The Durango High School girls lacrosse team couldn’t have had a much more dominant start to the season after the Demons won 14-1 at Montrose on Thursday.
Two games into the season, the Demons have outscored their opponents 33-6 as they’ve started 2-0 overall and 1-0 in the 4A Mountain West League.
“I felt pretty good because we finished off with 14 goals on nine assists,” Durango girls lacrosse head coach Eric Elliot said. “I’m pretty proud of that every time we can pile on the assists. It makes us much more of a complete team and a much harder team to defend.”
The Demons were led by senior Taylor Babcock’s six goals and two assists. Babcock scored about 15 seconds after senior Laurel Dondlinger won the draw. That got Babcock going, and she continued to score from all over, including a few direct shots, according to Elliot.
Junior Indie Eaton added two goals and five assists for the Demons. Durango junior Teagan Frausto finished with three goals and two assists.
“What I remember the most was every time that Indie had the ball, the entire Montrose team was screaming to watch out No. 6, and when she was off ball … they were screaming to watch out for her,” Elliot said about Eaton. “So even with all that heat on her and all the attention that she was gaining, she got a couple of goals and dished out six assists … to prove that she's a really versatile player.”
On defense, Elliot was happy to see sophomores Lucy Wilson and Kaitlyn Downey be disruptive by knocking down passes and getting a lot of ground balls. Junior Jody Holden finished with five saves.
Next up for the Demons is a game against Montrose on Tuesday at 4 p.m.
Durango leaned on strong hitting and a complete‑game performance from Cole Clark to defeat Farmington 7-2.
Clark held the Scorpions to two runs on three hits while striking out four. Farmington starter Danny Hagstrom worked four innings, allowing five runs on eight hits with five strikeouts.
Senior Austin Romero sparked the Demons in the first inning. Romero, who finished 2-for-4 with a run and two RBIs, launched a home run to give Durango a 1-0 lead.
“It was awesome because (Romero) and I stayed at our field until dark last night working on stuff,” Durango head coach Masen Hibbeler said. “We just knew he was going to have a great day.”
Durango continued to roll in the inning. Duncan Walsh followed with an RBI triple, Landin Padilla stole home, and Carter Hansen added a run-scoring hit for a 4-0 lead.
Farmington answered with a bases‑loaded walk to Sataurus Griego and another run in the second after a single from Calob Schofield, cutting the deficit to 4-2.
The Demons pulled away in the fifth. Walsh doubled to start the rally, and Dawson McInnes followed with another double to drive him in. Brady Hoerl later tagged up to score, and a Scorpions error brought Hansen home to extend the lead to 7-2.
Durango (1-2) earned its first win of the season. Farmington fell to 4-6 with a 2-1 showing in the tournament and will host its own invitational next, facing Uintah (Utah) at 7:30 p.m.
