The Durango boys soccer team has the talent to beat anyone they play. The Demons have got in their own way at times and haven’t created good scoring chances in the last two weeks.
On Saturday afternoon, the Demons put it all together for arguably their most complete game. Junior forward Dylan Burns and senior midfielder Mavrick Rodriguez each scored two goals as Durango cruised to a 4-0 win over Grand Junction Central in a shortened game due to lightning.
The Demons dominated possession, never let the Warriors get any good looks and moved the ball well to create quality chances.
“There was a little more composure and comfort on the ball,” Durango head coach Sean Ackerman said. “We were not allowing them to get the second ball as much as in previous games. Our quality prevailed. We made some tactical changes, shifted some players around in certain areas of the field that were beneficial to the team.”
Durango improved to 5-2-1 overall and 3-1 in the 5A/4A Southwestern League with the win. Grand Junction Central fell to 3-4-1 overall and 2-3 in the 5A/4A SWL with the loss.
Burns and Rodriguez are tied for the most goals on the team with seven each through eight games.
Durango got started early with a Dylan Burns goal two minutes in. The offense didn’t stop as Burns found the back of the net again with 31 minutes left.
“Dylan used his pace and quality to get in behind,” Ackerman said. “We won the ball off the press and Dylan used his speed to slide it home both times.”
The Demons had good ball movement and controlled possession. Grand Junction Central chose to play kick and chase with longballs but didn’t have the speed or skill to get by the Durango back line.
Ackerman said the defense was much better. The Demons were giving themselves more space to drop in to be in a better position defensively. Durango was also reading the game better.
Burns continued to be a threat. He sprinted onto a long ball, fired it at the keep and he thought the play was over. But the ball bounced off a Warrior defender, past the keeper and toward Burns. He didn’t see it and the ball was kicked away with seven minutes left.
Durango started the second half strong again. The Demons pressured the Warriors off the kickoff. Durango created a turnover and Rodriguez had an easy tap-in close to the goal to put DHS up 3-0 20 seconds into the second half.
Rodriguez missed the first half after rolling his ankle at the end of warmup.
Shortly after, the Demons counterattacked and had numbers. Rodriguez was played a ball down the right side and he finished beautifully in the left corner to put Durango up 4-0 with 38:30 left.
Play was stopped due to lightning with 33 minutes left.
The Demons play at home again on Tuesday against Alamosa at 5 p.m.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
