The No. 2-seeded Durango High School football team overcame a slow start and some penalties to take down No. 15 Harrison in the first round of the Class 3A state championships on Saturday at DHS, 42-13.
The Demons led 21-6 at the break, but had a couple drive stall after penalties and also got intercepted once.
“We started a little slow in the first half, but we came together in the second half,” said DHS senior Zach Haber. “It was definitely a team thing; I think we rose to the occasion in the second half.”
A sack by Jeric Baruch forced Harrison to punt on its first possession. DHS then got some big runs from Haber, quarterback Tyler Harms and Baruch eventually scored on a 3-yard rush.
Jaylen Jeffries made a tackle for the backfield on Harrison’s next drive and the Panthers had to punt.
After DHS threw an interception, Miguel Garcia Rodriguez hit Carlos Preciado as soon as he took a handoff and DHS forced Harrison to punt again.
Durango then put together a scoring drive. Haber caught a touchdown, but the play was negated by a block in the back. Two plays later, however, Harms connected with Tagert Bardin for a 17-yard touchdown. Dylan Burns’ kick put DHS up 14-0, and Burns finished 6-for-6 on his extra point attempts.
On Harrison’s ensuing possession, Jacob Neubert recovered a fumble just outside of Harrison’s red zone, but DHS was unable to capitalize. Durango’s drive started with a sack and later a holding penalty negated a 22-yard Baruch reception and DHS had to punt.
Jaxen Fancher came up big and intercepted a pass on Harrison’s next drive. A personal foul, however, backed DHS up and the Demons had to punt.
Harrison then put together a scoring drive to cut Durango’s lead to 14-6. On fourth-and-goal from the 13, quarterback Diego Watt threw to Jordan Davos-Voss in the end zone. Four Demons were covering Davos-Voss, but he was a head taller than any Demon and was able to outleap them for a touchdown reception.
DHS, however, answered almost immediately. Bardin got open and Harms hit him in stride for a 48-yard touchdown with 2:05 left in the half.
Harrison then drove deep into Durango territory, but DHS made a tackle at the six-yard line as the half expired.
“Our defense getting a stop at the goal line set the tone,” Haber said.
At halftime, DHS head coach Todd Casebier said his message to the team was: “everybody relax, quit pressing, make the plays that come to you and play our style of football.”
The Demons did just that and scored on their first three possessions of the second half to go up 42-6.
Baruch had a touchdown wiped away by a hold, but he scored three plays later on a 2-yard run.
Luke Wesley then got wide open and Harms connected with him for a 46-yard touchdown.
After Fancher intercepted a second pass, Bardin scored his third touchdown on a 15-yard reception from Harms. “All of my touchdowns got called back, but I’m glad Taggert got three,” Haber said. “He’s a dog.”
Brady Hansen intercepted a pass in the end zone to end Harrison’s next drive. The Panthers, however, scored once more, picking up a DHS fumble and running it about 50 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter.
Durango’s offense, however, was able to eat the last 7:51 off the clock to finish on top.
The Demons improve to 10-1 overall with the win while Harrison finishes its season 8-3.
DHS will now face No. 10 George Washington in the quarterfinals next week on either Friday or Saturday at DHS. George Washington upset No. 7 Holy Family 42-35 in its first-round game.
“The big thing is we won and advanced,” Casebier said. “We get seven more days together and that’s the focus. We’ll go back to work tomorrow and have a great plan for George Washington.”
In other 3A games, No. 1 Roosevelt beat No. 16 Discovery Canyon 41-0. No. 9 Evergreen defeated No. 8 Thompson Valley 16-13. No. 13 Palisade upset No. 4 Northridge 14-7. No. 5 Green Mountain blasted Resurrection Christian 58-0. No. 3 Luthern beat No. 14 Pueblo East 49-6 and No. 11 Frederick beat No. 6 Summit 41-21.
Other area teams also won their playoff games on Saturday. Montezuma-Cortez shut out Rifle14-0, Mancos defeated Lyons 32-18 and Dove Creek beat Merino 26-20.
