Baum scores four times as Cibola corrals Eldorado

There’s a sense of the inevitable when Cibola is in the red zone and Hayes Baum enters the game.

That was certainly the case Friday night, as the senior quarterback/linebacker punched in four touchdowns to lead the Cougars (2-1) to a 35-14 victory over Eldorado (1-1) at Nusenda Community Stadium. Baum scored on runs of 2, 1, 17 and 8 yards — the last two within the game’s final seven minutes to put the game out of reach.

“Man, I always revert back to Tim Tebow,” Baum said. “I mean, when I get on that ball and that ball's in my hands, I don't think I'm going to be stopped.

“… When it comes down to it, I know that I've outworked everyone on this field. I mean, I just feel confident when I get in those situations.”

Cibola spotted Eldorado a 7-0 lead at the 7:32 mark of the second quarter when standout receiver Jahari Morehead returned a punt 78 yards to the Cougars 3, and Matthew Rodriguez rumbled in from there. Morehead, who had 296 receiving yards and four touchdowns in a little more than two quarters in the Eagles’ season opener, made little impact the rest of the way. That also held true for the rest of the Eldorado offense, which was picked off four times and struggled to move the ball much of the game.

“We fought through adversity,” said Cibola coach David Howes of the early deficit. “They didn't used to do that. They're doing that now, so good for them.”

The Cougars would reel off 21 straight points from there, with significant contributions from Terry Maes and Jeremiah Gutierrez. Maes, a sophomore who is the other half of Cibola’s quarterback duo, found Gutierrez on passes of 31, 29 and 18 yards on three different possessions in Eldorado territory. Two of those set up short Baum runs, while the 29-yard toss went for a score.

“Terry does an amazing job,” Baum said. “He is going to be one hell of a quarterback in a few years. I'm so fortunate and blessed enough to have him on my team.”

Eldorado briefly had life when it recovered a Cibola fumble deep in Cougars territory early in the fourth quarter. The short field set up a seven-yard TD run by Eagles quarterback Giovanni Evans to cut the deficit to 21-14 with 10:31 remaining. However, Eldorado was intercepted on its next two possessions, and Cibola was able to ice the game behind Baum’s hard running.

Baum was also a key part of that defensive effort that limited the Eagles to just 206 yards, just two weeks after they put up 56 points against Organ Mountain.

“Fortunately for us, our coaches put us in the position to make so many plays, and I racked up a lot of tackles this game, so that's amazing,” Baum said.