Normally, Durango High School boys soccer goalkeeper Patrick Leach stops penalty kicks.
He was called on to take one in a 12-0 win against Montezuma-Cortez on Tuesday at Riverview Sports Complex.
Leach blasted the attempt to the left of his counterpart for a 6-0 DHS lead.
“I’ve never actually scored in my life. It’s the first opportunity we’ve been ahead enough,” said Leach, son of Lea and Stuart Leach.
DHS head coach Dalon Parker had a more tactical reason to put his goalie on the spot.
“He’s probably the second best or the first best PK-taker on our entire team,” Parker said. “My thought was, ‘If we’re going to get to the playoffs, and we’re going to get in a PK-situation, I want him to be comfortable taking at least one in a game situation.”
Leach received his opportunity after the Panthers’ red-card hand ball in the 38th minute inside their own box.
DHS (6-4-1, 4-3-1 Southwestern League) scored its six first-half goals in the span of 25 minutes, then punched in the same number of goals in the second half over the same amount of time.
Typically, high school soccer games end after one team takes a 10-goal lead, but Cortez (1-12, 0-8 SWL) head coach Sean Fitzgerald decided to play the full 80 minutes.
“The boys need to learn from their mistakes,” Fitzgerald said as explanation for declining the CHSAA rule.
Seven different Demons scored over the course of the game.
Jacob Kaplan, Sean Arnold, Zeb Soignier, Cameron Treharne, Gabe Tonnessen and Cory Munch joined Leach on the score sheet.
Treharne and Arnold both scored hat tricks for DHS.
The Demons scored more goals Tuesday than in their previous six games, which included a narrow 1-0 victory at Cortez on Oct. 1.
“We’re starting to realize we need to win every game now to move up in the playoffs,” said Treharne, son of Todd Treharne. “I think that clicked for a lot of kids that it didn’t before.”
DHS currently sits in third place in the SWL standings behind Montrose and Fruita Monument; the Demons will host Fruita Monument on Friday. The Wildcats currently are undefeated in league play and beat DHS 3-0 in Grand Junction on Sept. 28.
“We know we can score now and how easy it is when we play the way we do,” Treharne said. “I think now with that found knowledge we can get a win against Fruita.”
kgrabowski@durangoherald.com
