After finishing its regular season 9-1 overall and winning the 3A League 3 title, the Durango High School football team scored the No. 2 seed for the upcoming Class 3A state championship tournament.
The Demons will begin the 16-team state tournament by hosting the 3A League 1 champion and No. 15 seed, Harrison (8-2).
The two teams will square off at 1 p.m. Saturday at DHS.
Durango has won eight straight games since losing 14-13 to Piedra Vista (New Mexico) in its second game of the year. In the nine games DHS played this season, not counting the Battle Mountain forfeit, the Demons have scored 399 points, an average of 44.333 points per game. On defense, DHS had only allowed 79 points, or 8.77 points per game, including a 7-0 shutout against Palisade to lock up the league title in its final regular season game.
Durango is undefeated on its home turf with a 5-0 record, and will have home-field advantage until the title game if it keeps winning.
Also on Durango’s side of the bracket, No. 3 Lutheran (8-2) will play No. 14 Pueblo East (8-2) in the first round. No. 6 Summit (9-1) will play No. 11 Frederick (7-3), and No. 7 Holy Family (7-3) will play No. 10 George Washington (9-1).
Roosevelt (10-0) scored the No. 1 seed and will play No. 16 Discovery Canyon (7-3) in the first round. League foe Palisade (4-6) also made the tournament as the No. 13 seed and will play No. 4 Northridge (9-1) in the first round.
Other first-round games include No. 9 Thompson Valley (6-4) versus No. 9 Evergreen (8-2) and No. 5 Green Mountain (10-0) versus No. 12 Resurrection Christian (7-3).
The rest of the classifications began their state tournaments last weekend and teams from the Western Slope fared well. In Class 2A, No. 11 Montezuma-Cortez defeated No. 6 Elizabeth, 21-7, while No. 1 Delta beat No. 16 Berthoud, 42-0, and No. 8 Alamosa beat No. 9 D’Evelyn 27-7.
In 1A, No. 8 Monte Vista defeated No. 9 Holyoke 28-21 and No. 7 Centauri beat No. 10 Gunnison 26-14.
In the eight-man playoffs, No. 3 Mancos beat No. 14 Swink, 46-22, and No. 2 Dove Creek beat No. 15 West Grand 52-18.
