Two stickers are placed onto Durango High School football helmet in August. The two pitchforks soon have company. By November, dozens of small stickers adorn the matte red Riddell helmets of the Demons.
These aren’t the green Buckeye leaves of Ohio State University awarded by coaches and team captains for exemplary play. At first glance and from a distance, many of the small stickers decorating the Demons’ domes appear to be the same. Upon further review, there are a variety of designs that tell a story of their own.
“It’s super special seeing all of those stickers on the helmets,” said DHS junior quarterback Jordan Woolverton. “They are examples of everything we work for in the weight room and at practice every single day to be able to go out there and perform with so much success.”
There are seven different kinds of helmet stickers a Durango player can earn. For each win, every player on the team is awarded a trident. On offense, the entire unit earns a football sticker if the team has more than 350 total yards. Another can be earned for more than 150 yards passing, 200 yards rushing or if the team picks up 20 first downs.
Defensively, a sticker featuring a helmet being crushed is awarded to the entire unit if the Demons allow fewer than 250 total yards. Stickers can also be earned for giving up less than 100 yards passing or rushing as well as one for forcing three or more turnovers.
Special teams star stickers are awarded if Durango doesn’t have a blocked kick or gets a blocked kick of its own. If kickoff returns average more than 30 yards, a star can also be earned as well as a star if the Demons kick coverage team holds opponents to an average of less than 15 yards per return.
Individual stickers can also be gained. For anyone who records 100 yards of rushing or receiving, a football sticker is awarded. Footballs are also handed out to a quarterback with a passer rating better than 75%. Any player who scores a touchdown also is given a football.
Helmet crusher stickers can also go to individual defensive players who record 10 tackles, have an interception or fumble recovery, get a sack or three tackles for a loss or break up three passes.
“My dad (John Vogt) started it when I was coaching with him at Chaparral in Denver,” DHS seventh-year head coach David Vogt said. “I brought it along here. It’s been a huge thing. Plus, it puts a focus on playing a physical style of football.”
During the last two seasons, a new sticker has been added to the mix. It is a stack of pancakes, awarded to any player who records a pancake block. They are a hit amongst linemen and also receivers who throw big blocks to free up runners down the field.
“Those are hard to get,” senior running back and linebacker Everett Howland said. “Those linemen, they are pancaking guys bigger than them, and that’s not an easy job to do. Whenever the line gets a pancake, we all love it.”
Woolverton has earned a pancake sticker of his own during the Pueblo East game this year. Howland also was proud to earn a pancake sticker for a block he threw to get Woolverton free on a big run.
“We never had pancake stickers, and that’s become the second most coveted sticker,” Vogt said. “When Sport Decals came out with them last year, we knew it would be big fun to get those. At first, we were only doing it for the linemen, but the receivers like Ben Finneseth and Niko Mestas have got a couple this year, and now (Howland and Woolverton) have, too. It’s a funny thing.”
One sticker is sought after above all others. It’s the most recognizable, and players place it on the front of their helmet to strike fear into opponents. It’s the only sticker that isn’t white and round. It’s a skull and crossbones, and the color is black.
“It’s a whole thing we look forward to during the week,” Howland said. “We get in a circle, bang our helmets. It’s a big thing to get a skull crusher sticker. If you get one of those, you’ve done something.”
Vogt said a black skull and crossbones sticker is awarded for a hit that knocks an opponent off their cleats. After showing a big hit on film, he will give a thumbs up or down to signify whether a black sticker should be awarded.
“Everyone goes crazy when the thumb goes up,” he said.
Woolverton said one such sticker was awarded after last week’s first-round playoff win against Palisade. Kyler Reimers earned one for a hit he put on a punt returner.
“The returner got through our first level of gunners, and Kyler came out of nowhere and had the hardest hit I’ve seen all season,” Woolverton said. “You could have heard it from outside the stadium. I think that was the most memorable play of the season for us.”
There is one helmet that has remained sticker-free, though. It’s not for lack of big plays. Sophomore linemen William Knight, who has 45 total tackles and two sacks this season, hasn’t placed a sticker on his helmet.
“He’s such a humble kid,” Vogt said. “His helmet should be full, but I think he’s just so humble he doesn’t put them on there.”
When No. 7 Durango (8-3) plays in the state quarterfinals at 1 p.m. Saturday at No. 2 Pueblo South (10-1), the Demons will hope to return home with another win and earn another trident sticker for the helmet. Some players may struggle to find room to add any more, but the Demons would like nothing more than to keep decorating into December and reach their first state championship game since 1988.
“The stickers are just a nice thing we have,” Howland said. “When someone gets one they’ve never got before, we get real excited for it. Right now, we just want to keep winning and keep it going.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
