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With two regular-season games remaining in the 2004 season, the Hayden Tigers had a chance to secure the Western Slope Title with a win against West Grand on Friday night.

They wouldn't let it slip away.

The Tigers, 6-0 in the league and 8-0 overall, proved they are the top team in the Western Slope Conference by getting the job done through the air, on the ground and, when they needed to, on defense in a 39-6 victory over the West Grand Mustangs.

"We sealed up the conference championship tonight, so this was big for us," Hayden coach Shawn Baumgartner said. "I looked at the wall this week, and I think the last time we hung a banner was 1988. These kids have been great. ... They come out determined to win every week."

Their determination was apparent from the start of Friday's game against West Grand, 5-3 (4-2) -- a team that was hoping to upset the Tigers and move into a tie for the league lead.

But three times in the first half, the Mustangs drove to the Tiger's 20-yard line, only to be turned away.

"We were a little worried they would get us, but our line held them," Hayden quarterback Keenan Bruchez said. "Our lines did a hell of a job tonight."

On the other side of the ball, the Tigers wasted little time in taking advantage of the stalled Mustang drives.

After West Grand came up short on the opening drive, it took just two plays for Hayden to get on the scoreboard.

Jesse Drennan's 20-yard run on first down gave the Tigers some breathing room. On the next play, Tiger quarterback Keenan Bruchez hooked up with Drennan for a 60-yard touchdown pass to give Hayden the 7-0 lead.

Bruchez passed for just more than 200 yards in the first half and finished 10 of 17 for 266 yards. He also led the team in rushing with 128 yards on nine carries.

West Grand quarterback Peter Hargardine tossed a 30-yard pass to Chase Underbrink to open West Grand's next drive. A 15-yard personal foul moved the Mustangs just outside the Tigers' 20-yard line for the second time in the game. But once again, the defense shut down the Mustangs' offense.

West Grand was forced to turn the ball over after failing to convert on fourth down for the second time in the game.

This time, it took the Tigers five plays to get to the end zone. Bruchez capped off the drive with a 57-yard touchdown pass to tight end Tyson Letlow, who finished the game with five catches for 85 yards.

The extra point failed, but the Tigers took a commanding 13-0 lead in the game.

West Grand put together another long drive at the end of the first quarter, but the Tigers defense held the Mustangs at the 20-yard line. Eleven plays later, the Tigers ended up in the end zone again. Bruchez carried the ball across the goal in the first of three second-quarter touchdowns.

Drennan added another Tiger touchdown on a 6-yard run, and Bruchez tossed a 2-yard touchdown pass to Letlow later in the quarter to give the Tigers a 32-0 advantage at the half.

West Grand's only score of the game came on a 22-play, 11-minute drive that began in the third quarter and carried over to the fourth. Underbrink scored on a 3-yard run to make the score 32-6. But the Tigers' Cam Whiteman scored the final touchdown of the game with 4:48 left on a two-yard dive into the end zone.

The victory guarantees the Tigers this year's Western Slope title. The Tigers will try to take their record to nine wins in a row next weekend, when the team travels to Oak Creek to take on the Rams in the final regular season game.