The Class 3A Durango High School football team spoiled 4A Central Grand Junction’s homecoming on Friday.
Central scored on the first play of the game and the last, but in between it was all Durango. DHS stifled Central with its defense while six different Demons scored touchdowns to prevail, 49-14, and improve to 3-1 overall while Central slipped to 2-2.
Central returned the opening kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown, but then the Demons went to work.
DHS quarterback Tyler Harms threw three touchdowns in the first half, including two in the first quarter, and Brady Hansen returned a blocked punt 20 yards for another touchdown to give Durango a 28-7 halftime lead. After the break, DHS rushed for three more scores, including one on a drive that ran over 7 minutes off the clock, before Central threw a touchdown as time expired.
Harms first connected with Tagert Bardin on a nine-yard touchdown pass. Later in the first quarter, he found Zach Haber open for a 10-yard touchdown strike.
In the second quarter, DHS went up 21-7 after a five-play, 80-yard drive. Harms completed a 32-yard pass to Bardin. Later on the drive, he connected with A.J. Folk for a 28-yard touchdown.
Durango’s defense also kept Central quiet in the half, only giving up two first downs, including one on a penalty, while forcing them to go three-and-out four times. The defense also blocked a punt that led to Hansen’s touchdown and put DHS up, 28-7.
Jaxon Fancher returned the opening kickoff in the second half to Central’s 40. After a pair of first downs, Jeric Baruch got some nice blocking and scored on a 26-yard run.
Haber scored his second touchdown on a 3-yard run that capped a 12-play drive that started in the third quarter and ended with about six minutes left in the fourth.
On the ensuing kickoff, Durango kicked it hard and low and it bounced off a Central player right to a Demon. Durango’s backups then capitalized. Wyatt Bartel broke free for about a 40-yard run and quarterback Cully Feeney eventually scored from about five yards out. Dylan Burns, meanwhile, was 7-for-7 on PAT kicks in the game.
Next, DHS will host the team that knocked it out of the state playoffs last year, Mead, at 7 p.m. Friday. Mead is 1-2, but both losses were to ranked teams. Mead is ranked No. 10 in Class 3A and Durango is No. 3.
