An upset looked to be brewing early in the third quarter at Durango High School. The Mead Mavericks were up 27-10 with 9:27 to go in the third after Demons quarterback Tyler Harms threw a pick-six deep in Durango’s half of the field.
However, the Demons showed why they were 8-1 on the season and the No. 4 seed in the 3A state playoffs. Durango turned on the offense and scored three second-half touchdowns, including the winning touchdown, a 25-yard touchdown pass from Harms to Peyton Dike with 1:47 left in the fourth quarter, to complete the stunning comeback and win 31-27.
Durango improved to 9-1 with the win, Mead ended its season at 5-6.
“It shows a lot about this young team,” Harms said. “We have a lot of young players in their first playoff game. It showed early, we were stressed out. It shows how much we want to fight to win and how much we love each other because we’re fighting for each other.”
The Demons did it without star running back Jaxon Fancher, who was sidelined after an infection in his elbow caused him to miss numerous practices and eventually the game.
“One player, as big of a player as Jaxon is, doesn’t make up the team,” Durango head coach Matt Burton said. “This team has a lot of heart, they play so hard for each other that if one guy goes down we’re going to be ok.”
Without Fancher, Harms stepped up. The senior quarterback had 280 yards passing with four passing touchdowns. He connected with Dike twice, senior Ryan Dugan and senior Louden Grimes as well.
Harms also opened up the offense with his running ability. Burton and his staff drew up numerous quarterback draws for Harms, which resulted in the quarterback rushing for 97 yards.
“He’s a great dual-threat quarterback,” Burton said about Harms. “People don’t give him enough credit. He’s just a battler, a competitor. He’ll keep competing regardless of negative things that may come along. He’s going to keep pressing and do whatever he can to put his team in a position to succeed.”
The game could’ve been easier for the Demons if they didn’t commit so many penalties. It seemed like the yellow flag was being thrown down on the turf every other play for most of the game. Durango was called for numerous false starts and holds, as well as defensive penalties which gave Mead first downs.
“We put ourselves in a bind time and time again with bad penalties, not converting,” Burton said. “They made some really good conversions on third down. But we just kept battling one play at a time, pushing and pushing and found a way to get it done.”
The game opened with a bunch of punts, not points. The Demons had a false start and Harms was over the line of scrimmage when he completed a pass that took away a first down. Durango punted to Mead. The Mavericks got stuffed on three-run plays and punted it back to the Demons.
Durango had good field position at Mead’s 43-yard line but penalties led to a failed 4th and 6 conversion.
Mead got the ball back and proceeded to get the first first down of the game as well as its first completed pass by quarterback Christian Miner. Mead got helped by a roughing the passer call against Durango which led to a touchdown from two yards out to give the Mavericks a 6-0 lead after the PAT was blocked with 36 seconds to go in the first.
The Demons then went on a scoring drive with numerous rushes from Harms. The senior quarterback then passed to Dike for the touchdown to give Durango the lead 7-6 with 7:12 to go in the second quarter.
But Mead came right back. Miner launched a 55-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Edison Burke who got behind the Durango safeties. The Mavericks led 13-7 with about six minutes left in the half.
Durango threatened to score another touchdown before half but sent Dylan Burns out to kick a field goal to give Mead a 13-10 lead into halftime.
A disaster occurred when Burton decided to go for it on 4th and 1 on Durango’s 29-yard line. Harms’ quarterback keeper was stuffed and Hiner only needed two runs to reach the end zone and extend Mead’s lead to 20-10 with 9:38 left in the third.
“Obviously, in retrospect, it’s not a great decision,” Burton said. “But we had faith in our guys to get it done and it was risky. But no risk it no biscuit.”
Only 11 seconds later, Harms threw an awful interception right to a Mead defender from his 12-yard line on the first play of the possession. Mead led 27-10.
After punts from both Durango and Mead, Harms connected on a beautiful 75-yard touchdown pass to Grimes to put the deficit at 27-17 with 4:20 to go in the third quarter.
Mead put together a good drive but was stuffed on 4th and short on the Durango 30-yard line. The Demons ran the ball into opposing territory and on 3rd and 7, Harms dumped it to Dugan short. Dugan made multiple Mead defenders miss and took it to the house from 25 yards out. The momentum had shifted as the score was 27-24 Mead with 8:12 left.
After stuffing Mead one more time, Durango got the ball back less than four minutes left at its 35-yard line. Harms came up clutch with some quality throws to his receivers, none bigger than the 25-yard winner to Dike which sent the crowd into a frenzy.
Mead had a chance with the ball but on 4th and 6 from its 34 yard line, Miner threw a desperation deep ball which was broken up and sealed the comeback for the Demons.
Next up the No. 4 Demons will host No. 5 seed Lutheran, who beat No. 12 seed Frederick 66-37. Burton was very confident that Fancher will be back in the lineup for that game.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
