Heading into Saturday’s boys high school soccer matchup between Durango and Fruita Monument, the Demons hadn’t lost at the Riverview Sports Complex since 2013.
The loss on Oct. 11 of that year was a 1-0 thriller in which the Fruita Monument Wildcats came out on top. Nearly three years, 12 consecutive Durango home wins and two league titles later, it happened again Saturday, as the Wildcats snapped the streak with a 1-0 win.
Orion Chamberlain’s goal in the 14th minute was all Fruita needed, as sophomore goalkeeper Weston King made some marvelous saves in the shutout.
“I felt good in there,” King said. “Our back line held strong the whole game, and their offense gave us a lot of pressure. This was huge for us.”
Durango (2-1, 1-1 5A/4A Southwestern League) dominated possession in the first 10 minutes and had a great scoring chance on the game’s first corner kick. However, the ball was cleared and Fruita’s Sam Pflug led a quick counter down the right sideline.
“Sam was just flying down the side, sent a cross and the ball found Orion in front of the net,” Wildcats head coach Ethan Johnson said. “Scoring early was huge because they had so much pressure on us the rest of the game. Our goalkeeper made some incredible, game-saving saves.”
Fruita did well to limit the Demons first-half chances after the initial goal, but the home team came out blazing in the second half.
Durango created chance after chance but couldn’t finish the job. The Demons’ flurry of pressure in the second half led to a 14-5 shots advantage for the game. None of them could beat King, though.
The keeper finished with eight saves, many of which were high-caliber stops.
“We created a lot of chances and got behind their defense a number of times,” said Durango senior Luke Stetler, son of Anne and Mark Stetler. “That was good, but when you get that many chances, you have you have to find a way to finish. He made some good saves, but our shots need to be better.”
After surviving the early second-half onslaught, Fruita (3-1, 1-0 SWL) settled down, and Durango seemed to run out of gas coming off grueling match Friday evening against rival Montrose.
With the opponents wearing down, the Wildcats did well to possess the ball and watch the clock tick down on the way to closing the book on the Demons’ streak.
“I don’t know if there’s anything we could have done differently,” Durango head coach Dalon Parker said. “And that’s the beauty of soccer. It was good to see us turn it up a notch and create chances when we needed to, but we have to do a better job finishing.”
The Demons have a few days to get over the tough loss and should be well-rested for a 6 p.m. Thursday match at Aztec.
In other high school soccer action, the Bayfield Wolverines opened with a 2-2 draw Friday at Telluride before falling 3-0 Saturday at Ridgway to open the season with an 0-1-1 record. It was the first two games for Bayfield under new head coach Chris Zoltowski.
jfries@durangoherald.com
