After running off four consecutive wins to finish the season, the Durango High School football team was rewarded Sunday with a No. 12 seed in the Colorado High School Activities Association 3A State Football Playoffs.
The Demons (7-3) are slated to play No. 5 Silver Creek (10-0), which hasn’t lost a game all season and won a 3A Northern league that featured three of the 16 remaining teams.
“They’re going to be a tough team, but this is the playoffs,” Durango head coach David Vogt said in a phone interview with The Durango Herald. “Every team that made this far is tough so I don’t know if there’s a good or bad matchup. Everyone is 0-0.”
The winner will play either No. 4 Lewis-Palmer (9-1) or No. 13 Longmont (6-4).
No. 1 Discovery Canyon (10-0) is at the top of the Demons’ side of the bracket and will most likely be waiting in the semifinals if it can get through No. 8 Conifer (9-1) or No. 9 Fort Morgan (9-1) in the second round.
On the other side of the bracket, second-ranked Pueblo East (10-0) joins Durango as the other representative from the South Central League and is setup a first-round game against No. 15 Erie.
The Demons gave the No. 2 team all it could handle in a 24-20, Oct. 7 loss that saw Durango leading in the final minute. DHS has been dominant ever since, outscoring teams 154-27 in the final four games.
“The Pueblo East game gave us the confidence to know that we can compete with anyone,” Vogt said. “We don’t want to be looking back, though. We feel like we’ve made huge strides since then, and the only thing that matters is what happens from here on out.”
Palisade (9-1) earned the third seed and opens against No. 14 Evergreen (6-4). The winner between seventh-ranked Holy Family (8-2) and 10-seed Rifle (8-2) will face Pueblo East and No. 6 Palmer Ridge (8-2) is taking on No. 11 Mead (7-3) for the right to play Palisade or Evergreen.
The first-round game times will be announced Monday.
jfries@durangoherald.com
