Sayer Frontella scored three times in the opening 17 minutes of play, and the Durango Demons wouldn’t need much longer to put away Bayfield High School for a 10-0 win in boys soccer Tuesday.
Frontella scored in the fourth, 15th and 17th minutes to give DHS a 3-0 lead. Nik Korte added another Demons goal in the 19th minute before DHS (5-1-2, 4-1-2 5A/4A Southwestern League) was halfway to victory on a Tristen Lawson goal five minutes later. The Demons would carry that 5-0 lead into halftime, but DHS was far from done scoring.
Sam Carozza got the scoring started four minutes into the second half, and Ryan Bell scored again only seconds later. Frontella would then net his fourth goal of the match in the 48th minute to make it 8-0.
Jackson Dahly added another DHS goal in the 55th minute, and David Smagacz scored the team’s 10th in the 56th minute to end the game via 10-0 mercy rule.
After struggling to score during the first half of the season, DHS has now scored 28 goals in its last three games with two 9-0 wins against Grand Junction Central leading into Tuesday’s home match with Bayfield (0-9, 0-6 3A Southwest League).
“Sayer is leading the league in goals and points by quite a bit now,” DHS head coach Aaron Champenoy said. “We’re having some fun, and lots of guys are coming off the bench and the older guys are cheering on those young guys. They are excited to see them go out and do well. It sets us up for either a deeper squad going into state, or it will mean we have more experience when the guys return next year.”
DHS has two matches still to play in the regular season with a senior night match at 6 p.m. Friday against Grand Junction before a road trip Saturday to see Pagosa Springs.
The Demons will closely watch for the result of Wednesday night’s match between Montrose and Grand Junction and will root for a Grand Junction win for the opportunity to beat the Tigers on Friday to claim the league title. If Montrose wins, it will win the league.
“If Grand Junction can tie or beat Montrose, we are still alive and can win the league Friday,” Champenoy said. “This whole year has gone so quickly, and we didn’t do ourselves any favors early with the loss at Montrose at their place before we beat them 5-1 at home. In a short season with only 16 teams making the state tournament instead of 32, we couldn’t afford to give teams like that a chance. Now, it’s not in our hands.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
