Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — Hayden coach Shawn Baumgartner was unsure of the details of next week’s cross-divisional game, such as when it would be or even whether or not it qualified as a playoff game.

He was, however, sure that his team had earned the chance to play at home and that because of action across the state, the opponent for that game would be Simla.

Hayden secured second place in its division Friday night by beating Vail Christian, 49-20, ensuring the Tigers a home game, be it next Friday or Saturday.

“The important thing is we got out of there with a win, and we get to host the game next week,” he said.

As usual, Hayden relied on a heavy helping of Mark Doolin, who had a hand in each of the team’s seven touchdowns. He scored five times on the ground, running in from 1 yard out on four separate occasions. He broke free from 20 yards away in the fourth quarter.

He also found Aaron Cramer for two touchdowns through the air, one from 40 yards and one from 3.

Doolin finished with 150 yards rushing and another 180 passing.

“Teams have really started to key on him, so a lot of those yards were tough,” Baumgartner said. “His longest run was that 20-yard touchdown. Other than that, it was a lot of 7-, 6- or 5-yard runs where he’s kind of picking and choosing what he’s doing. He’s running the ball hard, like a running back.”

The Tigers were explosive on offense and managed to contain Vail Christian on defense. Hayden led 21-0 at one point and was up 21-6 at half. The team then opened it up further in the second half.

“They had a pretty good passing game and were able to get some big passes on us,” Baumgartner said.

To reach Joel Reichenberger, call 970-871-4253 or email jreichenberger@SteamboatToday.com