The Durango High School football team’s defense has been dominant after the Demons’ opening night loss to Montrose over a month ago. Combine that defense with a potent offense, Durango hasn’t had a one-score victory.
On Thursday night against Grand Junction, Durango’s dominance continued with a 31-0 victory over the Tigers. The win moved the Demons to 4-1 overall and ended the nonleague portion of the schedule on a high note. Grand Junction dropped to 3-2 overall with the loss.
“We’ve started to really come together as a team,” Durango football head coach Hunter Holmes said. “Obviously, the defensive staff did another heck of a job … Grady Feeney is really starting to come into his own, leads the team … no surprise to see him really start taking command of the team like he is.”
Durango has allowed only 12 points for a 3.0 points per game average in its four-game winning streak. The Demons closest victory was a 17-6 win at Palisade on Sept. 18.
The Demons started the Grand Junction game with a 10-0 lead after the first quarter and led 17-0 at halftime. Neither team scored in the third quarter and Durango added 10 points in the fourth for the dominant victory.
Junior quarterback Grady Feeney had another strong game for the Demons, finishing 8/12 passing for 124 yards and two touchdowns. Feeney also rushed for 49 yards and two scores.
Senior running back Gus Halls led the Demons on the ground with 20 carries for 131 yards. Durango junior wide receiver Mason Miller led the Demons with three receptions, 52 yards and two touchdowns.
“We put him in a really good spot where we knew we could get him the ball,” Holmes said about Miller. “Grady did a great job of putting the ball right on him. Mason’s a freak athlete, so he did the rest. We got the ball in his hands quick and basically he ran past everybody on a slant.”
Durango limited Grand Junction sophomore quarterback Andrew Neese to 4/10 passing for 54 yards. Grand Junction had most of its success on the ground with 151 rushing yards.
Demons senior Oliver Clark led the Durango defense with 11 total tackles.
The Demons return to action on Thursday against Rampart at home at 6 p.m. to open up 4A Soco 2 League play.
Durango boys soccer head coach Sean Ackerman hasn’t been pleased with his defense for most of the season as the Demons have had some uncharacteristic blowout losses. Durango may finally be turning the tide on that end.
The Demons had their biggest win of the season at home against Montrose on Friday with a 2-0 victory. Durango improved to 6-4 overall and 3-2 in the 5A/4A Southwestern League. Montrose dropped to 5-2-2 overall and 3-2-1 in the 5A/4A Southwestern League with the loss.
Durango’s 2-0 win over Montrose was its second consecutive shutout victory and only its fourth shutout victory of the season. Montrose was ranked inside the top six of 4A before the loss to Durango.
The Demons scored two goals in the first half to take control of the Red Hawks early and never look back. Senior forward Benjie Masterson and junior forward Otis Clark scored for Durango. Senior goalkeeper Quinn Harrison had a penalty kick save late in the second half to keep the shutout.
Next for Durango is a road game against Grand Junction Central on Oct. 10.
The Durango High School softball team experienced both sides of blowout games on Friday and Saturday. The Demons were blown out at Rifle on Friday and dominated at Eagle Valley on Saturday.
Durango sits at 9-7 overall and 0-5 in the 5A/4A Southwestern League after its 5-3 and 15-3 losses at Rifle and its 15-5 and 16-2 wins at Eagle Valley.
“It would have been nice to take one of those wins (against Rifle) that could have really helped us from a ranking standpoint and overall,” Durango softball head coach Sara Clair said. “But then we regrouped and really had a great day on Saturday.”
The Demons looked like they were about to beat Rifle to start Friday. Durango was up 2-1 going into the bottom of the sixth inning. Then, Durango had an error at center field and another error at third base that allowed Rifle to score four runs and take the lead.
Durango scored a run in the top of the seventh, but it wasn’t enough for the victory.
Junior Avery Clair led the Demons at bat, going 3-3. Sophomore Abigail Gordon went 2-4 at bat. Senior Jenna Glueck pitched all six innings and allowed seven hits while striking out seven batters.
The second game against Rifle wasn’t a contest. The Bears’ bats were on fire as Rifle built up a 13-2 lead after two innings. Rifle scored two runs in the fourth for a 15-3 mercy rule win; the Bears had 18 hits in four innings.
On Saturday, the Demons trailed Eagle Valley 2-0 after the first inning of Game 1. Durango responded with four runs in the second and two runs in the third to build a 6-2 lead.
Durango’s lead increased into blowout territory with six unanswered runs in the sixth inning. Durango outhit Eagle Valley in its 15-5 Game 1 victory.
Senior Alexa Capitan led the Demons at bat, going 4-5 with three RBIs; Gordon also went 3-4 at bat.
After struggling in the final game against Rifle, Gordon had her best game of the season inside the circle in Game 1 against Eagle Valley. She finished with nine strikeouts and only allowed four hits.
“That's the first time she was going seven innings for me all season so far,” Clair said about Gordon. “So it was great. She just had control over her pitch. She got ahead in the count and stayed ahead in the count, which she struggled with the day before. She did a really nice job of shutting down their batters and maintaining control.”
The final game of the weekend was the easiest for Durango. The Demons scored four runs in the first, two in the second and eight in the third to establish a 14-1 lead. The game was done after four innings; Durango outhit Eagle Valley 13-4.
Junior Marcela Jimenez led the Demons, going 2-2 at bat with four RBIs. Clair also had a strong day at bat, going 3-4 with a home run. Glueck stepped back into the circle for Game 2 against Eagle Valley and finished with three strikeouts compared to four hits allowed.
Next up for Durango is two games at Fruita Monument on Saturday, starting at 10 a.m.
The Durango High School volleyball team dropped its road match against Montrose on Thursday, 3-1.
Montrose improved to 11-0 overall and 5-0 in the 4A/5A Southwester League after its 25-19, 23-25, 25-18, 25-16 win over Durango. The Demons dropped to 4-11 overall and 2-3 in the 4A/5A Southwestern League.
Sophomore Devyn Edwards led the Demons with 18 kills and senior Aysia Mathews added 11 kills. Senior Indie Shows had 38 assists for Durango.
The Demons played at Alamosa on Tuesday night, but stats weren’t available when this article was published. Durango hits the road to play at Pagosa Springs on Oct. 7.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
