One of the Durango High School boys lacrosse team’s goals for the 2026 season is to beat Telluride, and the Demons have some work to do to achieve that goal after an 11-2 home loss to the Miners on Thursday.
Telluride was the team in control from the start, dominating the faceoff X, getting most of the ground balls and moving the ball well against the Durango defense. The Demons struggled to complete passes and specifically clear the ball after the defense did well in stopping the Telluride set offense.
Durango senior goalie Keegan Wilson did a great job keeping the Demons in the game in the first half. However, after two goals late in the second quarter, the Demons couldn’t get any movement on offense and couldn’t beat their matchups one-on-one as the Miners pulled away in the second half.
“Our clears weren’t what we wanted them to be,” Durango boys lacrosse head coach Valeria Skarbek said. “With our ground balls, we had a few in the beginning there when we were down 2-0 and down 4-2, and we really thought we had a shot at it ... we need to win ground balls.”
Durango dropped to 1-1 overall and 0-1 in the 4A Mountain League. The Demons were led by junior Logan Muraro’s one goal and one assist and senior Henry Huff’s one goal. Wilson finished with 11 saves for Durango.
Telluride improved to 2-1 overall and 2-1 in the 4A Mountain League with the win.
It was a slow start on offense until Telluride broke through with about five minutes left in the first quarter. Wilson made the save, but couldn’t find anyone to clear it to. The Demons lost the ball behind the cage, and Telluride found an open attacker for the easy score at the crease. The Miners struck again after another turnover, when a Durango long pole couldn’t catch a pass, resulting in an easy scoop and score for Telluride for the 2-0 lead with 30 seconds left.
“We weren’t in the right positions ... we need to clear up those clears,” Skarbek said. “We’re doing what we did last year, which is what we do best, which is play 90% defense and 10% offense, which is not great. Everybody gets tired.”
Telluride took its 2-0 lead into the second quarter and quickly increased it to 3-0 after some good passing, leading to a close-range shot and score with 9:25 left in the second quarter. The Demons struggled to string passes together, with Durango dropping some and throwing some poor passes while under pressure. When the Demons did get the ball into Telluride’s half, they struggled to move the ball and beat their man one-on-one toward the goal. Durango had some good attempts, but the Telluride goalie saw them all the way.
On defense, the Demons had some good moments, with their long-pole defensemen being active by swatting down passes around the goal. Wilson was having a great game in goal, keeping the Demons in it with some great stops.
After Telluride went up 4-0 with 6:38 left in the half, the Demons responded on offense, finally winning some matchups. Muraro had a great pass to Huff, who finished with a side-arm ripper to get Durango on the board with 4:33 left in the second quarter. Muraro then had a beautiful spin to split the double into a bounce shot into the top of the net with 34 seconds left. Telluride led 4-2 at the half.
“Henry's coming out as a leader this year,” Skarbek said. “With Henry and Logan scoring, if we had gotten them the ball more, obviously, this would be a different game.”
The Miners continued to score in the third quarter, beating the Demons in transition to get easy shots. A Telluride long pole ran through Durango’s defense for the close-range score to put the Miners up 6-2 with six minutes left in the third quarter.
Telluride entered the fourth quarter up 8-2. The Miners continued to flourish in transition with their long poles as threats on offense, and they moved the ball very well. Even when Telluride missed, its attack had the backup. After Telluride goals, the Miners usually got it back on the face-off.
Durango also struggled with penalties throughout the game. Skarbek said her team is down some players due to illness and ineligibility and that hurt the team’s depth and therefore its energy level as the game went on.
The good news for the Demons is they have over two weeks to improve until they play Crested Butte on March 27.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
