 100th regular-season match together earlier this season. The Wolverines then proceeded to win their home opener, 6-0 over Montezuma-Cortez in 3A Southwest League action. (Joel Priest\/Special to the Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Fortunately the Wolverines passed, with senior defender Shae Railsback thwarting M-CHS freshman Koyle Martinez\u2019s third-minute breakaway chance from behind, then heading away to safety Panther senior Raul Soto\u2019s ensuing corner kick.<\/p>\n

The ball quickly found its way to BHS sophomore Tauer Crotty, who then played it ahead to sophomore Ayden Casillas. At full speed, Casillas was unstoppable and slipped the ball past drawn-out goalkeeper Samson Lein for a 1-0 lead four minutes in. Crotty doubled the advantage in the 16th, finishing senior Lance Mitchell\u2019s cross set up by Hufnagel playing a corner short to Mitchell, rather than long and near Lein\u2019s goal box.<\/p>\n

Railsback rang a 36-yard free kick off Lein\u2019s crossbar in the 19th, but senior Asher Madonna was right there to knock in the rebound, increasing the lead to 3-0. And after having a strong shot tipped over the frame by Lein in the 38th, Hufnagel proceeded to serve the resulting corner to Railsback, charging to Lein\u2019s far post, for a header and 4-0 cushion.<\/p>\n

Still not satisfied, Bayfield (4-0-0, 2-0-0 3A Southwest) got a 40th-minute finish from Hufnagel (assisted by Mitchell) and soon went into halftime in complete command, having allowed just one off-target Panther shot attempt.<\/p>\n

Hoping for any sort of improvement after a 10-nil loss Saturday at nonleague Rifle, Montezuma-Cortez (1-2-1, 0-1-0) managed to put two post-intermission tries on Wolverine keeper Lane Hunter, but the sophomore denied both. And after junior Ben Hoffman was given a yellow card in the 52nd minute, BHS capitalized one last time when Mitchell alertly finished off Madonna\u2019s 53rd-minute free kick \u2013 restarting play after Hoffman\u2019s booking, and initially batted away by Lein.<\/p>\n

With Bayfield also keeping the pressure on by earning no fewer than eight corners, Lein was often the best weapon the Panthers had and totaled 10 saves, unofficially.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, in Aztec we \u2026 missed most of our shots, and our passes were not what they had been,\u201d Hufnagel said, referring to BHS\u2019 6-0 road win over the Tigers, \u201cbut we practiced all summer \u2026 and this was what we can do. A hundred percent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLane\u2019s really showed up \u2026 these past couple games, communicating with his team and making sure they all kept the ball out of the net,\u201d Keeler said of BHS\u2019 up-and-coming goalie. \u201cCertainly we like what Lane did, but our defense and midfield were big contributors in all of that too.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been an honor being able to coach with Keeler; he\u2019s super knowledgeable,\u201d Zoltowski said. \u201cHe\u2019s the \u2018ying\u2019 to my \u2018yang\u2019 with defense, where I\u2019m more (about) attacking, and so we have a good mix of coaching philosophies. I\u2019ve been real fortunate to have him here this long.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been awesome to be able to be with Chris and these kids; it\u2019s fun to see them get excited for the games,\u201d said Keeler. \u201cTo watch them grow season after season, from freshmen all the way up to seniors \u2026. Chris and I have had a great journey together; it was awesome to be honored like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

After facing KCHS, the Wolverines will prepare for a Sept. 15 visit from 3A Tri-Peaks force Manitou Springs, which also improved to 4-0 overall on Tuesday with a 2-0 win over Alamosa (0-5, 0-1 SWL). After one round of league games, the Wolverines lead the SWL with a 2-0 mark while Alamosa and M-CHS are both 0-1.<\/p>\n

\"Bayfield's
Bayfield's Zach Hufnagel, left, controls possession along the sideline and away from Montezuma-Cortez's Koyle Martinez during 3A Southwest League play on Tuesday at BHS. The Wolverines won their home opener 6-0 over the Panthers. (Joel Priest\/Special to the Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

coaches saluted prior to home opener<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31895,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1871,36,845],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-31894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-bayfield-high-school","tag-montezuma-cortez-high-school","tag-soccer"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31894"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31894\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81602,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31894\/revisions\/81602"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31894"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=31894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}