All season, the Durango football team made big plays on the defensive end. Opponents would try deep shots but more likely than not, a Durango cornerback or safety would come over and either knock the ball away or intercept it. Everything changed against Heritage on Saturday afternoon in the second round of the 4A playoffs at Durango High School.
The Demons had no answer for the combination of Heritage quarterback Jamison Seese and wide receiver Tanner Terch. The duo had multiple big plays. Combine that with two interceptions late in the first half by senior quarterback Cully Feeney and the Demons were doomed. No. 11 Heritage cruised to a 42-20 victory over No. 6 Durango to move on to the quarterfinals of the 4A state playoffs.
“Other than those turnovers, we competed,” Durango interim head coach Ryan Woolverton said. “The bottom line is in the playoffs, it's about big plays. They made big plays and we didn't. We had the opportunities and didn't quite make those plays when it counted and they did. That's the kind of team they are. Hats off to them. As we knew coming in, they were much better than their record.”
The Demons finished their season 7-4 overall. Heritage improved to 7-5 with the win.
Durango senior quarterback Cully Feeney finished his high school career with 245 yards passing, three passing touchdowns and two interceptions. Feeney also led the Demons with 93 rushing yards. Wide receiver Seb Tripp finished his junior season with 86 receiving yards and a touchdown.
Seese had one passing touchdown and a rushing score for the Eagles. Terch, a Nebraska football commit, had a receiving touchdown and over 125 yards receiving.
Heritage opened the game with a flea flicker to get the Eagles inside Durango territory. The drive stalled after a few incompletions, including on fourth down. Seese looked to his left for a quick throw but couldn’t convert.
On Heritage’s next possession, the Demons gave up one of their biggest plays at home. Heritage running back Mo Thenell found space up the middle and took it the distance for a 48-yard rushing touchdown. Heritage led 7-0 with six minutes left in the first quarter.
The Eagles got the ball back quickly and moved the chains with some quick outs for six or seven yards. Durango got lucky when on third and short, Heritage’s running back tripped for a big loss and the Eagles had to punt.
Feeney was off for most of the first quarter. The Demons were taking a lot of deep shots and Feeney was overthrowing his receivers by a few yards. He finally connected with sophomore wide receiver Mason Miller on a go route down the right side for 40 yards to get into the red zone to end the first quarter.
“We thought we had some good man matchups,” Woolverton said. “We're very confident with our receivers. They've done a great job all year. Those are just some of the big plays you have to hit at this level if you want to win. Like every team, they’re much bigger than us in the box. We've got to spread the field and use our speed. We thought we matched up well and they (the big plays) just didn't hit today.”
On third-and-10, Feeney found junior wide receiver Will Zahradnik open in the zone coverage. He made a man miss and ran in for a 17-yard score. The game was tied 7-7 with 11:09 left in the second quarter.
Seese had two nice completions on third and long to keep Heritage’s next drive going. Seese then threw a great pass over the middle to Terch for a 32-yard touchdown. Heritage led 14-7 with 7:20 left.
Disaster struck before the end of the first half. On third-and-3 from Durango’s own 20-yard line. Feeney attempted a short pass. He telegraphed it and Tanner Guthrie jumped the route, picked it off and took it 20 yards for the pick-six. Heritage led 21-7 with two minutes left in the first half.
On the second play on Durango’s next drive, Feeney threw another poor pass toward the sideline that was picked again and returned to the Durango 15-yard line. Jett Balika rushed it in for the Eagles a few plays later. Heritage led 28-7 at half.
“That first one, a low snap took his eyes off the read and he panicked, threw it and that's part of being a quarterback,” Woolverton said about Feeney’s interceptions. The second one, there's just a miscommunication on a route and unfortunately, again, their kids both made good plays on those. Those two plays were a sucker punch and took the wind out of our sails. I can't say they put the game out of reach but it was a challenge at halftime to get the kids to come back out and play hard.”
Seese found Terch on a deep shot of about 30 yards at the beginning of the third quarter. Seese threw it up for grabs and there were two Durango players near Terch but he outjumped both of them and made a strong and contested catch. Terch was tackled at Durango’s 16-yard line. Heritage had another rushing score to go up 35-7 early in the third quarter.
Once again, Seese found Terch on a deep pass to get deep into Durango territory. A few plays later. Seese found the outside and ran for the rushing score to put Heritage up 42-7 with 44 seconds left in the third.
Feeney found Tripp on a 67-yard touchdown pass and Dugan on a 13-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter for his final touchdown throws of his career.
“This group is as tough and as close of a group as I've coached,” Woolverton said. “They fought tooth and nail and were absolutely bought in on letting us coach them hard. Their trust and faith in us never wavered and that was proved in rolling out seven out of eight wins. That’s on those seniors and this team went through, with coaches and players, probably three separate tough, tragic, personal situations with teammates and coaches. They just kept battling for each other and I couldn't be prouder.”
bkelly@durangoherald.com
