Chris Valdez won’t let the Ignacio High School boys basketball team be phased by the two-classification jump it’s making to play Durango High School on Saturday.
“We believe we can compete every time we step on the floor,” he said. “This is our chance to prove that.”
Ignacio (7-0) will play Durango (4-3) at 7 p.m. Saturday at DHS in the teams’ first meeting since the 2006-07 season.
The Bobcats enter this matchup off to their best start in nine years, having won all seven games by an average margin of 15.9 points per game.
The Demons, comparatively, sit 4-3 after a pair of tournaments.
“They have a good program, good kids and a good coaching staff,” Valdez said. “We want to go in there and try to compete with a team that’s a couple classes bigger than us.”
Valdez sees DHS point guard Dane Mestas as the Demons’ strength along with their team height.
“He’s been leading them not just with his team leadership as a point guard, but a lot of times he’s had to step up and lead them in scoring,” Valdez said. “He’s a big plus in their system. We have to take care of him.”
Clayton Jefferson leads IHS with 14.7 points per game, followed by Adison Jones’ 11 points and 8.4 rebounds per game.
“Both of these teams are pretty well-matched. They might have a little heighth on us, but it’s pretty balanced,” Valdez said. “I think it’ll come down to the team that doesn’t turn the ball over and plays better defense.”
Regardless of the outcome, Valdez sees the benefits of playing against a larger school such as Durango with such a strong tradition.
Ignacio has tried to beef up its strength of schedule in recent years to better prepare its team for postseason competition, and a road game at DHS fits the bill perfectly.
“It’s one we’ve marked on our calendars because the kids are friends, and it’s great competition. We want to play great teams; it helps our kids get better,” Valdez said. “We appreciate them playing us because they don’t have to.”
kgrabowski@durangoherald.com
