Our Colorado Preps Weekly series is published very Tuesday and focuses on regional updates on high school sports across the state. This report covers the teams and athletes in Southwest Colorado.
Cross Country
It was just short of a day to bring home hardware for the Durango ladies at the state cross country meet held at the Norris Penrose Events Center in Colorado Springs, with the girls coming in third only five points back of Battle Mountain in second place. The Demons failed to place an individual in the top 20, but great pack running gave them a chance, with all five of their scorers finishing in the top 50. Seniors Angela McManus and Abby Fehr led the way in 25th and 26th and freshman Sofia Voss showed off for the Demons future taking 30th in her first run at state. Durango had two freshmen in the top 50 in fact, with Dewa Ilg taking 49th to round out the scorers.
Durango’s boys finished 11th at the state cross country meet but they did have a few shining performances at the 4A level of distance running. Senior Land Lambert wrapped up his career with the Demons by posting a time of 15:55 to earn a sixth place finish. Durango would also put senior Damian Frausto into the top 20 on a day that saw Cheyenne Mountain and Niwot dominate the early finishers in the field.
2A also saw plenty of shine for the Southwest, with sophomore Vincent Schierenberg leading the Ouray boys to a 13th place finish, but placing 11th himself with a time of 17:21. Mancos also had a boy in the top 20, with senior Edgar Hernandez taking 19th to help the Bluejays to 17th on the day.
On the girls side, Mancos would have the top finisher from the area, with freshman Teagan Archer showing off taking 19th in her first run at state. The Bluejays would take 10th as a team and ran with no seniors and only one juniors and should be a team to worry about for the next few years. Telluride would have a decent showing too, finishing 14th behind a 28th place finish from senior Ruby Tanguay. The Miners also had three freshman running in the field at state.
In 3A, Andrew Bowles wrapped up his career for the Pagosa Springs Pirates by taking 99th in the field as the lone runner from the Southwest.
Football
The Durango Demons stayed at number five in the latest rankings from CHSAA after receiving a forfeit from Mitchell last weekend. The game was a league game, so it goes down as a win to move the Demons to 7-2 on the year in 3A football. Only one more game remains on the regular season schedule for Durango, as they will travel to Colorado Springs to take on the Sand Creek Scorpions who have been able to overcome a tough start to move to 5-4 on the season. The Demons are going into the game with the 3A Southern League title already wrapped up already, but are hoping to move into the top four in the rankings with a win.
Bayfield earned the eight seed this year and a home playoff game as they will host the Elizabeth Cardinals on Saturday at 2 pm after finishing the regular season at 7-1 with their 28-6 win over Pagosa Springs on Friday night. The Pirates made their rivalry game close with a strong defensive performance, forcing senior Isaac Ross to throw a pair of interceptions, but he overcame the struggles with three touchdown passes, including a pair to Cael Schaefer, who added a rushing touchdown to his total on the night. The senior combination of Ross and Schaefer should be a dangerous combination entering the 2A playoffs.
The Pirates had another 100 yard game from sophomore Gavin Lindahl, and their defense forced five turnovers through the game to keep Bayfield within sight. Pagosa closes the season at 2-7, but will be bringing back almost every skill position player from this year’s team next year.
Montezuma Cortez couldn’t finish their year on a positive note, as they fell by two points to Salida on the road, giving the Spartans their only win of the season. For Cortez, the 36-34 loss dropped them to 3-6 on the year. It was a game of missed opportunities for the Panthers, as they forced four fumbles in the game, but still allowed the Spartans over 350 yards of total offense.
Southwest Colorado is going to be represented well in the 8-man football postseason, with a pair of teams earning top four seeds in the 16 team field. Mancos took the second seed behind Haxtun, and the Bluejays will host 6-3 Fowler with kickoff at noon on Saturday.
The Bluejays finished the season with a convincing win over Sargent on the road, taking down the Farmers 47-0 to finish the regular season at 7-0. Senior Chase Moore is averaging over 230 yards a game for Mancos, and has scored 21 touchdowns on the season, adding another three in the win over Sargent. The passing attack was also hitting on all cylinders, going four for six with three touchdowns to three separate receivers in the game.
Dove Creek also made the postseason, and a big win over Sanford pushed them up in the standings as they will host Crowley County in a four vs thirteen matchup in the opening round on Saturday at 1 pm.
The Bulldogs were in a fight with Sanford in the first half, with the score tied at 28 going to the break, but the defense stepped up to block a punt to set up the go ahead score early in the third quarter and Dove Creek would pad their lead with a long drive leading to a score in the fourth. Sophomore Gage Buffington was a player possessed, carrying the ball for 142 of the 346 total yards and pulled in a 72 yard touchdown pass to help the Bulldogs to a 6-2 record going into the playoffs.
Volleyball
The Durango Demons had another rough weekend of matches, extending their losing streak to eight straight with a sweep from Bayfield on Tuesday before falling to Rock Canyon and Mountain Vista on Friday and Fruita Monument and Ponderosa on Saturday. Despite the losing streak, and the less than shiny 9-13 record, Durango is still heading to the postseason in 4A. The Demons are ranked 28th, and will be traveling to ninth seeded TCA who will host them along with Berthoud on Saturday morning.
The win over Durango for the Bayfield Wolverines started what would be a very important week. The Wolverines moved to 15-8 on the season with a 4-1 week, and earned the right to host a region in the 3A postseason field. Wins over Montrose, Air Academy and Coronado were only offset by a loss to Discovery Canyon, and were enough to boost Bayfield to the 12 seed. They will host 13th seeded Valley and 25 seed Colorado Academy this weekend for the right to go to state.
Bayfield isn’t the only team heading to the postseason from the southwest, as the Intermountain League is sending all three of it’s teams from the region. Pagosa Springs dropped three of their final four matches, with losses to Palisade and Delta on Friday as well as a loss to Battle Mountain on Saturday dropping the Pirates to 12-11 on the year. A win over Glenwood Springs turned out to be important, with the Pirates just sneaking into the postseason field as the 28 seed. The will travel to ninth seeded Faith Christain this weekend where they will get a rematch with the Delta Panthers as well.
Montezuma Cortez is hoping for a chance to repeat their trip to the State Championships last year after earning a trip to regionals with a strong finish to the season and a 14-6 record. While they dropped their final match on Saturday to Liberty, the Panthers had won five straight before that, taking down Lincoln, Pueblo East and Pueblo Centennial on the weekend as well to extend their streak. Cortez is heading to Northern Colorado, where they will take on the host Eaton Reds who enter as the seventh seed, as well as the 30 seed Peak to Peak.
The Ignacio Bobcats wrapped up their regular season with a shiny 17-6 record and the right to host the final regional in 2A after a busy final week. The Bobcats won a four set league match with Dolores before dropping three sets to Rye on Friday. Saturday was a three match day, with wins over Sanford and Trinidad offsetting a four set loss to Hoehne. With the 12 seed, the Bobcats will be hosting 13 seed Union Colony Prep along with 25 seed Plateau Valley on Saturday morning starting at 9 AM.
The loss to Ignacio must have been motivation for Dolores, as the Bears went on a tear afterwards, taking down all four of their Saturday tournament opponents to close out the year at 14-9 and earn a spot in the postseason as well. The Bears swept Jefferson and Norwood before taking two of three from both Dove Creek and James Irwin, and are heading to Oak Creek where the fifth seeded Soroco Rams are hosting them along with Colorado Springs School.
The Telluride Miners weren’t one to be left out of the postseason either, and at 15-8 could be a sleeper to make noise in the postseason field. The Miners are riding a five match win streak into the regional field, including wins over Nucla and Norwood this week. They are heading to Denver Christian as the 28 seed, and will look to take down the Thunder as well as the 16th seeded Byers Bulldogs.
Mancos was also able to sneak into the postseason from the southwest, as the San Juan League is very well represented in the regional field. The Bluejays only went 11-10 on the year, but wins over Ridgway and Center in the final week were enough to get them into the final 36. They will travel to Meeker where the second ranked Cowboys are hosting Sanford as well, who made it in as the 23 seed.
Ridgway is the lone 2A team from the San Juan League left out of the postseason field. They wrapped up the season at 5-15 after a loss to Mancos on Thursday ended the year.
The Dove Creek Bulldogs were close to earning the right to host a region of their own in 1A, but some stumbles down the stretch for the 20-3 Bulldogs have them traveling to Cheraw instead. The loss to Dolores in their Saturday tournament was the only one handed to them, after wins over Olathe and Sargent. The Bulldogs would bounce back to take down James Irwin, and will have some momentum when they take on Simla, with the Cubs also heading to Cheraw for regional action.
Norwood finished their season at 1-21, with plenty of questions heading into next year. The Mavericks dropped all four of their tournament matches on Saturday by sweeps, with Gunnison, Jefferson, Dolores, and Olathe taking turns against them. Sweeps by Nucla and Telluride also helped extend the losing streak to 20 matches for the Mavericks.
Nucla finished their season at 7-12, going 2-3 in the final week. The win over Norwood was paired with one over Crested Butte. But losses to Telluride early in the week as well as Monte Vista and Sargent guaranteed the Mustangs would finish below 500 on the season.
Soccer
Durango opened their postseason in the 4A Boys Soccer State Playoffs with a 3-1 win over Erie at home, aided by a two goal performance from Owen Carozza. The Demons scored two goals in the second half, which countered one from Erie. Durango moves on to the second round on Wednesday where they will host 12th seeded D’Evelyn, who just edged by Summit 1-0 in their opening round match.
Pagosa Springs dropped their match in the opening round of the 3A Boys Soccer Championships with Peak to Peak 6-0 with the Pumas putting up an even three goals in each half against the Pirates.
The Ridgway Demons are still pushing their way through the 2A Boys Soccer State Playoffs after scoring six goals in their opening matches. The Ellicott Thunderhawks put up a late goal against Ridgway, but still fell 3-1 in the opening round, and it was a shutout performance by the Demons in the quarterfinals against Heritage Christian to move them to the semifinals with a 3-0 win. Ridgway has been led by senior Ruben Kornbluh who has two goals and two assists in the first two rounds for the Demons. Up next, Ridgway faces Crested Butte in the semi’s who defeated them 5-0 and 1-0 in the regular season.
Speaking of the Titans, Telluride saw their season come to a close in a bitter way against Crested Butte who avenged a late season loss to the Miners, knocking them out of the quarterfinals with a 1-0 decision over the weekend. Not only was it a one goal decision, but it came in the first overtime, with Blue Gardner putting in the winning point for the Titans. The loss came after the Miners took out Loveland Classical 4-0 in the opening round.
