Five yards was all the separated the Demons from a championship last year. A year later and a year wiser, they wouldn’t let it get that close.

The fourth-grade Durango Young America Football League team rematched with the Farmington Titans, the team that beat them by keeping them out of the end zone in the final seconds last season when the Demons miscalculated how many downs they had left.

This year, nothing got in the Demons’ way in a 32-7 destruction of the team they had their sights set on all season. In the end, the Demons celebrated on Doc Jones Field in Farmington.

Durango rolled up that mighty score despite going down 7-0 early. The dominant Durango defense, which only allowed an average of five points per game all season, buckled down from there, and a trademark stop helped spark the entire team, including the offense.

Running behind a stout offensive line, Cully Feeney, Linkin Griego and Cole Pontine all got the rushing attack going, and Griego found the end zone to tie the game at 7.

Special teams ace Marley Lynch then made an incredible play on the kickoff, sprinting to recover the ball on a short kick. Griego responded with a TD pass to Ryan Dugan for a huge 40-yard connection. That score gave Durango a 13-7 lead going into halftime, as Michael Chavez intercepted a Farmington pass to preserve the lead at the break.

A key third-and-eight conversion with a Griego 35-yard pass to Malakai Baier set up another short TD run by Griego and gave Durango a 19-7 lead.

Chavez made another drive-stopping play on defense for the Demons, and Durango took a 19-7 lead into the fourth quarter. Smelling blood, the Demons finished in a big way.

Wyatt Bartel, Feeney and Pontine ran the ball behind the offensive line anchored by Elijah Oyle, and Pontine found the end zone to give Durango a 25-7 lead.

Pontine punched the ball in the end zone for a third TD later in the quarter to give Durango its final score and a 32-7 lead.

The game ended with one of the team’s best defensive plays of the season, as Feeney crushed the Farmington quarterback as he threw. Dugan intercepted the ball, sending his team into celebration mode.

heraldsports@durangoherald.com