Lawrence Mayberry took a screen pass for a long touchdown one week ago in the Durango Demons’ 14-8 loss to Farmington’s rival Piedra Vista. This week, Mayberry and the 1-2 Demons will host the Farmington Scorpions, last year’s Class 4A New Mexico state champion, at 7 p.m. Friday at Durango High School.Jesse Hankins/Special to The Durango Herald
Home at last after three weeks on the road to start the regular season, the Durango Demons are ready to perform in front of their home fans.
With the first true home game of the season will come a tough test in the Farmington Scorpions (2-1), who claimed a state championship in Class 4A in New Mexico last season.
But, no matter who they will face, the Demons are just happy to finally play at home. Their first “home” game on the schedule was Week 1, but that game was played 275 miles away at Colorado State University-Pueblo against Beckman High School of Irvine, California.
“It’s really exciting to be playing at home finally,” DHS junior quarterback Terrence Trujillo said after last week’s loss at Piedra Vista, New Mexico. “Farmington is a good team, and we have to be prepared.”
The Demons (1-2) had no problem against those title winners of a year ago, as they beat Farmington 21-2 on the road at Hutchison Stadium last season. It was Farmington’s lone loss of the season.
But this is a different Durango High School team that graduated 20 seniors from the 8-3 team from 2013.
(A call to DHS head coach David Vogt was not returned Thursday.)
The same can be said for head coach Gary Bradley’s team from Farmington. The Scorpions graduated 13 players from last season, mostly at the skill positions and in key roles on defense.
That hasn’t slowed down the Scorpions so far this season, though they are coming off their first loss of the year at Class 5A No. 3 Belen, New Mexico, in a 35-20 game.
Farmington is in Class 5A this year, a misleading jump up from 4A as every New Mexico school went up a classification after the state eliminated Class B and created a Class 6A. MaxPreps.com currently has the Scorpions ranked No. 5 in Class 5A.
Another transformation from Farmington is the team’s depth. The Scoprions won a state title in 2013 with just 26 players on the varsity roster; now they have 45 players in uniform and another 17 listed on the roster.
The Scorpions’ defense is as tough as always, especially against the run, but Farmington has given up a few more big plays this season than a year ago.
It’s Durango’s running game that has struggled to get going through three games this season. Jalon Malone, Lawrence Mayberry and Steele Spies all have received handoffs, and Mayberry took a screen pass for a long touchdown one week ago in the 14-8 loss to Farmington’s rival Piedra Vista.
After a big game two weeks ago in a 34-28 win at Aztec, Trujillo and his receivers were a bit out of sync against Piedra Vista. They hope to get back on track against Farmington.
Demons welcome a pair of Grand Junction teams to Durango
A pair of Durango High School teams, other than the Demons’ football team, have big games to be played Friday at home.
The DHS softball team will host Grand Junction in its first league doubleheader of the season, and the Demons’ volleyball team will play their Southwestern League opener at 6 p.m. against Grand Junction Central.
Here is a look at the two matchups:
Softball
After a 2-1 weekend in Delta, the Demons (6-4, 0-1 Southwestern League) are ready to return to Aspen Field, where they have a 2-3 record this season.
DHS will welcome the Tigers (3-9, 0-2 SWL) to town for the doubleheader, which is set to begin at 3 p.m. Friday
The Demons dropped their SWL opener 11-9 to Montezuma-Cortez on Sept. 2.
The Demons haven’t struggled swinging the bat. They boast a team batting average of .401. They’ve also used their speed to total 29 stolen bases in 10 games.
The Tigers have a .309 team batting average with just nine stolen bases, though they have scored 62 runs and have five homers this year.
Paige Mazur leads the Demons with two home runs, one triple and three doubles to go with 11 runs batted in and a .517 batting average.
Katelyn DeLuche boasts a .500 average and a team-high 23 RBIs in 40 plate appearances.
Danica Dudley also has shown some power with one home run and two triples to go with her .321 batting average.
In the circle, Camille Bisbee, Augusta Brockus and Alexys Vidunas have done the pitching for the Demons. Bisbee mostly has come on in relief of the other two, and Brockus leads the team with 28 strikeouts in 20 2/3 innings pitched. Vidunas has pitched a team high 27 1/3 innings and has 19 strikeouts to 10 walks. Only 12 of the 28 runs that have scored while Vidunas is in the circle have been earned.
Volleyball
The Demons will look to respond from a 3-0 home loss Tuesday with a win in their league opener Friday.
DHS (7-4, 0-0 SWL) will host the Grand Junction Central Warriors (2-7, 0-2 SWL).
The Demons and Montezuma-Cortez are the only two teams yet to open league play, and only Montrose (7-3, 2-0 SWL) is unbeaten in league so far.
DHS has averaged 9.4 kills per set and has a .342 team hitting percentage.
Serving has been the biggest strength of the Demons, who have averaged 2.9 per set.
DHS junior Maddie Robertson leads the team with 68 kills, good for a 2.4 average per set. Ali Davis, a sophomore, is second on the team with 48 kills in 27 sets this year.
Robertson and seniors Logan Clark and Sarah Lawton have been behind the team’s serving success. Robertson leads the team with 17, as she has recorded an ace on 20.2 percent of her serves this season. Lawton has 16 aces, and Clark owns another 15.
The Warriors have averaged 7.2 kills per set with a .134 hitting percentage. Grand Junction Central senior Nichole McIvor leads the Warriors with 51 kills in 29 sets with a 33.3 kill percentage. Bailee Hicks and Sara Stahly each have 37 kills this season for the Warriors. [email protected]
Reader Comments