The Durango High School football team is in the postseason. The Demons were given the No. 13 seed in the Colorado High School Activities Association Class 3A State Football Playoffs when the brackets were released Sunday morning.
The Demons will hit the road for the first round with a trip to Cañon City to take on the No. 4 Tigers at 6 p.m. Friday.
“We thought we’d be a little higher,” DHS head coach David Vogt said of the seedings, “but we’re just happy to make it to the playoffs.”
Durango jumped up from No. 16 to No. 9 in the CHSAA’s RPI standings after Friday night’s 45-0 victory against Harrison. The RPI standings are used to determine and seed the playoff field, but the Demons slid four spots because of other factors.
Durango could not be seeded higher than Pueblo East, which won the South Central League and beat the Demons head-to-head. And Pueblo East could not be seeded ahead of Discovery Canyon, which beat Pueblo East head-to-head Sept. 14. Discovery Canyon was seeded 11th and Pueblo East was 12th.
CHSAA’s football committee still looks at head-to-head results, unlike the soccer committee. Last month, the Durango boys soccer team was seeded five spots below Montrose, even though Durango won the 5A/4A Southwestern League while Montrose finished third. The inconsistencies from sport to sport has frustrated the Demons this season.
“We were up to No. 9 in RPI but ended up 13. It doesn’t look good when 9 goes to 13 and 14 moves up to 11, but football has head-to-head when our soccer team had to go on road because soccer doesn’t have head-to-head,” DHS athletic director Adam Bright said. “It’s just frustrating when it’s different from sport to sport.”
The Cañon City Tigers (9-1) won the 3A Southern League with a 5-0 record behind a stout defense and a rushing offense they use to set up the pass.
“They’re a lot like us,” Vogt said. “They like to play defense and hit hard. It should be some good smash-mouth football.”
The Tigers’ biggest offensive weapon comes in the form of running back Kadin Porter.
Porter, a 5-foot-11, 225-pound running back, has run for 1,224 yards and 17 touchdowns this season. He has broken the century mark four times, including a 248-yard, six-touchdown performance against Pueblo County. He has eclipsed 75 yards rushing in every game this season.
However, the Demons (7-3) have been up to the challenge of stopping talented backfields all season, as the run defense of Durango has been superb.
The Tigers have the ability to hurt teams in the passing game. They’ve been fairly balanced in their play calling, and have run the ball 60 percent of the time to set up the pass. Quarterback Zac Hanenberg has thrown for 1,500 yards and 17 touchdowns, but has also thrown eight interceptions.
Durango has recorded 11 interceptions this season.
The two teams have shared three common opponents this year in Pueblo Central, Pueblo County and Pueblo East. Cañon City beat all three teams while the Demons beat Pueblo Central and County but fell to Pueblo Central.
Three teams out of Durango’s 3A South Central League made the 16-team field, with Harrison getting the No. 16 seed to join Durango and Pueblo East.
Mead was awarded the No. 1 seed after going 10-0 and will play Harrison in the first round.
Should the Demons upset the Tigers, they could get a rematch against Pueblo East, if the Eagles, who have won the last three 3A state titles, can get past No. 5 Erie. The last time Pueblo East scored a major upset in the playoffs was in 2013 when the Eagles were the No. 16 seed and stunned No. 1 Discovery Canyon 47-13.
kschneider@durangoherald.com
