Three Durango High School seniors who helped deliver a great season for the Demons were honored by coaches around the state Friday.
DHS senior running back and linebacker Lawrence Mayberry was named to the Colorado High School Activities Association Class 4A All-State First Team for football. Senior wide receiver Lucas Baken was named to the second team, and senior lineman Laitham Johnson was an honorable mention selection.
Johnson paved the way to a big season for Mayberry and senior quarterback Terrence Trujillo. Mayberry finished with 1,445 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns on the ground to go with 238 yards and three receiving touchdowns on 31 receptions. The son of George and Tonya Mayberry also had 68 tackles – 12 going for a loss – and a team-high five sacks.
“I’m proud of all of us because we really worked hard and worked together,” Mayberry said in a phone interview with The Durango Herald. “I wanted more. I wanted to win a state championship, but sometimes things don’t go your way. I just hope we left a legacy.”
Baken, son of Dante and Jessica Baken, had 45 receptions for 795 yards and 15 touchdowns.
“At the beginning of the season, I had all my goals written down and I wanted to make All-State,” Baken said. “To be the second receiver chosen behind JoJo (Domann) is an honor. We all put in a lot of hard work, and this is just more proof that it paid off.”
Johnson, son of Brad and Nancy Johnson, also was a force on defense with 48 tackles, nine for a loss and two sacks, though he was in the backfield disrupting opposing quarterbacks more often than not.
The Demons went 10-2 in 2015, eventually losing in the quarterfinal round of the state playoffs to Loveland.
DHS went 4-1 in the Class 4A Pikes Peak League, which was won by Pine Creek. Pine Creek senior JoJo Domann was selected as the Class 4A Player of the Year, and Windsor head coach Chris Jones won coach of the year after leading the Wizards to a state championship past Loveland.
Domann, a Nebraska commit, finished the season with 1,142 all-purpose yards and 24 total touchdowns.
Domann also was the Pikes Peak League MVP. Durango’s Johnson was the league’s offensive line MVP.
Baken said he thought Johnson deserved a higher honor, and he felt Trujillo should’ve gained some recognition, too.
“Individual awards are awesome, but what we accomplished as a team was even better,” Trujillo said in a Twitter message to The Herald.
Joining Johnson on the All-Pikes Peak League First Team was Baken, Mayberry, Trujillo, James Brennan, Jack Madden and Sterling Worley.
Making the All-PPL Second Team for Durango was right tackle Bryan Dunlop, wide receiver Kyle Duran, center Richard Hall, linebacker Max Hyson, kicker Nick Jernigan and wide receiver Gavin Mestas.
The numerous honors received are symbolic of how far the Demons’ program has come behind head coach David Vogt and his staff at Durango High School, Mayberry said.
“Our coaches taught us everything we know about football,” he said. “They showed us the importance of being friends on and off the field, and we became a tight group. They gave us the opportunity to receive these awards. We believed in them, and they believed in us.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
