Another year, another playoff berth for Durango High School boys soccer.
A three-game winning streak to end the season pushed the Demons to 9-5-1 overall, and they’re playing perhaps some of their best soccer of the season at the right time.
It’s a good thing, too. The defending champs are waiting.
Durango earned the No. 25 seed in the CHSAA Class 4A Boys Soccer Championships, and the Demons will travel to meet defending 4A state champion and eighth-seeded Battle Mountain on Wednesday at a time still to be determined.
“(Western Slope) League champion, defending state champion, there’s that, too,” DHS head coach Dalon Parker said after learning his team made the postseason in his first season at the helm. “There’s definitely going to be a good respect value there for them. They’ve made their name known throughout Colorado doing what they do.”
Durango, meanwhile, used the late-season surge to keep alive a postseason-appearance streak that goes back more than a decade. After a tough home loss against Fruita Monument on Oct. 11 dropped DHS to 6-5-1, the Demons rattled off a 3-1 win over Grand Junction Central at home before heading to Colorado Springs and beating Rampart 4-1 and Coronado 3-0.
“It’s been good. We had that hurdle with the Fruita game and even the Montrose game the weekend before that,” Parker said. “We had a big hurdle there. ... We’re battle tested just with some of the games we’ve been in the whole season.”
In the process, the Demons regained their scoring touch, and no Demon moreso than Zeb Soignier, who scored five goals in the last three games. DHS outscored the opposition in those final three games 10-2.
“We want to be peaking at the right time, and that’s what I feel we’re doing,” Parker said.
Battle Mountain, meanwhile, has the statistical appearance of a finely-tuned offensive machine after finishing with a 13-2-0 record.
Three different Huskies scored double-digit goals, led by senior Roberto Diaz’s 16 tallies to go with 13 assists. Brandon Osorio had 12 goals and 10 assists in the regular season, while Alexis Robles scored 11 times for Battle Mountain, which topped then-No. 1 seed Palmer Ridge to win the state crown last year as a No. 6 seed.
“They’re a very quick team. Very quick on transition,” Parker said. “They try to catch you a lot. We’ve got to get ready for that style of play. Every mistake we make we have to make sure we get back in transition.”
The game time and final location will be set Monday after the schools’ respective athletic directors get together and work out the details.
The winner of Wednesday’s contest will meet the winner of No. 9 Niwot and No. 24 D’Evelyn on Oct. 29.
rowens@durangoherald.com
