Another strong first half.
Another running clock.
A reason to party like it’s 2009.
The Durango High School Football team allowed Kirtland Central to score first, then rattled off 42 unanswered points to roll to a 42-7 win Friday in Kirtland, N.M., giving the Demons their first 2-0 start since they started 8-0 in 2009.
DHS (2-0) beat Cheyenne Mountain in the opener 54-14, earning a late running clock by pulling ahead by 40 points.
In New Mexico high school football, that margin is 35 points, which was reached on the first play of the fourth quarter when Jeremy Szura hit Daniel Gustavson for a 1-yard touchdown pass.
Kirtland Central (1-1) got the scoring started in the first quarter on a 71-yard strike from Rashaan Sorrelhorse to Christian Mackey. DHS answered just a little more than two minutes later when Tyler Worley punched it in from 3 yards out to tie the score at 7.
Blake Dunlap scampered in from 47 yards out on a fake punt to give Durango a 14-7 lead with 4 minutes, 3 seconds left in the first quarter, then Lawrence Mayberry had a 56-yard touchdown run in the final minute of the frame to put the Demons up 21-7 over the Broncos, which beat Bayfield 28-6 the week before.
Hayden Sill, who entered for Szura because of an injury in the second quarter, found Dunlap for a 24-yard touchdown pass on the final play of the quarter immediately after a Brad Briscoe interception, one of four turnovers on the night by the Broncos.
Isiah Mayberry got in on the fun with 50 seconds left before halftime, running in for a touchdown from 10 yards out for a 35-7 halftime edge for the Demons.
Szura returned to put the finishing touches on the game with the pass to Gustavson in the fourth quarter.
Individual and team statistics were not immediately available.
Durango will head home to play Piedra Vista at 7 p.m. Friday at DHS Stadium.
heraldsports@durangoherald.com
