At halftime of Saturday’s boys lacrosse game between Durango and Crested Butte, gusts of wind brought in some snowfall. The wind must’ve taken the Demons’ momentum away from Durango High School too.

The Demons jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second quarter. After halftime, Durango senior goaltender Henry Howe suffered a wrist injury and left the game. The Demons struggled afterward and Crested Butte came back for a 6-5 win.

Durango fell to 1-6 overall and 0-5 in the 4A Mountain League with the loss. Crested Butte improved to 4-6 overall and 4-4 in the 4A Mountain League with the win.

“We fought really hard today,” Durango head coach Luke Miller said. “It was unfortunate we lost our starting goalie in the second half and you could see the winds change directions on us. It’s unfortunate, we don’t have a lot of depth at that position. Our offense did a great job possessing the ball, getting the right opportunities. Unfortunately, we didn’t get a few of those at the end of the game to drop.”

Junior JT Munger led the Demons with two goals and an assist. Senior Logan Gurule had two goals and sophomore Bradin Gurule had a goal too for Durango.

“JT leaves everything he can on this field,” Miller said. “He’s a classic midfielder, he doesn’t want to get off the field. He wants to play defense, offense and try everything he can to help the team out.”

Howe had 14 saves and only allowed one goal before he got hurt. Freshman Dante Devitre had five saves in relief of Howe and junior Zane Geygan had a save as well.

Crested Butte had three chances in the first two minutes from close range but Henry Howe made two saves and one shot went off the post.

The Demons responded with a breakaway goal by Bradin Gurule to go up 1-0 with 9:42 to go in the second. JT Munger finished off a long shot to go up 2-0 with eight minutes to go in the first.

Howe had some good saves in the middle of the first quarter to keep the clean sheet. He was stopping bounce shots and high shots as well as making clears.

Both teams struggled to put together passes in the second quarter and there were numerous turnovers. Logan Gurule finished one from close range with over four minutes left in the second half to put the Demons up 3-0.

Durango struggled on faceoffs but Crested Butte struggled to get good looks. Howe made a diving save to stop the ball from going over the goal line with less than four minutes to go in the half.

With 10 seconds left in the half, a deflection in front of the crease caused the ball to go in the net for Crested Butte and the Demons led 3-1 at half.

Snow started to come down to start the third quarter and both teams struggled to find the cage with their shots.

A scary moment occurred when Howe got the ball and tried to take it upfield and was slashed and immediately went down in pain rolling around the ground with 7:48 to go in the third quarter. Howe was helped off to the sideline and did not return.

“He was being the perfect backstop,” Miller said about Howe. “If they had an open shot he took care of it. There was only one goal during his time in, that’s all you can ask. He was making the saves we needed.”

With Devitre in the goal, the Demons allowed a goal and Crested Butte made it 3-2 Durango with 7:19 to go and Munger for the Demons responded quickly with a score with 5:49 to go in the third to push the lead back to two.

Off a ground ball, the Demons had some great ball movement and Logan Gurule scored to make it 5-2 with three minutes to go in the third. Durango continued to struggle on the faceoffs though.

Crested Butte got the fourth started with a goal nine seconds in off the faceoff to make the score 5-3. The Titans scored again with 9:58 left as the new goalie struggled to see the shots. Durango went a man up off a cross-check but couldn’t convert.

A costly turnover for the Demons in front of their own goal led to an open shot on the crease for the Titans Jack Pierson which tied the game at 5 with 6:22 to go.

Riley Davis scored for Crested Butte which gave the Titans their first lead of the game. Crested Butte led 6-5 with 4:02 to go as the backup goalies for Durango continued to struggle.

Durango had possession of the ball twice down one with a minute left but failed to score either time.

“We weren’t taking advantage of the looks we got,” Miller said. “We hit the post, the goalie in the chest, things like that are unfortunate bounces.”

The Demons are back in action next Saturday at home against Montrose at 11 a.m.

bkelly@durangoherald.com