Durango High School had known for awhile it was going to be placed into a new league for football. Monday it found out where.
The DHS Demons found themselves in a geographically confusing Class 4A Pikes Peak League, where they will be joined by Air Academy, Liberty, Palmer Ridge, Rampart and defending Class 4A state champion Pine Creek. All five of the other schools in the league are in either Colorado Springs or Monument.
“With the two-year cycle, there are changes all the time. This is pretty significantly different, not necessarily negative,” said new DHS athletic director Dave Preszler.
The seven new Class 4A leagues officially were set Monday by the Colorado High School Activities Association football committee and were approved by the Classification and League Organization Committee as well as CHSAA’s legislative council.
The Demons previously played in the Southwestern League, a mix of 4A and 5A schools that included Fruita Monument, Grand Junction, Grand Junction Central and Montrose.
Montrose, last year’s state runner-up to Pine Creek, also is moving to a league dominated by Front Range schools. The Indians are in the Foothills League with Falcon, Mesa Ridge, Sand Creek, Vista Ridge and Widefield.
Durango and Montrose have a good rivalry history and still will play during the non-league season, but both will travel three times a year to the Front Range.
“Rivalries are always fun, but playing new teams is always a positive thing,” Preszler said. “I think the strength of our new league is extremely strong. You have to play good teams to become good, and that is a positive thing about it.”
DHS will have to travel 336 miles to Monument to face Palmer Ridge on Oct. 10. It is 328 miles to Air Academy, 330 miles to Pine Creek and 326 miles to Rampart. All of the trips could take six hours by bus.
With school spending budgets already tight, it will cause another strain on travel expenses. However, Preszler said that problem always exists for Four Corners area schools.
“Certainly budget always is a concern, but we are geographically challenged living where we live,” he said. “There are not many 4A teams in our area. We know we always will have to do some traveling.”
The Southern League, which features Cheyenne Mountain, Coronado, Palmer, Pueblo Centennial, Pueblo South and Pueblo West, might have made matters easier on DHS as far as travel goes. The games in Pueblo could have helped significantly cut down on miles with Pueblo South 65 miles closer than Palmer Ridge.
“It is what it is. CHSAA sets it, and we accept it,” Preszler said.
In other regional changes, Montezuma-Cortez dropped from Class 3A to Class 2A and will join Bayfield, Gunnison, Olathe, Pagosa Springs and fellow newcomer Alamosa in the Class 2A Western Slope South League.
Bayfield’s league lost Aspen, Basalt, Coal Ridge and Grand Valley, which all moved to the Western Slope North League with Battle Mountain, Moffat County and Roaring Fork.
Ignacio’s league, the Class 1A Southern Peaks League, includes Centauri, Center, Dolores, John Mall and Monte Vista. John Mall, based in Walsenburg, replaces Del Norte, which dropped into 8-man football.
Practice for the upcoming football season officially opens Aug. 11.
jlivingston@durangoherald.com,
Class 4A Football
Foothills League
Falcon, 1,253
Mesa Ridge, 1,330
Montrose, 1,361
Sand Creek, 1,231
Vista Ridge, 1,239
Widefield, 1,240
Longs Peak League
Adams City, 1,768
Greeley West, 1,518
Longmont, 1,180
Loveland, 1,521
Thompson Valley, 1,238
Windsor, 1,225
Mountain League
Aurora Central, 2,084
Denver South, 1,380
George Washington, 1,436
Golden, 1,289
Standley Lake, 1,344
Wheat Ridge, 1,307
Northern League
Broomfield, 1,428
Fort Collins, 1,517
Greeley Central, 1,407
Mountain View, 1,180
Silver Creek, 1,129
Skyline, 1,352
Pikes Peak League
Air Academy, 1,402
Durango, 1,075
Liberty, 1,576
Palmer Ridge, 1,095
Pine Creek, 1,467
Rampart, 1,524
Plains League
Dakota Ridge, 1,545
Green Mountain, 1,105
Ponderosa, 1,161
J.F. Kennedy, 1,259
Lincoln, 1,517
Littleton, 1,383
Southern League
Cheyenne Mountain, 1,309
Coronado, 1,498 Palmer, 1,986
Pueblo Centennial, 1,251
Pueblo South, 1,357
Pueblo West, 1,368
Durango Herald