{"id":29386,"date":"2024-02-04T01:19:06","date_gmt":"2024-02-04T08:19:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/purkat-weathers-highs-and-lows-in-bounce-back-season\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T00:55:21","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T06:55:21","slug":"purkat-weathers-highs-and-lows-in-bounce-back-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/purkat-weathers-highs-and-lows-in-bounce-back-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Purkat weathers highs and lows in bounce-back season"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Dolores
Dolores High School senior Jonathan Purkat, running a drill during practice, has been an impact player for the Bears basketball team since his freshman season. Purkat recovered from an ACL injury that took his junior season, but is back on the court to lead a maturing Bears program. Purkat also plays baseball for the Dove Creek Bulldogs during the spring. Ben Bradley\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Purkat weathers highs and lows in bounce-back season<\/p>\n\n

When the Dolores boys basketball team has been in the midst of some of their pressure cooker games over the past four years, there may not bee a cooler customer in the gymnasium than Bears backcourt leader Jonathan Purkat.<\/p>\n

During his sophomore season, that composure took center stage, as the guard scored the game-winning basket \u2013 his only field goal of the night \u2013 in the dying seconds in their stunning 55-54 rivalry victory over Mancos \u2013 the only Dolores win in the Highway 184 series since 2018.<\/p>\n

His journey, however, hasn\u2019t been without its tribulations. Right before his junior season, where both he and classmate Mark Palate appeared poised to take the torch as the next leaders of the program, Purkat suffered a dramatic setback \u2013 a torn ACL and the subsequent months ahead of rehab and recovery.<\/p>\n

\"Dolores
Dolores high School senior Jonathan Purkat, running a drill during practice, has been an impact player for the Bears basketball team since his freshman season. Purkat recovered from an ACL injury that took his junior season, but is back on the court to lead a maturing Bears program. Purkat also plays baseball for the Dove Creek Bulldogs during the spring. Ben Bradley\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Purkat\u2019s absence was palpable in the Bears\u2019 2-18 campaign from his junior season, a year in which Purkat was left to spectate while recovering \u2013 his presence at every practice and on the bench was uplifting, but his on-court leadership certainly missed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was tough \u2013 I really wanted to be on the court,\u201d said Purkat, \u201cjust losing that time I\u2019d have with my teammates \u2013 and now I\u2019m trying to make up for that year I lost.\u201d<\/p>\n

A substantial stabilizing right leg brace serves as a constant reminder of the thin line that Purkat continues to stride, looking to continue to make the same hustle plays Bears fans have become accustomed to witnessing, while also making sure to use discretion to minimize risk of re-injury.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest thing getting back on the court was the mind game \u2013 I knew my leg was weaker,\u201d detailed Purkat of his hurdles while getting back into playing shape, \u201cfor 10 months straight, it\u2019s been countless lunges, squats, all sorts of physical therapy \u2013 and I still have to be careful when jabbing quick or landing on the leg.\u201d<\/p>\n

With each passing week, there appears to be more confidence growing for Purkat, \u201cI\u2019m trusting that its strong enough now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amid all of the ups and downs, the Bear captain looks to close out the season with the same passion for dedication and teamwork that allowed him to break in to the varsity rotation in his freshman season. While never the primary scorer for head coach Joel Balderrama, Purkat\u2019s seven points per game only tell a fraction of the tale for his impact on the floor.<\/p>\n

In an era where generating meme-worthy content while degrading opposition has become ubiquitous across the athletic landscape, from the youth ranks to the pros, Purkat chooses to take a different tact.<\/p>\n

\u201cSportsmanship is what I\u2019d like the younger guys to value,\u201d said Purkat of his legacy, \u201cand being leaders in their actions on and off the court. I hope that the program keeps building, even after I\u2019m gone \u2013 the coaches, the younger players \u2013 they\u2019re definitely working toward some big things.\u201d<\/p>\n

His friendship with Palate, with whom Purkat learned the varsity ropes together as sharpshooting freshmen, has sustained throughout the four years. Palate currently leads the Bears in scoring and is always a threat to go off from deep.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s such a good teammate,\u201d said Purkat of Palate, \u201calways super-aggressive, always looking for other people on the court.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for his final hurrah for high school athletics, Purkat had to make a tough decision about what to do with his second passion \u2013 baseball.<\/p>\n

Even with the reinstitution of Dolores baseball this upcoming spring, Purkat opted to play out his final high school season with the Dove Creek program \u2013 where he had donned a Bulldog uniform over the past three years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve made a lot of friends there, too,\u201d said Purkat of his split allegiance between Dolores and Dove Creek, \u201cI\u2019m excited for the opportunity to get to play against Dolores this spring.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the short-term, however, squeezing the last moments of joy and appreciation out of his basketball experience takes priority for him. The Bears sit at 4-11 as they hit the home stretch, hoping to put together a fantastic finish to the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love this game,\u201d said Purkat, speaking of his time under the bright lights in the DHS Fieldhouse, \u201cit\u2019ll be emotional to realize that this is my last time playing here, but it\u2019s been fun \u2013 I\u2019m so glad I got to share it with all of these guys.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dolores senior guard grateful for \u201canother season with his friends\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29387,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-29386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29386"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29386\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80732,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29386\/revisions\/80732"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29386"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=29386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}