Durango High School wants to keep the Vallecito Bowl trophy in its case for a long time. A win Friday night, and that’s a guarantee.
In the last of a four-game series with the Bayfield High School varsity football team, the Demons will be favored to win for the third time and move the all-time series record against Bayfield to 16 wins, one loss and one tie dating back to 1924. With no future games currently scheduled against Bayfield, Friday night’s victor will hold onto the Vallecito Bowl trophy for the foreseeable future.
“We absolutely want it. We mentioned that, and the boys know,” said Durango High School head coach David Vogt. “Last time we won it, we filled it with pickle juice and let all of them drink out of it. We hope we get to do the same thing.”
Class 3A No. 9 Durango will enter the game with a 2-2 overall record and is fresh off a 53-13 drumming of Farmington High School on the road last week. Class 2A No. 11 Bayfield also traveled south to New Mexico and fell 16-14 against Aztec to see its record drop to 1-2 overall. Friday night is the first time since 2016 that the Wolverines have entered the game with a loss already on their record. That year, the Demons held on for a 14-6 overtime win. Last season, the Demons rolled to a 32-16 home victory. It was Durango’s 20-13 loss in 2017 at Wolverine Country Stadium in Bayfield that the Demons still remember most, though. Durango hasn’t been on that field since walking off with the first loss to Bayfield by a DHS varsity team in history.
“We still have that feeling in our gut about how we felt after that game,” said DHS junior quarterback Jordan Woolverton, who was yet to take over as the Demons’ starting QB when the Demons last traveled to Bayfield. “None of us want to feel that feeling again.”
Vogt said the senior captains and Woolverton stood up and addressed the younger Durango players in practice early in the week about the importance of the trip to Bayfield.
“We started watching film Monday, and we turned off film and asked the guys to stand up who remember what it felt like to lose there – the only team in Durango ever to lose to Bayfield,” Vogt said. “It hit everybody, slapped everyone in the face, woke everyone up. We want to make sure that doesn’t happen and we play to our full potential.”
The Demons played to that potential last week, as Durango claimed a 40-0 lead after one quarter behind the running and passing of Woolverton, the running of senior running back Everett Howland and the massive push of the offensive line. Woolverton ran for 121 yards and two scores on four carries, and he passed for 140 yards and two TDs on 3-of-5 passing.
“Very happy with how we executed the offensive game,” said Woolverton, who has completed 65% of his passes this year with six TDs and zero interceptions. “I think we can carry that over to the rest of the season.”
Howland, meanwhile, galloped for 183 yards and three TDs on nine carries. He now has 562 rushing yards and seven TDs on the ground on 38 carries through four games.
“It all starts with that offensive line,” Vogt said. “As long as those guys continue to do a good job, it will open up everything for our passing and running game.
“Playing Palisade and Montrose, two of the top teams in the state, you have to get better and create a mindset that’s a championship mindset. Playing those teams early benefited us and contributed to the way we’re playing now.”
A year ago, Woolverton ran for two touchdowns against Bayfield while he was 10-of-15 passing for 97 yards. He knows going against a traditionally proud Bayfield defense is no easy task.
“They’ve always had a great defense since my freshman year,” Woolverton said. “I’ve studied them, learned their defense, and they’ve got great schemes. I respect their defense a lot and am excited to go against a strong defense.”
Durango will be hurt a bit at wide receiver and corner back with injuries to starters Breyton Jackson and Gage Mestas, and that’s an area the Wolverines can try to exploit. But Vogt has been very pleased with the play of sophomores Ean Goodwin and Chase Robertson filling both of those positions. Aside from Jackson and Mestas, seven other Demons have caught passes this year, led by Ben Finneseth, who has 289 yards and four TDs on 12 receptions.
Durango’s defense will look for takeaways against a young Wolverines offense that has turned the ball over at key times this season. Durango has five interceptions from five different players this year and has also recovered four fumbles to average more than two takeaways per game.
If the Durango offensive line can continue its strong play and the defense can generate those turnovers, the Demons should pick up a road win before a bye week and then the start of league play.
Still, the Demons know there is no easy path to hoisting the Vallecito Bowl trophy in enemy territory.
“You see what a great job coach (Gary) Heide does over there, and they have such good kids that play super hard for him,” Vogt said. “Bayfield kids are hard-nosed and going to give it everything they’ve got. We’re expecting a really good game and for them to come out firing on all cylinders.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
