It was a little too close for comfort, but the ninth-ranked Durango High School boys soccer team advanced to the second round of the Colorado High School Activities Association’s 4A boys soccer championships with a 1-0 win against No. 24 Mitchell Wednesday night at DHS.
The Demons’ goal came in the 76th minute when Jack Beattie made a quick back-heel pass to Max Wilson, who put his shot past Mitchell’s keeper.
The late goal was sweet relief for the Demons, who spent the vast majority of the match raining shots down on Mitchell keeper Felix Justo. But time and time again, Justo made amazing saves to keep the match scoreless and put pressure on the Demons to convert their opportunities.
“I thought we did well staying composed and not panicking,” DHS head coach Dalon Parker said. “Usually in the first round when you see the clock starting to wind down, you see both teams get a ping-pong affect, but we didn’t see that. Everyone was trying to go for what they know.”
Durango (11-2-2) controlled the first half and put relentless pressure on Mitchell’s defense. The Marauders (8-7-1) had a few chances and got off a couple clean shots, but the majority of the first half was spent in their defensive half of the field with the Demons firing shots at goal.
Mitchell head coach Brett Humphrey said part of the approach entering the match was to allow the Demons to take shots because he was confident in Justo between the pipes.
“We wanted to let them do that,” he said. “We wanted to absorb some of their pressure, obviously not that much, but we’re OK with that because we have a good defense, our keeper is solid and our midfield works hard. (Durango) moved the ball well and tried to overload in the midfield, but they played good ball. They’re a good team and it’s tough to stay with guys like that when they know what they’re doing. They know where they need to be and their off-ball movement was really important.”
The second half followed a similar pattern as the first. Durango controlled the ball the majority of the half and had numerous shots on goal but couldn’t convert. When Mitchell did look to counter, the Demons midfield and back line thwarted the Marauders.
“I thought our back three (defenders) did a tremendous job. That’s probably the most balls we’ve won out of the air this year,” Parker said. “I was very proud of our back three – they were very composed. ... I was proud of the defense and the our midfield. Our midfield worked their butts off tonight and I couldn’t be more proud of how they stayed together as a team and not go off and try to do it individually.”
Mitchell’s closest scoring opportunity came midway through the second half when a ball played from near midfield sailed toward the top of the Demons goal, but keeper Trey Furnas punched the ball over the post to stop the threat.
No. 8 Skyline (13-1-2) edged No. 25 Pueblo Centennial (10-4-1) Wednesday afternoon thanks to a penalty kick from Jose Medrano in the 32nd minute. The Falcons will host Durango in the second round Oct. 31 in Longmont.
Parker said he doesn’t know much about Skyline and will use the next few days to watch film and study the Falcons’ tendencies.
“My approach for this postseason is one game at a time. I looked at our bracket to see who was in there, but Mitchell came first,” Parker said. “I didn’t call for film, I didn’t watch film, I didn’t care. I wanted us to get past Mitchell first, if we could, and now it will be a crash course. ... I love high school playoffs because at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if a team is ranked 22nd, 24th, 25th or 31st, everybody is about to put their heart on the line and play totally different than before because they know if they lose, they won’t have another game. ... We’ll watch film and look at it, but at the end of the day, somebody will do something different and it’ll come down to two teams going out there and battling.”
kschneider@durangoherald.com
