The coronavirus can take players off the field. It can lock fans outside the stadium. But nothing has been able to remove the glory of high school football.
Durango has had first-hand experience of how difficult it can be to try to play high school football during a global pandemic. But for 30 seconds in an empty stadium on a cold Friday night in November, something special happened that erased the pain of a difficult week and replaced it with pure joy.
It was the kind of moment often overlooked before the COVID-19 pandemic swept through the U.S. in March and changed sports and daily life as we know it. After a 27-13 victory against Cañon City in the last of a five-game regular-season schedule, Durango gathered at midfield around its coaches to celebrate the team’s first undefeated regular season since 1973. Then, unexpectedly and without prompt, the Demons turned toward their north end zone where a group of parents and fans had watched the game from outside locked gates. The Demons sprinted to that end of the field and turned a silent stadium into a concert hall, as roughly 40 players belted out the school fight song to a proud audience.
The lyrics, lifted from “On Wisconsin!” and transposed with lyrics to fit the Demons, seemed to hover in the air as players lifted their helmets, gave out one final cheer and retreated to the locker room on the opposite end of the stadium. A chill set in, but it wasn’t from the cold as the stadium fell silent once more.
In a normal year after a win, players would turn to the student section and sing the song or lift their helmets in appreciation. The gesture is more of a formality with family and friends anxious to get on the field and talk to their player about the game.
But this time, with fans not permitted inside the stadium because of health precautions in place because of a massive spike in COVID-19 cases, there were no hugs to be given or photos to be snapped. There was simply a song, the honking of horns from an adjacent parking lot and then still silence.
It was unforgettable.
“As a team, we knew coming into an important game like that with no fans was going to be difficult,” said sophomore lineman Joshua Bates, who feeds off the crowd as one of the team’s more energetic personalities. “Running to the north side of the end zone showed how much we appreciate our fans. The atmosphere they provide for us is a game changer.”
The Demons won that night without three all-state players. Star receiver and return man Gage Mestas missed the game with a concussion, while Division I prospects Jordan Woolverton, a quarterback and safety, and Ben Finneseth, a do-it-all weapon, were out serving a mandatory 14-day quarantine for having close contact with an athletic trainer who later tested positive for the virus.
So, Durango was tasked to beat Cañon City with a quarterback who hadn’t played the position in two years and a makeshift offense lacking chemistry. The odds were stacked against the Demons, but a gritty performance got the job done. It made the celebration that night all the more meaningful in a game the Demons desperately needed to win to keep state title hopes alive.
Because of that win, Durango got a chance to play one more home game last Saturday, this time in the CHSAA Class 3A state quarterfinals against Lutheran. This time, the Demons had Finneseth and Woolverton back as well as Mestas. After a 47-6 victory in their final game on their home field, and with parents still locked outside the stadium gates, the three seniors got to join their brethren in the now expected north end zone celebration with an even larger group of eager fans waiting to repeat the moment of celebration from a week earlier.
“Last week, I shed a tear seeing the team celebrating that win and not being able to be there,” Finneseth said. “Jordan and I both did. It was rough not being with those guys. To be back for this game and to celebrate with them and our fans this week, it was awesome.”
Though the fans couldn’t get into the stadium, it didn’t stop them from coming to Saturday’s playoff game. The wonderful group of parents and supporters once more lined the fences on the north side of the field to watch Durango’s first quarterfinal win since 1997. By halftime and with Durango ahead 26-0, more fans flocked to the fence from off the Animas River Trail to get a glimpse of the hometown team turning in a special performance.
With each touchdown, the family of senior lineman Rocco Estes would blast a train horn attached to their RV. It was loud enough for most anyone near the North Main District of Durango to hear and undoubtedly drew in a few more spectators. Fans along the fence held up signs and got as loud as they could.
“I hate that our players can’t share the moments in a traditional way with parents in the stands, but at least they are on the field,” Durango School District 9-R Athletic Director Ryan Knorr said. “Our parents continue to find ways to support, and I appreciate that. We have an amazing parent group with football. They’ve rolled with all of the adversity this year and appreciate what the coaches and all of us are trying to do to make the most out of tough circumstances.”
Seven years ago, football games weren’t the draw in Durango they are now. Good but not great – that was the Demons. Friday night games were a social event that still drew decent crowd. But only a few dozen fans in attendance lived and breathed for every play or knew the right times to cheer.
That has changed during the four years Woolverton has played quarterback for the Demons. Games have become must-see events. Blink, and one might miss the play of the game.
Neighboring Bayfield is considered the football town of La Plata County with three state titles, including Class 2A wins in 2015 and 2017 in years in which DHS was eliminated in the 3A quarterfinals. Durango has long been a town where individual sports rule, as cross-country, skiing and track and field dominate the DHS trophy cases. Durango can claim one football state title, but it is in a 7-7 tie in Class A with Lamar in 1954.
But in 2020, Durango has earned the right to call itself a football town. Its team and fans both deserve the designation.
“Football is a great game. In my opinion, it is the best game in the world,” Woolverton said. “Seeing how many people were out there, for people to show up like that with no fans in the stadium, it meant everything to us. Knowing we have the support from this town, it motivates us and makes us want to keep winning.”
At noon Saturday in Broomfield, Durango will finally get a chance to play with its fans in the stadium once more when the No. 3 Demons (6-0) face No. 2 Holy Family (7-0) in the Class 3A semifinals. A Durango win would get the Demons in the state title game for the first time since 1988.
Only 75 Durango fans will be allowed into the game. But if the last two home games were any indication, Durango can expect to sell each ticket and have every bit of support it could ask for.
“More than just hearing them, it’s been seeing them,” DHS senior linebacker Ford Pitts said. “It’s knowing people actually want to come out and watch football despite everything going on and how much adversity we have faced this year. Having not only our families but the town of Durango come support us in a small town like this, it means a lot to us.”
John Livingston is the Regional Sports Editor of The Durango Herald. He can be reached at jlivingston@durangoherald.com. Follow him on Twitter @jlivi2.
