The defense of the Durango High School football team kept plowing through its opposition and turned in another dominant performance Saturday.
The Demons forced three turnovers, one coming on special teams, and held Piedra Vista to 134 yards of offense in a 29-0 victory at DHS Stadium.
“The biggest thing I can say is that we’re having fun with each other,” senior captain Manasseh Brockus said. “We had some new guys filling in every once in a while, but we’re learning to have fun and playing Durango football, and Durango football stands for is hitting hard and having fun.”
Coming into the game, Durango head coach David Vogt said field position and winning the turnover battle would be two of the biggest factors if the Demons were going to win, and the Demons dominated both categories in the first half.
Durango came away with a fumble recovery on a kickoff and an interception in the half and won field position, as it started two drives deep in Piedra Vista territory while the Panthers started their first three first-half drives at their own 25-, 20- and 20-yard lines. The Panthers’ best starting position came on the fourth drive of the half at the Demons’ 49-yard line, but the possession ended with an interception.
“That’s huge,” Vogt said of the field position. “The deeper they are the more comfortable we are with blitzing, and the kids love to do that. It allows us to be more aggressive (on defense) when we have that good field position, and we play our best when we have it.”
After holding Piedra Vista to a punt on the opening drive of the game, Durango started at its own 5-yard line and drove 95 yards in 13 plays. The Demons got big runs from quarterback Max Hyson to get into the red zone before freshman Jordan Woolverton came in at QB and found Fynn Hyson for an 8-yard score.
It was the first touchdown pass of Woolverton’s high school career, and the freshman said he didn’t have any nerves during the touchdown play or the remainder of the game.
“The line held their blocks when I was rolling, and Fynn got open like he was supposed to. He was there and we executed,” Woolverton said.
The TD pass to Hyson was the first of two for the freshman who saw extended time at quarterback in the second half and split snaps with starter Max Hyson.
“He was awesome,” DHS senior Gavin Mestas said of Woolverton. “I was extremely impressed. Not many freshman kids can go out there their first varsity game and throw two touchdown passes. It shows he’s a competitor and working hard. He’s another deadly weapon on the field for us.”
The Demons held Piedra Vista to a three-and-out on a drive of negative 12 yards on the Panthers’ ensuing possession after the Woolverton to Fynn Hyson TD and started their drive at the Piedra Vista 33-yard line. The Demons couldn’t get much going on offense, picking up one first down before Harrison Kairalla knocked a 26-yard field goal through the uprights to extend the lead to 10-0.
The Panthers put together their best drive of the half late in the second quarter. Starting at their own 20-yard line, the Panthers marched into Demon territory before a bit of trickery backfired. Quarterback Cameron Schwartz lateraled to Christian Chavez, who threw down the left sideline and was intercepted by Mestas at the Durango 12-yard line.
The Demons needed one play to get in the end zone, as junior running back Dawson Marcum avoided a tackle near the line of scrimmage and broke 88 yards down the right sideline for the long touchdown run.
Marcum finished the day with 107 rushing yards despite not playing in the second half. Vogt said the team kept Marcum out to protect him from dehydration.
Missed tackles were too regular for the Piedra Vista defense that failed to wrap up and finish tackles on multiple occasions.
“We were just lunging. We got in a rush trying to play fast and weren’t running through our tackles – just lunging and grabbing,” Piedra Vista coach Jared Howell said. “If you just lunge and grab; strong runners will break those arm tackles all the time. Those are some bad habits they started doing in practice. The scout team can’t simulate that and you can get away with it in practice, but you can’t on Friday or Saturday.”
Both offenses had trouble moving the ball in the second half. Six of the first seven possessions combined ended in punts, and the other ended when Mestas snagged his second interception and returned it for a touchdown.
The Demons added one more touchdown late in the fourth quarter. With Woolverton at quarterback for third-and-goal at the 2-yard line, the freshman rolled to his left and found Mestas wide open in the end zone for the final score of the game.
Durango will hit the road for the first time this season when the Demons venture south to Farmington to take on the Farmington Scorpions and attempt a sweep of the three New Mexico schools they face this season.
“That’d be awesome,” Mestas said of a potential sweep of Aztec, Piedra Vista and Farmington. “We’ve got to keep working hard this week and improve. But if we do what we do, listen to our coaches, I think we should be good.”
kschneider@durangoherald.com
