Jordan Woolverton passed for five touchdowns, ran for two more and made a 27-yard field goal. The impressive performance led Durango to a third consecutive blowout victory.
Woolverton did most of his work in the first half to help turn a 7-7 game early in the first quarter into a 42-10 Durango lead at halftime Friday against Pueblo Centennial in a game played at the Thunderbowl on the campus of Colorado State University-Pueblo. Behind the play of the talented junior quarterback, ninth-ranked Durango (4-2, 1-0) rolled to a 52-10 victory to open play in the 3A South Central League.
“This is a good win, a lot of fun,” Woolverton said. “It’s nice to come into this game and pick up where we left off putting up big numbers against Farmington and Bayfield. It’s nice to see the offense execute like that in a league game.”
DHS head coach David Vogt was proud of his quarterback and the growth maturity he demonstrated behind center.
“He was really impressive,” Vogt said. “He made a bunch of checks on his own. We’ve been telling him this year he has the ability to change plays, and he made some really good checks and changed plays and put us in good situations.”
The game was close for a moment. Durango had the ball first, and a big fourth-down conversion run by Everett Howland set up a 31-yard TD run by Woolverton to cap a seven-play, 62-yard scoring drive that ate 3:12 of clock.
But a big kickoff return to the Durango 38-yard line put Pueblo Centennial (2-4, 0-1 SCL) in position to score its lone TD of the game. Tony Cardona connected with Justin Cruz on a 4-yard TD pass, and the game was tied 7-7 with 6:41 to play in the first quarter.
Durango answered right back, as Woolverton hit Howland on a quick pass that Howland carried 74 yards for a TD that had the Demons ahead 14-7 with 5:47 to go in the opening quarter. Howland made defenders miss and broke free on an impressive run after catch.
“When you can toss it out for a little 2-yard pass and the guys make one of those plays, it’s fun to watch them run around like that and put it in the end zone,” Woolverton said. “It’s nice to have that on your team.”
The Bulldogs would answer again, though. After a Damerico Gonzales touchdown reception was called back on a holding penalty, Pueblo Centennial had to settle for a 37-yard field goal by Francisco Chavez to cut the Durango lead to 14-10 with 90 seconds to play in the first quarter. From there, the Durango defense shut out the Bulldogs.
“Over the bye, we implemented a new defensive scheme to specialize in stopping their power lead runs,” Howland said. “We used our new plays and stopped them completely.”
Early in the second quarter, Woolverton tucked the ball away and ran for a 4-yard TD to get the Demons ahead 21-10. The score ended a nine-play, 65-yard drive.
After DHS forced a punt, Durango had the ball on its own 47 and took advantage of the short field. Woolverton ripped off a long run and had a facemask penalty on the Bulldogs put the ball inside the 15-yard line. Woolverton would then hit Gage Mestas on a 12-yard TD pass. DHS would try a 2-point conversion, and an option run with Howland was successful to make it 29-10 Demons with 7:16 to play in the first half.
“My favorite one was the throw to Gage,” Woolverton said. “We had a different play called, and I had the opportunity to audible the play and change it to that play and put Gage in the end zone. That was nice.”
Durango’s defense would force a three-and-out, and the Demons had it on their own 19 after a punt. Howland ripped off a huge run to the Bulldog 12 before a 7-yard TD pass from Woolverton to Chase Robertson with 2:59 to play in the second quarter made it 36-10 Demons.
Howland and Kyler Reimers would combine on a sack for the Demons to force another Pueblo Centennial punt before halftime. With 2:01 to work with, the Demons needed only four plays to go 58 yards, as Woolverton hit Howland on another TD pass of 17 yards to take a 42-10 lead.
The teams exchanged punts to open the third quarter, but the Demons partially blocked the Bulldogs’ second punt of the half and took over on the Pueblo Centennial 27-yard line. Moments later, Durango scored on a 6-yard TD pass from Woolverton to Ben Finneseth to close out the third quarter with a 49-10 lead.
With a little more than three minutes to go in the fourth quarter, Woolverton would make a 27-yard field goal to start a mercy-rule running clock that quickly brought an end to the game.
After four weeks on the road with a bye a week ago, Durango will have homecoming at 7 p.m. Friday against Pueblo Central (5-1, 1-0 SCL). It will be Durango’s first home game since a 25-18 loss to Palisade on Sept. 6.
The next two weeks will be crucial for Durango’s league title hopes, as a trip to No. 3 Pueblo South (5-1, 1-0 SCL) will follow Oct. 25.
“Two huge games against two very good teams coming up,” Woolverton said. “I’m glad we get a home game for the first time in a while here next weekend. These are two huge league games, and I’m excited to go into them after a performance like this.”
Woolverton said homecoming week won’t be a distraction.
“We all have that one goal, and I’ll remind everyone of that,” he said. “We’re working for a league title. No distractions.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
