Fresh off the biggest win of their season, the Durango Demons are refocused on a pair of teams from Grand Junction.
Durango High School is in the driver’s seat in the Southwestern League after a 2-0 win against Montrose (9-3, 5-1 SWL) last Saturday that gave the Demons (10-2-1, 5-1 SWL) a league tiebreaker based on head-to-head goal differential against the Indians.
The Demons can wrap up the league title by winning their final two games this week, and it will start at 4 p.m. Friday against Grand Junction Central before a 3 p.m. Saturday game against Grand Junction.
“The guys are focused again. I told them after Saturday to take the weekend to enjoy the Montrose win, but Monday it was time to work again,” DHS head coach Dalon Parker said. “Beating Montrose is not the ending goal for DHS soccer; the ending goal is to get as deep as possible for the playoffs and to the state championship. After seeing what we did against Montrose, we are understanding the big picture even more.”
Friday’s game will be the season finale for the Grand Junction Central Warriors (1-11-2, 0-6-1 SWL), who the Demons beat 3-0 on Sept. 19 in Grand Junction.
“They’ve had a rough season with a new head coach this year taking over the program. We know from past seasons that when you have a bad season like that, you want to end your season with a bang to have something to take into next year,” Parker said of the Warriors. “We have to make sure we’re not the team they come bang. We can’t let them do something they shouldn’t do.”
DHS also picked up a 5-0 win at Grand Junction on Sept. 20. The two Class 5A Grand Junction schools sit at the bottom of the SWL, and Parker equally is concerned about both teams putting up a big fight.
“The most frightening teams are the ones with not much to lose. We have to take care of business, and it will be a tough mental weekend for us,” he said.
DHS hasn’t had much problem scoring goals this season, as it has averaged 3.6 per game. Freshman forward Elijah Fenton leads the team with 14 goals and six assists for 34 points this season. His 14 goals are tied for 25th most in the state regardless of classification, and he is the only freshman in the top 25.
Tony Williams, a senior captain, has another eight goals and team-high 11 assists for the Demons, and junior Vance Bulen has 15 points with five goals and five assists. Nick Jernigan, a junior forward who has spelled Fenton off the bench this year, also is in double-digit points with 13 on five goals and three assists.
The DHS back line also has been formidable with talented players battling with just three defenders in front of goalkeeper Lars Schwaebe. Players such as senior Logan Graham and sophomore Cole Johnson have set the tone.
“If those guys don’t get some postseason recognition for only giving up (13) goals with just three defenders, it would be a shame,” Parker said after the team’s 2-0 win against Montrose last Saturday.
DHS received 10 votes in the most recent CHSAANow.com Class 4A boys soccer poll, which would place the Demons at No. 12, if the rankings expanded beyond 10 teams. Even though it is the final weekend of the season, Parker doesn’t think his team needs to go out and win each game by five or more goals to help their playoff seeding.
“Just getting two wins, that’s all that matters. We want to show the committee that we are consistent, and two more wins would put us on a seven-game win streak,” Parker said. “We don’t care as much about goal differential as consistently winning games.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
