The team cast well aside on the scoresheet, cast-wearing sophomore Colton Fine still wasn't about to cast away the day without one - no, two last casts of the proverbial dice - seeking some sort of good fortune.

One of three Wolverines with left arms on the mend but still out on Riverview Elementary School pitch Tuesday afternoon, Fine's twin tries during the season-opener's closing eight minutes not only nearly stole a non-league shutout from the 4A Durango JV, but punctuated a stretch of play hinting at some of 3A Bayfield's youthful promise.

"I'm very excited to be back on the field," said Fine, whose solid shots in the 73rd and 75th minutes took full advantage of the officials' miscount of the hosting Demons' goals (their 10th, which should have enacted CHSAA's 'mercy rule,' was scored in the 69th). "Even though I have a broken arm I'm still going to play through!"

Co-captains Tilden Berriman and Finlay Marshall, a sophomore and junior respectively, had led a couple of credible charges offensively in the first half. But no BHS player pulled the trigger until Berriman finally did so after intermission-at which point the deficit was just 3-0, with all damage done in the first 15 minutes.

"I feel like the team just got it in their heads that we need to spread out more, and that we just need to play as one," Fine said. "And.later on in the season we will do better, and we will get our touches on (net)."

Starting with a ninth-minute header of a crossing pass, DHS' Logan Fullington got the scoring underway and then struck again in the 13th to firmly establish an uphill grind for the visitors. Though scores came much more frequently against him in the second half, Bayfield soph Chad Winkler became more and more comfortable in his goalkeeper role and it showed in a few athletic, diving saves (of which he totaled 22).

"It felt really good," he said of his varsity debut, despite the 10-nil outcome. "This is my first year as goalie-ever-so I'm new to it.and some of those felt really good, to be able to go out there and just get them."

Up next, the Wolverines (0-1, 0-0 3A Southwestern) will welcome Montezuma-Cortez (0-1, 0-0) at 3 p.m. today to begin SWL work, then have a while off before resuming it at home on Sept. 12 versus Telluride.

"We did scrimmage last week against Pagosa, and I think we've improved a lot since then already," said Winkler. "So I definitely see a lot of improvements for our team during this season."

"And we.even have a JV," noted Fine, looking at a well-stocked bench, "and I feel our JV is going to learn more about the game, to step up to varsity."

HISTORY CLASS: 2015 marks the 40th anniversary of CHSAA-sanctioned boys' soccer competition. Cherry Creek won the inaugural "unclassified" state championship in 1975, long before the first "classified" season in 1990 with '1A-4A,' 5A, and 6A divisions being contested. Monument Lewis-Palmer was the initial 'Class 3A' best, concluding the '94 campaign.