If Colorado's Class 3A Southwestern League championship chase was determined by a point system, a la England's famed Premiership, nobody would have believed Bayfield could - let alone did - take three points (two per win, one per tie) from as many circuit road matches beginning 2016.

Maybe not even the Wolverines themselves.

"I wouldn't have," senior goalkeeper Austin Bushnell said Tuesday evening after the team's westerly trip into Montezuma County, "because my freshman year ... we didn't win any games, and then last year we only tied one and lost all the rest. So ... no, I wouldn't have believed it."

Fellow veteran Tilden Berriman, whose first-half score in last Friday's season-opener at Telluride held up as BHS mucked the Miners' mindset and saved a 1-1 double-overtime draw, would also have been skeptical.

"Well I know we all went in with confused heads, with the game against Telluride and the game against Ridgway," he said, referring to the thriller of a debut and the next morning's 3-0 wake-up call of a loss - something more familiar to Bayfield boys' soccer during much of the last decade. "But we came through; we made our connections, took our shots, we did what we were told to do in practice. And it worked for us!"

The match left the Montezuma-Cortez Panthers in disbelief. It also earned the hard-luck BHS program its first victory since Sept. 6, 2014 - two years ago to the day - versus Alamosa, coincidentally today's destination (4 p.m. kickoff), and just its 10th victory since 2010. The Wolverines had been winless in the program's past 27 outings, including 10 straight losses after beating the Mean Moose 4-1. Only last year's scoreless stalemate at - ironically - Alamosa was a positive result during the drought.

"This is probably one of the greatest days of my life, to be completely honest," said Berriman, who all but secured the long-sought, 4-2 triumph over M-CHS by finishing senior Finlay Marshall's 72nd-minute cross. "Been waiting for this for a long time, and we're all - not just me, but everybody - so happy that this happened."

"Right at the beginning I knew - on the bus, we knew - that something would start us off," Marshall said.

And that something came before most fans at Johnson Memorial Field were comfortably seated.

Taking a quick corner kick from senior Alex Knight, Marshall cracked a low liner of a kick towards Panther freshman goalie Tegan Whiteskunk, who couldn't make a clean scoop and instead deflected the shot into his net in only the second minute of action.

"I'm just glad luck was on our side!" Marshall said. "I was a little surprised! Our coach always tells us to play fast corners, for that exact reason - they're not prepped. I was going far bar, but sometimes ... luck happens and it went near bar, the keeper fumbled it a little bit, and that was easily a great start!"However, after zipping a free kick over a three-Wolverine 'wall' in the 12th, M-CHS senior star Manuel Martinez buried an equalizing 31st-minute penalty kick to Bushnell's right. Incredibly, Bayfield (1-1-1 overall, 1-1-1 league) retook the lead in the 32nd, with Marcus Isiordia cashing in a breakaway after a Marshall set-up pass.

All in all, we did really good as a team," Isiordia said. "Did combinations, tried not to be selfish, and just played to the one who had the best chance of getting a goal! It's always a good feeling, knowing you have a chance to score. You've just got to be able to take it! I missed one I know I should have had, but...all respect to that keeper. He tried his best."

Whiteskunk and Montezuma-Cortez (1-2-0, 0-1-0) would go into halftime at 2-2 after senior Skylar Yarbrough took sophomore Juan Para's through ball and put it past Bushnell in the 37th, but BHS bounced back with a vengeance, with their misses just as exciting as their final two makes.

Isiordia narrowly missed in the 44th, and Berriman - who'd set up that attempt - clanged one off the post in the 52nd against backup goalie Davian Robinson with Isiordia unable to get to the rebound.

Undeterred, the speedster would put the Wolverines up 3-2 10 minutes later, then drill a post himself in the 65th.

"I've only started soccer this year, and it's good to help get a win," he said. "Especially for these guys!"

Berriman then bulls-eyed Robinson's crossbar from at least 25 yards out in the 70th, before at last netting the aforementioned clincher and allowing first-year head coach Chris Zoltowski to insert junior reserve Chad Winkler in the 76th and afford Bushnell (unofficially 10 saves) a well-deserved ovation upon his exit.

"Was pretty scary, honestly," Bushnell said of the match-long pace, requiring his acrobatics to be in top form. "Number 10 (Martinez) had a really good far-post shot; I'm surprised I actually got to it! And Number Seven (senior Jesus Ruiz) had a breakaway, almost scored, but it went near-post a little too close and I saved it." Unofficially, Bayfield outshot M-CHS 23-18 and had a shots-on-goal lead of 15-13 as Whiteskunk was credited with four saves and Robinson seven.

"Really, we only got stopped on a PK and a set-piece," Marshall said. "We shut those down and then we can play our game. Coach is really stressing aggression-we do a lot of pushups, all the time-so we're being more of a physical team. That's the goal this year."

We still have most of the players we had last year," Berriman noted, "and.since the beginning of the summer we've just been pushing ourselves every single day. And it's definitely paid off for us."

Still with a long way to go before dividends are paid in full, the crew visits Alamosa today before finally welcoming competition - Pagosa Springs, to be exact - to Wolverine Country Stadium on Sept. 13 for a 4 p.m. start.