The biggest game of the year started out bad for Durango and only got worse Friday night in Colorado Springs against No. 1 Pine Creek.
The first play of the game resulted in a Durango High School fumble and, within a minute, it was 7-0 Eagles. Five offensive possessions later for Pine Creek (8-0, 3-0 Pikes Peak League), it was 41-0, a running clock was in effect and the rout was on in what had been a highly-anticipated prep football contest.
When it was all said and done, the visitors boarded the bus for the long ride home on the wrong end of a lopsided 41-3 contest.
“We were just so excited to play this game; we were so hyped up and we came out and had the worst start possible,” Durango head coach David Vogt said in a phone interview with The Durango Herald. “They just doesn’t make mistakes, and they capitalized when we did.”
The Domann brothers, Pine Creek quarterback Brock and his older wide receiver JoJo, were simply too much for the Demons to handle. Brock Domann threw four touchdown passes, two to his older brother JoJo, a Nebraska commit, and two more to Joseph Celestino. JoJo also ran for a score.
After recovering a Demons (7-1, 2-1) fumble on the opening play of the game, JoJo Domann’s three-yard touchdown run gave the Eagles a 7-0 lead. Five minutes later, Brock found JoJo on a 15-yard touchdown pass to for two touchdown lead.
A 19-yard pass from Brock Domann to Celestino, and a 71-yard run by D’Andre Toliver came in between the brothers’ next hookup, a 26-yard touchdown pass that made the score 35-0.
“It’s not just those two guys that make their team good,” Vogt said. “Their whole team is good, and they’re so well coached that you can’t just pick out one or two guys.”
After Celestino’s second touchdown catch of the night, with 4 minutes, 16 seconds left in the second quarter, the mercy rule was put into effect and a running clock was implemented because Pine Creek was up by more than 40 points.
With the running clock going, the second half cruised by with not much difference to the scoreboard. Nick Jernigan’s 29-yard field goal in the fourth quarter got the Demons on the board, but the damage was done in a big way with the Demons’ seven-game winning streak emphatically snapped.
“We’re still having a heck of a season and the boys are in good spirits,” Vogt said. “We’ll learn from this and get back to working on the fundamentals, executing the way we have been all season.”
Durango will look to get back in the win column at 6 p.m. Friday against Air Academy in Colorado Springs.
jfries@durangoherald.com
