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No. 5 Durango football ends season with 49-21 loss to No. 13 Loveland

Loveland QB too much for Durango

It didn’t take long for the game to go south for No. 5 Durango on Saturday afternoon in the Colorado High School Activities Association’s Class 4A State Football Playoff quarterfinal matchup at No. 13 Loveland.

The Demons won the toss and sent their defense out to set the tone with a quick stop. It was a quick possession for Loveland, but it wasn’t a stop for Durango.

The Indians (7-5) marched down the field with ease and, in 2 minutes and 42 seconds, Charles Dunkelman’s 4-yard touchdown run gave the home team an early 7-0 lead and set the tone for the afternoon in Loveland’s 49-21 quarterfinal win against Durango.

Loveland senior quarterback Ayden Eberhardt was unstoppable. He ran for 169 yards and a touchdown on the ground to go along with 199 yards passing and three more touchdowns.

“(Eberhardt) made some plays that just killed us,” Durango head coach David Vogt said in a phone interview with The Durango Herald. “He’s a heck of an athlete and a great quarterback.”

Indians’ wide receiver Ryan Svendsen gave the Demons fits on both sides of the ball. He had two touchdown catches on offense and two interceptions on defense. Charles Dunkelman also did damage for Loveland with two rushing touchdowns in the quarterfinal win.

The Indians will host No. 1 Pine Creek in next week’s semifinal.

“We’re a momentum team, and we never really got going (Saturday),” Vogt said. “Every time something good happened, they responded and we never kept that momentum going.”

After the opening scoring drive for Loveland, the Demons moved the ball right back at them. The first offensive possession saw Durango get all the way to the Indians’ 7-yard line only to get turned away on fourth-and-goal.

The next drive had the same outcome, as the Demons had something going until they were stopped on fourth-and-6 at Loveland’s 29-yard line.

With a 7-0 lead to start the second quarter, Loveland’s Eberhardt was just getting started.

The senior quarterback and the Indians’ offense gashed Durango’s defense repeatedly with big plays in the second quarter.

It started with a 48-yard run by Eberhardt that set up a 36-yard touchdown catch by Svendsen on a trick play, double-pass that gave Loveland a 14-0 lead.

Durango came right back with a 6-yard touchdown pass from Terrence Trujillo to sophomore Gavin Mestas, but the celebration was short lived.

On the second play of the ensuing Loveland drive, Eberhardt outran the Demons’ defense down the sideline for a 46-yard touchdown. On the next Indians drive, the first play resulted in a 44-yard touchdown pass from Eberhardt to Calvin Kelley, as the home team took a 28-7 lead to the locker room at the half.

With the ball to start the second half and a chance to build some momentum, the Durango offense stalled at midfield and Loveland took advantage of the opportunity to extend the lead.

Eberhardt closed out a seven play, 75-yard drive with a beautiful 25-yard touchdown pass to Aidan McQuade to stretch the lead to 35-7.

Trujillo’s 72-yard touchdown run on the next drive provided a spark, but the momentum was quickly reversed as Eberhardt found Svendsen again, this time for a 79-yard touchdown pass to push the lead to 42-14.

Durango closed the gap with an 8-yard touchdown pass from Trujillo to senior Lucas Baken for his 15th touchdown catch of the season, but it was too little, too late for the Demons.

Trujillo finished 15-for-30 with 174 passing yards, two touchdowns and a season-high four interceptions.

“They were blitzing us all day from different angles,” Vogt said. “They just executed and did what they like to do all day on us. They’re a very well-coached team.”

Senior running back Lawrence Mayberry ran for 84 yards on 19 carries in his final game on the gridiron for DHS. Baken had four catches for 74 yards and a touchdown, and Kyle Duran finished with five catches for 55 yards.

Vogt and the Demons will say goodbye to 19 seniors who led the team to a 10-2 record, the school’s best mark in more than a decade.

“This group of seniors created a legacy here at Durango High School, and they have nothing to be ashamed of,” Vogt said. “There are kids running around (Durango) now that want to be the next Lucas Baken, the next Lawrence (Mayberry) and the next Terrence (Trujillo). This whole group worked extremely hard to raise the bar and change the culture for this program, and they’ll be remembered around here for a long time.”

jfries@durangoherald.com

Nov 21, 2015
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