The Durango boys soccer team, the second-ranked team in 4A, tasted a devastating defeat with a 1-0 loss in the second overtime of a match with Class 5A Grand Junction High School on Saturday in Grand Junction.
The goal came with five minutes left in the second overtime when an apparent handball wasn’t called against the Tigers.
“The ref admitted that it was a handball and he just didn’t call it, so that was a bit unfortunate,” Durango head coach Dalon Parker said. “It’s unfortunate the game between two good teams had to end like that, but it did. They deserved to win and they won.”
The Demons had multiple opportunities to score in overtime. Parker said Durango controlled most of the overtime periods and had six good scoring opportunities but couldn’t put the ball in the back of the net.
Parker said keeper Trey Furnas “had the game of his life” and made numerous great saves. He added that Leland Heinicke had a great performance playing a new position after he was moved from defense to center mid.
“I think the big takeaway is it was nice for the boys to play a good team in league and have to fight. That’s what they did. They fought and played well,” Parker said. “It was a really good soccer game and we look forward to hosting them at our house.”
The Demons will have several games before hosting the Tigers on Oct. 7, starting with a road game against Montrose on Wednesday.
Volleyball
VolleyballDurango High School’s volleyball team had a strong showing at the Cherry Creek tournament Saturday, winning two of its three matches to finish sixth out of 12 teams.
In best-of-three matches, the Demons (6-2) beat Bear Creek (2-5) 25-21, 25-19 and Prairie View (1-4) 25-18, 25-11. They lost to Rocky Mountain (8-0), which went on to win the tournament, 25-20, 25-17 and Douglas County (5-5) 25-15, 25-22.
“They did great,” Durango head coach Colleen Vogt said of the Demons. “We had an excellent blocking day and a great offensive day. It was definitely faster, but now we know we can play with those teams. We played great. I’m very proud of the way we played today. It was a lot of fun.”
Middle blocker Taylor Wolf was named to the all-tournament team. Vogt said she was proud of how the 6-foot-2 junior, who has towered over the competition so far this season, matched the intensity and production of players her size.
“She was force blocking and put a lot of good kills down,” Vogt said of Wolf. “Everyone else on the other teams is about her size, so it was really fun to see her step up and block because that was something we worked on all week.”
Durango will have a long layoff before its next match when the Demons play rival Bayfield (4-2) on Sept. 26 in Bayfield.
“We’re going to take Monday off after a long weekend of travel, then hit the gym hard Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday,” Vogt said. “The girls want to be in there practicing. They’re fired up to play Bayfield. That’s kind of our rivalry game, so they want to be in the gym practicing. There are some things we need to work on in preparation. We know Bayfield is a good serving team and a good blocking team, so we’re going to be prepared for that.”
The Bayfield volleyball team cruised to a pair of 3-0 wins against Pagosa Springs and Monte Vista during the Bayfield Intermountain League tri-meet Saturday in Bayfield.
The Wolverines (6-2) dominated Monte Vista (1-5) 25-12, 25-8 and 25-6 in their first match of the day, then zipped past Pagosa Springs (4-5) 25-18, 25-19 and 25-16.
Bayfield will get a couple days off to enjoy the victories before hosting Farmington’s Piedra Vista (2-3) on Tuesday night.
BHS coach Danica Frost was not available for comment.
kschneider@durangoherald.com
