When the rain started falling on an already wet pitch Saturday at Durango High School, it seemed inevitable that the tiebreaking goal between No. 15 Valor Christian and No. 7 Durango would be a controversial one – and it was.
However, Rodrigo Morales’ game-winning goal for Durango wasn’t the product of a hydroplaning ball or the slip of a defender’s feet. A questionable no-call on what Valor Christian’s entire squad thought was an offsides play was the difference. Morales took advantage of the confusion, and an abandoned Eagles net, to score with two minutes remaining as DHS won in the quarterfinals of the Colorado High School Activities Association’s Class 4A Boys Soccer Championships.
The Demons (17-1) will meet No. 3 The Classical Academy (16-2) in the semifinal Wednesday in Denver. They are the top two teams left standing in a bracket that saw four of the top five teams lose in the semifinals. The other semifinal features No. 9 Battle Mountain and No. 12 Pueblo West. “I’m just so proud of these guys that I don’t know what to say, and that doesn’t happen much,” Durango head coach Dalon Parker said. “I felt like we were controlling the match in the final 20 minutes, and it was only a matter of time before we got one. I have to see it again to see what happened with the call, but that’s soccer. Rodrigo finished the play, and we’re moving on.”
Durango flew out of the locker room early with the intent of catching Valor Christian a bit sluggish after the long trip from Denver. The strategy worked, as the Demons ran circles around the visitors in the first 15 minutes.
Eventually, it paid off after Elijah Fenton’s nifty no touch through the legs allowed Morales the space to blast a rocket from 15 yards out into the bottom on the net to give Durango an early lead.
“Eli let it go through his legs, and I kicked it as hard as I could,” Morales said.
As time went by, the Eagles (9-8-1) began to get their feet under them. They were able to generate chances, but the DHS back line that has been so good this year stood strong.
At the beginning of the second half, though, the back line slipped up, and an own-goal was the result after a headed clearance attempt ended up deflecting off the post to tie the match 1-1.
“You know, we have to fix that and stop doing that to ourselves,” Parker said. “We’ve given up five goals this year so far; two own-goals, a penalty kick and two real goals.”
With an even match, and tension mounting, a steady rain started to fall and affected play in a big way. Passes began skipping out of bounds, and the teams exchanged long balls with the hope of catching a lucky break.
In the 78th minute, Durango got that break. A long ball was played, and Max Wilson was with Morales with both very close to being offsides.
With the Valor Christian keeper well out of his net, and some of the Eagles stopped in their tracks expecting an offsides call, Morales booted the ball toward the net and saw it go in.
“I thought one of us might be offsides because their whole team stopped, but I kept playing,” said Morales, an exchange student from Mexico. “I just tried to get it on goal and it went in. I feel great because I am an exchange student and it is my first and last year here. This is so much fun.”
The officials met briefly to talk over what was obviously a crucial no-call. However, the call stuck and forced a tough end to the season for a gritty Valor Christian squad.
“The player was standing in an offsides position, and when the ball was played back forward my players felt like he was still in that position,” Valor Christian head coach Brian Shultz said. “It was obviously a tough way to go down, but there were also 77 minutes there where we could have played better and scored. Hats off to Coach Parker because they were a very well-organized team.”
For the first time in school history, Durango is headed to the semifinals of the CHSAA 4A boys soccer state tournament.
“This is so much fun, but we’re not done yet,” Demons senior Luke Stetler said. “We are now officially the best team DHS has ever had, and we want to win it all.”
jfries@durangoherald.com
