Despite a stellar strength of schedule and top-10 Ratings Performance Index, the Durango High School football team was seeded No. 14 in the Colorado High School Activities Association’s Class 3A State Football Playoff bracket, which came out on Sunday.
The Demons (6-4, 3-2 Class 3A South Central League) will make the trek north to No. 3 Erie in the first round of the playoffs. The seeding, however, baffled Demons head coach David Vogt. He pointed to the strength of schedule – DHS had the second strongest schedule in Class 3A – and the final RPI standings, which plays a factor in determining the playoff bracket, where the Demons finished No. 8 in Class 3A.
“My initial thought was why even use the RPI if we’re going to drop so much (for seeding purposes), that was kind of ridiculous,” Vogt said. “The strength of schedule showed us that you can’t make mistakes. We should have beat probably Palisade and Montrose because we had chances, and you can’t lose those important games during the year. Since we lost to Pueblo South, ultimately, they had to go on the board before we did, and that’s how we got No. 14.”
Once you get in the playoffs, he said, “you have to play everybody, so it all sorts itself out eventually. Erie is a team we’re familiar enough with and we played them last year. ... We will get ready for them.”
It will be the same matchup as last year’s 3A quarterfinals in which the Demons fell just short of the semifinals in a 35-28 loss. Tigers running back Noah Roper scored four out of the five touchdowns for his team in last year’s game and Vogt said it will be another tough ask to stop Roper, as he has amassed over 1,800 yards rushing this season and has scored 32 times. The Tigers (10-0, 5-0 3A North Valley League) defeated Fort Morgan 31-28 last Friday to win the league championship.
“Erie is undefeated right now and they’ve got that All-State running back again ... so it’ll be a fun game,” Vogt said. “Their defense has been tough as well, but I think our offense and defense can definitely keep up. So despite what the seedings say, I think it will be another great game.”
The winner of the Durango-Erie game would take on the winner of the No. 6 Green Mountain (8-2) or No. 11 Thomas Jefferson (8-2) game in the quarterfinals. Also on Durango’s side of the bracket are No. 7 Discovery Canyon (8-2) against No. 10 Frederick (8-2) and No. 2 Pueblo East (8-2) against No. 15 Lewis-Palmer (6-4).
Vogt said while he liked the other first-round matchups on Durango’s side of the bracket, his focus will be on Erie, and preparations for the week will go on as normal.
“For us, it’s just another week and we’re going to do nothing out of the ordinary at this point,” Vogt said. “We could certainly use (the seeding) as motivation, but again, it just comes down to one game at a time and you’ve got to play everybody to win a state championship, so it’s one week at a time. This week is just going to be another opportunity to extend the season for the seniors and keep playing under their leadership. It definitely helps that these guys have had playoff experience, and so we will definitely rely on them for this week and hopefully beyond.”
On the other side of the bracket, Palisade earned the No. 1 overall seed and will play Fort Morgan. Other matchups include No. 8 Evergreen and No. 9 Mead, No. 4 Palmer Ridge will take on No. 13 Pueblo South and No. 5 Harrison will square off against No. 12 Holy Family.
“Really, we’re just trying to take it one day at a time and one practice at a time,” Vogt said. “The guys understand how big of a week this is for us because it’s win-or-go-home. We’ll be ready by the time kickoff hits.”
The kickoff time and date will be announced at a later date.
bploen@durangoherald.com
