Durango’s fifth-grade Young America Football League team is back in the Super Bowl for the third year in a row.
The Demons kept their perfect season intact and recorded another shut-out victory with a 19-0 win against Bloomfield on Saturday. It was the Demons’ second shutout of the playoffs.
The defense dominated the game and allowed only one first down to the Bobcats. Cole Pontine led the defense with six tackles and Wyatt Bartel had five tackles.
Malakai Baier hauled in an interception for the Demons.
The Demons offense controlled the game with its running attack and piled up 202 yards on the ground. Pontine led the Demons with 93 yards and two touchdowns. Cully Feeney added 52 rushing yards.
In the passing game, Baier had four catches and a TD.
Durango will face the Farmington Titans for the championship at 2 p.m. Saturday at Bloomfield High School.
The fifth-graders were the only of the three Durango teams to advance in the playoffs, as the third-grade and sixth-grade teams lost.
The third-grade squad fell to the Farmington Herd 38-12.
The Demons struggled to move the ball and navigate Farmington’s all-out blitzes.
Grady Feeney had a part in both of the Demons’ scores.
In the closing seconds of the first half, Feeney connected with Tyler Hoerl for a 30-yard touchdown pass.
Feeney added a TD on a QB sneak in the second half.
The Demons compiled a 6-3 record on the season, including a playoff win last week.
The sixth-grade team fell to Cortez, the No. 1 seed in the playoffs, 24-6.
The Demons had a good start to the game when Jacob Roberts returned a kickoff 62 yards to the Cortez 3-yard line. But the Cortez defense stood strong and denied the Demons a score.
Durango found the end zone in the third quarter. Quarterback Tyler Harms connected with Jaxon Fancher for a 35-yard gain to the Cortez 4-yard line. After the big gain, the Demons followed the offensive line for a short TD that made it a 12-6 game.
The Demons’ defense played well the rest of the day, but couldn’t keep Cortez from scoring a couple more touchdowns.
kschneider@durangoherald.com
