The Demons will take their show on the road at least one more time this season – perhaps more if they get where they want to go.
The Durango High School football team ended up with the No. 9 seed and will face No. 8 Denver South either Friday or Saturday at All City Stadium in Denver in the first round of the 16-team CHSAA Class 4A playoffs. The time and date have yet to be set.
The Demons (8-2) were hoping to open the playoffs at home, which would’ve marked the program’s first home playoff game since 2000.
Instead, the win over three-win, Class 3A Montezuma-Cortez stung in the playoff points, dropping DHS from fourth to seventh in Class 4A, which opened the door for the seeding committee to bounce the Demons to ninth.
Denver South, meanwhile, went 8-2 and captured the Plains League title with a 5-0 record. The Plains League also includes No. 13 Dakota Ridge.
The Rebels boast the Plains League’s top rusher, Zachary Lindsay, who ran for 1,570 yards this season, while Trevonte Tasco added 940 yards on the ground for a squad that totaled 3,110 rushing yards against 946 yards through the air.
A stout rushing attack should provide a compelling matchup with Durango’s run defense, which has been extremely difficult to dent this season.
Defensively, Potros Mabany led the league with five sacks for the Rebels, while Lindsay chipped in 3½.
The Demons, meanwhile, had 19 total sacks as a team and led the Southwestern League with 15 interceptions. Daniel Gustavson topped the SWL with seven sacks, and the top four players in the league in interceptions all were Demons – Blake Dunlap with four, Casey Dunlap with three, and Caleb Lloyd and Jeremy Szura each with two.
The winner of Durango-Denver South will meet the winner of No. 1 Montrose and No. 16 Montbello in the quarterfinals. If Durango wins and faces Montrose for the second time this season, the rematch would take place at DHS Stadium by rule since DHS won’t have played at home yet, while Montrose will have. The Indians rallied for a 14-10 victory over DHS two weeks ago in Montrose.
A Durango-Montbello matchup also would be at DHS because Durango is seeded higher.
heraldsports@durangoherald.com
