It’s time to determine the state champions for the spring high school sports season.
The Colorado High School Activities Association released its state soccer and lacrosse brackets on Sunday and seeded its tennis qualifiers.
Earning the No. 13 seed after finishing 9-5 overall, the DHS girls lacrosse team was scheduled kick off the action at home against No. 20 Liberty (5-9) at 6 p.m. on Tuesday. The winner will get to play at No. 4 Denver South (10-5) in the second round on Thursday. Visit DurangoHerald.com to see how the Demons did in the first round.
The Durango girls soccer team will also host first-round home game this week after finishing 9-4 overall in the regular season.
DHS scored the No. 9 seed and will host No. 24 Palisade (10-3-2) at 6 p.m. on Wednesday in the first round of the Class 4A state tournament.
The Demons finished their regular season against a pair of playoff teams during the weekend. On Friday, DHS beat the No. 15 seeded team in the 4A soccer tournament, Grand Junction Central, 1-0.
On Saturday, DHS took on the No. 13 seed in Class 5A, Fruita Monument, with a chance to win the 4A/5A Southwestern League. The Wildcats won the first meeting by a single goal in overtime, 6-5, and the rematch was just as tight, but it was a defensive battle. A Fruita goal in the 56th minute ended up standing as the game-winner in a 1-0 win, clinching the league title for Fruita.
All four of Durango’s losses this season have been against Class 5A teams that will also be in action this week: No. 13 Fruita, No. 8 Ralston Valley and No. 27 Legend.
The Demons only allowed four goals in their other nine games while scoring 58. Mason Rowland has scored 22 goals to lead the Demons. Emery Miller has scored nine goals, Riley Campbell has eight and Sarah Somrak seven goals for the Demons. Campbell has also assisted a team-high 16 goals.
Palisade, meanwhile, finished 10-3-2 during the regular season and won the 4A Western Slope league with a 7-1-2 mark. Two of the Bulldogs’ losses, however, came to 4A/5A Southwestern League foes. Palisade lost 1-0 to Grand Junction Central and 4-0 to Montrose.
Montrose (9-6) earned the No. 21 seed and will begin the 4A tournament at No. 12 Pueblo County (12-1-2).
The Class 4A state tennis tournament will also begin on Thursday, and eight DHS players are heading to the Pueblo City Park for the championships after qualifying with top-two regional finishes.
Ellie Davenport of DHS will play Sophie Zhou of Cheyenne Mountain in the first round at No. 1 singles on Thursday.
Adwin Chowen will begin against Maddie Thompson of Lewis Palmer at No. 2 singles.
At No. 1 doubles, Juliet DiGiacomo and Ellie McLean will take on Mullen in the first round.
Lola Bradshaw and Sydney Pritchard will play Air Academy at No. 2 doubles in the first round.
At No. 3 doubles, Rachel Ager and Avery Edgar will begin the tournament against Golden.
The first round and quarterfinals of the Class 4A state tennis tournament are scheduled for Thursday. The semifinals and playback rounds will take place on Friday while the championship and third-place matches are scheduled for Saturday.
