AZTEC – Considering how much high-profile football he’s experienced, former NCAA Division I (University of New Mexico, San Diego State University) head coach Rocky Long may not be easily impressed.
Unless it’s by something like what had him, his staff and his Bayfield Wolverines more or less awestruck late in the third quarter of the squad’s 2026 opener.
Things were already improving rapidly for the visitors. Bayfield’s halftime lead on hosting Aztec had increased from 12-0 to 25-0 via senior Cole McWhirter’s 32-yard touchdown pass to junior Harrison Williams on Bayfield’s first drive of the second half.
Elijah Huerta scored on a 1-yard touchdown plunge on the next series — a three-play, 7-yard push set up by senior Kole Domingos’ sack and strip of Tiger freshman quarterback Logan DiGiacomo, and senior Carter Connon’s subsequent fumble recovery and short return with 8:01 left.
After Aztec reinserted senior Joseph Martin under center for a short-lived three-and-out that included another Domingos sack, Bayfield regained possession at its own 26-yard line following an Alejandro Valerio punt.
Williams carried for 8 yards, and after a procedure penalty backed the guests up 5 yards, McWhirter moved the chains by hitting sophomore Joseph Coronado for 7 yards and junior Ashton Hudspeth for 1 yard. What happened next was execution that effectively buried the home side.
Given his requested duration of protection, McWhirter launched a bomb some 40 yards in the air and placed the football perfectly into Williams’ outstretched hands. Without breaking his stride — while paralleling Aztec’s sideline, no less — Williams completed the game-clinching 62-yard connection.
“Wasn’t that a nice throw? And a nice catch?” Long said. “We made some fantastic plays like that one — we also missed some wide-open receivers too; it’s 50/50, right? — that gained a lot of yards or points. But we can still get a lot better.”
New kicker Gunner Frane’s point-after attempt was successful, and the Wolverines built a 32-0 advantage that remained unblemished by the time backup quarterback Landon Knapp knelt the ball at the Bayfield 43 to run out the contest’s final 27 seconds — a brief possession made possible when Jake Vyborny recovered a Tiger catch dislodged by the omnipresent Domingos.
A short McWhirter touchdown carry during the first quarter got Bayfield (1-0 overall, 0-0 CHSAA Class 1A Southern) on Fred Cook Memorial Stadium’s scoreboard, but Aztec (0-1, 0-0 NMAA District 1-3A) managed to prevent further damage early.
This was thanks to junior Lorenzo Munoz’s end-zone interception of McWhirter with 27 seconds left in the first quarter, and Munoz’s stop of Domingos at the Tigers’ 3-yard line with 38 seconds left until intermission.
“Obviously we don’t have that big of a team this year. We’re going to be outnumbered a lot of times, so we’re going to have to work harder than everyone else — that’s what we had to do tonight,” McWhirter said, “and that’s what we did.”
Looking ahead, the Wolverines will travel Aug. 28 to challenge Kirtland Central. Kickoff against the Broncos (1-0, 0-0 District 1-3A) is set for 7 p.m.
First-year head coach Colton Weaver’s Tigers, meanwhile, will head to Cuba (0-1, 0-0 District 5-2A) on the same day, also getting underway at 7 p.m.