Another regular season means another strong start for the Durango boys soccer team. The Demons finished 42-6-3 in the last three regular seasons. This year, Durango is off to a good start again. Durango finished off its five-game road trip to start the year with a 2-1 win at Palisade on Friday and a 3-1 win at Fruita Monument on Saturday.
The Demons improved to 4-0-1 overall and 2-0 in the 5A/4A Southwestern League after the two wins.
“We were starting to play some good football, whereas the last three games were more so just doing a dogfight,” Durango boys soccer head coach Sean Ackerman said. “We still did that, but the last few days we really saw a lot more possession, passing and execution of goals.”
Demons senior midfielder Mavrick Rodriguez opened up the scoring for the Demons against Palisade in the first half which put Durango up 1-0 at halftime.
Ackerman complimented Rodriguez on his great start to the season. Through five games, Rodriguez has four goals and three assists to lead the team.
Palisade responded in the second half to tie the game 1-1. But Demons senior defender Flint Gervais scored on a free kick with about 10 minutes left to put Durango up 2-1 for good.
Junior goalkeeper Quinn Harrison had 10 saves against Palisade.
“The one thing I'd like us to improve on is just dealing with balls over the top,” Ackerman said. “Palisade was dangerous against us and they actually surprised us with their quality, just good workers like us to play similar to us and just trying to bring the game to the opponent. They had some fast players and we just got to deal with that a little bit better.”
Rodriguez continued to show his offensive prowess against Fruita Monument with a goal and an assist. Junior Dylan Burns had a goal and Gervais scored again in the 3-1 win.
Harrison and senior goalkeeper Hunter Osborn each had two saves for the Demons.
The Demons boys soccer team has its first game in Durango this week but it’s not at Durango High School. Durango will face Grand Junction on Friday at 7 p.m. on Dirks Field at Fort Lewis College.
Ackerman is excited for his team to play on a top-quality college field under the lights in front of a big crowd. He said its another way to connect the Durango High School soccer program and the FLC men’s soccer program.
Both Durango cross country teams perform well at Joe Vigil Invitational
As the season has progressed, the Durango cross country teams under first-year head coach Michael Fadil are coming along nicely. Runners are improving and getting healthier as some of the bigger meets approach.
On Saturday at the Joe I. Vigil XC Invitational in Alamosa, the boys team finished third out of 28 schools and the girls finished fourth out of 23 schools.
“The team is really starting to come together nicely,” Fadil said. “A lot of the kids are feeling more and more comfortable with kind of the training that we're doing. I had a couple of kids this week ask if the workouts they’re doing are hard enough because the intensity isn't the same. No you guys are really doing things exactly the way I would like them.”
Fadil said the Joe Vigil course was flat and fast at 7,500 feet elevation. He said with the lower-intensity training he’s implemented, the kids are moving up in the last mile compared to moving back.
With 28 boys schools and 23 girls schools, Fadil said the competition level was representative of the entire landscape of cross country teams in Colorado and New Mexico.
In the boys race, Demons senior AJ Bonanno finished sixth out of 304 boys in the 5-kilometer race with a PR of 16 minutes and 15.06 seconds. Aiden Le Roux from Cheyenne Mountain won the race in 15:28.90.
Demons freshman Caden Voss finished 13th in 16:36.22. Junior Slader Schweitz finished 37th in 17:24.82 and sophomore Jack Purcell finished right behind in 38th in 17:25.57. Sophomore Benjamin Lively rounded out the top five for the Demons boys team with a 44th-place finish in 17:29.81.
Sophomore Lacy Ruggiero once again led the Demons girls squad with a seventh-place finish in 19:28.26. Senior Bryn Aggeler finished 16th in 20:09.89. Junior Ayumi Lambert finished 27th in 20:42.22.
Fadil was happy to see Lambert perform like she did because she didn’t finished the last two seasons due to injuries. Fadil said they are taking her along slowly and he’d be very happy if she can finish the season healthy.
Freshman Mena Cerwin continues to progress and finished 34th in 20:54.51. Sophomore Olivia Glover rounded out the Demons top five in 47th in 21:18.44.
Fadil is excited about the depth of the girls team, especially with top runners like Sofia Voss and Dewa Ilg currently dealing with injuries.
The Demons are back in action at the UNM Invitational in Albuquerque this weekend.
Softball gets blown out by Grand Junction in two road games
The Durango softball team will have to wait for its next opportunity to eclipse last year’s win total. After winning three games in a row to get to 4-4 overall, Grand Junction dominated Durango on Saturday with 14-4 and 15-2 victories over the Demons.
Durango fell to 4-6 overall and 1-3 in the 5A/4A Southwestern League with the losses. Grand Junction improved to 8-3 overall and 2-1 in the 5A/4A Southwestern League.
“I will give Grand Junction credit where credit is due they are a great hitting team,” Durango softball head coach Sara Clair said. “I knew coming into it looking at their stats they had played some good teams and hit the ball well and they did that … They put a lot of pressure on our defense. At the end of the day, they hit the ball better than we hit the ball. Defensively, there were definitely a few mistakes here and there.”
The first game started off close with Grand Junction leading 6-3 after three innings. The Tigers then pulled away and ended the game with a seven-run fifth inning. The second game was over almost as soon as it started. Grand Junction scored 10 in the fourth inning to end the game.
Senior Molly Best was one of the bright spots as she went 2-3 in the first game and 2-2 in the second game.
Durango played at Montezuma-Cortez on Tuesday but the game didn’t finish before this article was published.
Volleyball goes 2-2 at Lewis-Palmer Tournament
The Durango volleyball team stepped up its competition and went up to Monument for the Lewis-Palmer Tournament on Saturday.
It was a mixed bag of results for the Demons, going 2-2 in the tournament. Durango is now 4-2 overall.
The Demons started the tournament with a 2-0 win over Middle Park, 25-16 and 25-16. Junior outside hitter Hadyn Neiman led Durango with seven kills and senior outside hitter Avery Rike also had six kills.
Durango dropped its first match of the season against Lewis Palmer 2-0. Lewis-Palmer won 25-7 and 25-12. Rike led the Demons with five kills.
Another match was dropped against Pueblo West 2-0. The Demons lost 25-18 and 25-15. Rike led the Demons again with six kills.
The Demons finished off the tournament with a 2-0 win over Centauri, 25-15 and 25-23. Rike led Durango with nine kills.
Durango is back at home against Grand Junction Central on Friday at 6 p.m.
Demons mountain biking starts strong at Haymaker Classic
Durango’s Emmett McManus continued his strong form into his senior season. McManus won the Haymaker Classic varsity boys race.
McManus finished the three-lap race in 1 hour, eight minutes and 38 seconds. His teammate, senior Kai Lokey, finished second in 1:09:37. Senior Cedar Bremner finished fifth in the boys varsity race in 1:12:44.
In the varsity girls race, Durango junior Tilia Clausen finished third in 1:27:33. Junior Ellie Shaw finished fifth in 1:31:28.
Delaney Meegan from Chatfield won the girls varsity race in 1:25:38.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
