The Durango High School football team will hit the road for the first time this season when it will travel Friday to Farmington for a chance to spoil the Scorpions’ homecoming.
The No. 8 Demons already have wins against Aztec and Piedra Vista, and a win against the Scorpions would give them a sweep of the three New Mexico teams on the schedule this year. The Demons completed the sweep in border war games in 2015.
Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Farmington’s Hutchison Stadium.
“It’s tough football down there. They play good football down there and it’d be good for us to go down there and show our dominance,” Durango head coach David Vogt said. “It’s kind of a border war with Colorado versus New Mexico. We believe we have a good program here and they (Farmington) believe that, too. It’s kind of a cool thing to have that border war and make it a big deal. To sweep them would be a great start and build some momentum.”
The Demons (3-0) will carry a five-game win streak against Farmington into the game, and Vogt is unbeaten when facing Farmington (1-2). He has a 4-0 record and an average margin of victory of 16.25 points.
Durango last lost to the Scorpions in 2011.
Though Farmington comes into Friday with a losing record, the Scorpions could easily be undefeated. They lost 17-14 to crosstown rival Piedra Vista in the season opener after the Panthers intercepted Farmington at the goal line with a little more than a minute remaining. Last week, Farmington fell to Belen, New Mexico, 35-28 in overtime.
Farmington head coach Jeff Dalton said he likes what he has seen from his offense and thinks it will be able to match Durango’s defense so long as the they don’t make too many mental mistakes.
“Our offense has really been better than the scoreboard shows,” Dalton said. “Our first game we only had 14 points but had more than 400 yards of offense. Then about the same thing last week. We feel like we left two or three touchdowns off the board and had 450-plus yards of offense. We’re executing well, we’ve just made some mistakes at inopportune times and that’s something we can’t afford to do against Durango.”
The game could be a matchup of a dangerous offense against a devastating defense.
The Demons’ defense has led the team this season. They’ve allowed a mere 14 points in their three games combined and recorded shutouts in two of the three games.
This week, Durango will see the return of running back and safety Dawson Marcum, who left last week’s game against Piedra Vista after the first half, and fellow safety Everett Howland, who missed last week with a hand injury.
Marcum’s return could help the Demons’ offense, which still put up 29 points a week ago against Piedra Vista with senior Max Hyson and freshman Jordan Woolverton splitting time at quarterback. Woolverton threw two touchdown passes, and Hyson stayed in the game at running back when the younger QB entered the game.
In recent years, Farmington relied on its speed on the outside to break big plays on offense, but this year, the Scorpions come in with a little more size to help find a better balance.
Entering Friday, Vogt said the defensive game plan for Farmington doesn’t differ much from the previous three weeks of the season. After all, it has worked pretty well.
“It’s the same kind of strategy,” Vogt said. “We’re going to dial up a few new blitzes and come at them from different angles, mix up our coverages to keep them off balance. And we want to get to their quarterback early and hit him and frustrate him early.”
kschneider@durangoherald.com
If you go
Who: Durango at Farmington
What: High school football
When: 7 p.m. Friday
Where: Hutchison Stadium, Farmington, N.M.
Listen Live: KKDG 99.7 FM
Twitter: @karltschneider
