The Durango boys soccer team didn’t have its best touch on Thursday in the first round of the 4A playoffs against George Washington. Passes were a little long, or touches were too strong before the game went into halftime 0-0. But in soccer, all it takes is one good kick or touch on the ball to change the game. Dylan Burns had that moment.
The junior forward headed a ball in from senior defender Flint Gervais early in the second half to give the Demons a lead they’d never relinquish. Durango won 1-0 to move on to the second round of the 4A state playoffs.
No. 9-seeded Durango improved to 11-2-3 overall after the win. No. 24 George Washington finished its season 6-6-4 overall.
“I’m so proud,” Durango boys soccer coach Sean Ackerman said. “There’s little words to say. We’ve been working on the work ethic and desire piece since June 11 and it’s shown tonight with our grit and determination but also keeping our heads. The other team got plenty of yellow cards. We only got one because we tried to challenge. They were mouthing off and we didn’t drop down to their level.”
George Washington started the game by pressuring Durango with multiple corner kicks and a few shots which were turned away.
The Demons had their first chance of the game off a Gervais free kick from about 20 yards out on the right side of the field. Gervais made the George Washington goalkeeper make a tough save. The rebound bounced to a Demon attacker right in front of the goal but his header went over the crossbar five minutes into the game.
George Washington had a great chance in front of the goal with about 25 minutes left. Durango junior goalkeeper Quinn Harrison had to spread out for a save to keep the game tied.
Durango connected some passed well in the midfield but couldn’t find the space to score in the attacking third. The Patriots were dangerous at times with their counterattacking ability on the quick Durango turf.
George Washington had some shaky clears at times from its back line. Therefore, Durango had some counterattacking chances but either had a bad touch or a bad pass which ruined those chances.
“We started to resort to play the long ball which is not our style,” Ackerman said. “We addressed that at halftime. We want to be able to do a long switch every now and then but not do that every time. They did much better moving the ball in the second half.”
Fans and players were annoyed after a Durango free-kick bounced around in George Washington’s 18-yard box and it looked like a hand ball could’ve been called. This would’ve given the Demons a penalty kick. The refs didn’t blow the whistle and play continued with five minutes left.
Early in the second half, the Demons got on the board thanks to Burns. Gervais had a free kick from the left side from 35 yards out. The ball was hit high and hung in the air a while as it approached the George Washington keeper. Then, Burns came out of nowhere and flew through the air like Superman to reach the ball first and head it into the back of the net. Durango led 1-0 with 37 minutes left.
Senior midfielder Mavrick Rodriguez broke through down the left side with 25 minutes left. He had a one-on-one with the keeper and pushed it past him, but found many Patriot defenders behind guarding the goal. He passed it back to junior midfielder Derek Caudle who got his shot blocked, another shot was blocked and the final Durango shot went wide as the Demons nearly put the game away.
At times, Durango possessed the ball well after its goal in the second half. George Washington had a few chances where it threatened, but nothing that caused Harrison to make any spectacular saves.
“We were doing a good job of reading when they were going to go long, allowing ourselves to go and challenge and have cover,” Ackerman said. “In the first half, we could have been better with the second challenges from the second balls. We were much better in the second half and they couldn’t get in a rhythm because of that.”
The Patriots had two free kicks in the final two minutes. The first was from about 20 yards out and the second was from the left side of midfield. The first kick was blocked by the Durango wall. The second kick was cleared away before the ref blew the final whistle sealing the victory.
Durango moves on to play Montbello in Denver on Wednesday. The No. 8 seeded Warriors beat No. 25 Widefield 7-2 to advance.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
