In Durango High School’s 48-minute football game on Friday night at home against Liberty, it only took less than four minutes to realize the game was over.
Senior Dawson McInnes couldn’t have started the game off any better with an 87-yard kickoff return touchdown 12 seconds in. Durango then scored again three minutes later and it was clear which team would be the winner.
Durango dominated Liberty for a 63-12 victory on senior night. The Demons’ 63 points were the most Durango has scored since a 64-0 win at Sierra on Oct. 22, 2021.
The Demons did whatever they wanted on offense. Junior quarterback Grady Feeney threw deep ball after deep ball to his speedy receivers, who made the Liberty defensive backs look like they were stuck in quicksand. Feeney and the rest of the Durango rushers cut through the Liberty defense like a knife through warm butter.
On defense, the Demons were constantly in the backfield, pressuring or hitting the Lancers quarterbacks. In fact, Durango was hitting so hard that Liberty went through three quarterbacks. Liberty runners had nowhere to go and were usually stopped around the line of scrimmage.
The score could’ve been even better for Durango, but the Demons bench played most of the second half. Durango also had a lot of penalties in the game on offense and defense that delayed Durango’s inevitable scoring.
“I'm so proud of these seniors with the distractions that they've had to battle since freshman year,” Durango head coach Hunter Holmes said. “Four coaches in four years, the weight programs strip from them; they're not allowed to lift as a team as a senior. Everything's thrown at them and it doesn't faze these kids. They show up and they work hard every day. I couldn't be more proud to be their head football coach.”
Durango improved to 7-2 overall and 3-1 in the 4A Soco 2 League. Feeney finished the game 6/7 passing for 197 yards and four passing touchdowns. Senior Gus Halls led the rushing attack with five carries for 44 yards and a touchdown. Senior Dawson McInnes led Durango in receiving with two receptions for 98 yards and two touchdowns in addition to his kick-return touchdown.
Liberty dropped to 2-7 overall and 0-4 in the 4A Soco 2 League after the loss.
The game couldn’t have started better for Durango and McInnes, who had loads of space on the left side to use his speed and score for a 7-0 lead 12 seconds into the game.
“I've always felt comfortable because of coach Hunter,” McInnes said about his kickoff returns. “He's a great special teams coordinator. He makes it really easy for me. We had a great scheme this week and we just knew we were going to get one.”
Durango quickly got the ball back after forcing a three-and-out, which ended in a sack by Durango senior Ayden Casias. However, a holding call and a targeting call pushed the Demons back to second-and-21.
It didn’t matter.
Feeney dropped back and launched a deep ball. McInnes beat two Liberty players over the middle and caught the ball perfectly in stride. He found the end zone for the 63-yard touchdown. McInnes had his second score in less than four minutes and Durango led 14-0 with 8:32 left in the first.
After stopping Liberty again, the Durango offense shared the wealth on its third possession. Feeney and Halls both had big runs. Senior Ollie Peterson had a catch and just outside the red zone, Feeney and Miller lined up in the backfield. Miller got the ball, went to the right and then cut to the left and up the middle into a massive gap. He used his speed to find the end zone from 27 yards out for a 21-0 lead with 4:35 left in the first quarter.
“You just want to get those game changers the ball quick,” Holmes said about Miller. “That's what we did tonight … it’s just so awesome to see him mature and just see the type of player that he's becoming.”
Liberty’s next drive got the Lancers into Durango territory with some nice runs and a few nice throws. Running back Vincent Nguyen found the end zone from 2 yards out to cut the Durango lead to 21-6 with 1:12 left in the first.
It took Durango less than 35 seconds to respond. Halls had a great kickoff return into Liberty territory. Feeney found his wide-open receivers for chunk plays. A late hit on Peterson put Durango at Liberty’s 5-yard line and Halls easily rushed it home for the score. Durango led 28-6 with 40 seconds left in the first quarter.
The Demons’ next score came from the defense. Liberty had run an RPO (run pass option) play a few times and Casias read one perfectly. He jumped in front of the short pass and took the interception 35 yards to the end zone for a 35-6 lead with 11:04 left in the second quarter.
A few minutes later, Feeney connected on another deep ball to McInnes over the middle for the 35-yard touchdown after a nice punt return by McInnes to set Durango up in good position. Durango led 42-6 with 8:38 left. Despite being up by 36, the Demons went for the surprise onside kick and Durango recovered for another possession instantly.
Feeney chucked another successful deep ball in the team’s next offensive possession. This time it was to an open senior Ollie Peterson for a 36-yard touchdown and a 49-6 lead with 4:15 left in the first half. The score put the running clock on.
The Demons were still able to get another score in with the running clock thanks to a fumble recovery. Feeney lobbed a pass to Tripp from 18 yards out and Tripp made a spectacular catch over the Liberty defender with 25 seconds left. Durango led 56-6 at the half.
Holmes had a nice touch in the second half for his 21 seniors. He took all the seniors out at the same time on defense for a curtain call and a round of applause from the fans. Holmes did the same thing with the offense a few plays later.
“I'm going to love to see quite a few of these guys playing in college … their commitment to greatness is awesome to see,” Holmes said about his seniors.
Durango will wrap up its regular season on the road at Vista Ridge next Friday at 6 p.m. Holmes said a key will be cleaning up all the penalties.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
