Home

Kremmling — The West Grand football team took the wind out of Hayden's sails Friday night in Kremmling.

With a few big-play passes from senior quarterback Mackenzie Widener and a clean offense that refused to turn over the ball, the Mustangs beat a lackluster Hayden squad, 20-7.

"I think we came in a little too big-headed," senior Aaron Haskins said of the Tigers, who came into the game with a No. 4 ranking that the West Grand announcer reminded fans of as the home team led 20-0 in the final minute of the third quarter.

"Everybody was reading Rocky Preps and thinking that we would walk over everybody in the league. We weren't focused and we weren't prepared," Haskins said.

The disparity of the two teams' intensity was apparent early on. After the Hayden offense opened with a three-and-out, Widener proved why he earned a nod from both West Grand coach Chris Brown and Hayden coach Shawn Baumgartner as "the best quarterback in the league." Widener weaved a pass to Marshall Kraker, who dodged a tackle and took the ball to the Hayden goal line.

Widener and Kraker connected again in the second quarter, with running backs Cory Davis and Louie Farrell earning the hard yards up the gut that typically characterize the Hayden offense.

But Hayden regained its swagger with its most impressive drive of the game to close the half, running 17 plays in four minutes for 68 yards. Aaron Haskins delivered the ball up the middle as quarterback Mitch Doolin and running back Coy Letlow worked the option on either side. But with no timeouts, the Tigers had to look to the air as the clock wound down, and they failed to find the end zone.

"It hurt not scoring before the half and being able to carry that momentum over," Baumgartner said.

Brown said the key to his second half was being able to burn the clock and minimize turnovers. Last year, his team had eight of them in Hayden and lost, 37-6. On Friday, they had zero turnovers and earned a victory.

Doolin and Letlow connected on an option play to score a 17-yard touchdown to get on the board. But the West Grand defense stopped Hayden's drives twice on fourth down in the final quarter to seal the win.

"There's no more messing around now," Haskins said. "It's football all day, everyday from here out, focusing 110 percent for Paonia at home next week."

The win puts West Grand at 2-1 overall and 1-0 in the Western Slope League, while Hayden drops to 2-1 overall and 0-1 in the league.

- To reach Dave Shively, call 871-4253

or e-mail dshively@steamboatpilot.com