Durango goalie Hank Muir’s halftime prom proposal provided more drama than the lacrosse game sandwiched around it Saturday.
He expected a yes – she said yes – but the moment still provided a few stomach butterflies.
“We’re already dating so it was easy, but it was nerve-wrecking doing it in front of all of those people,” said Muir, son of Nancy Brooker and Charlie Muir. “It was easy in front of my team. I had fun.”
On the lacrosse field, Muir made six saves, and the Demons flew to a 12-6 victory over Santa Fe Prep.
They had dominated the Blue Gryphons by double-digit goals in the teams’ last two meetings, but Saturday’s win took more work.
DHS (2-2) didn’t score for the first 9 minutes, 18 seconds of the game, and Santa Fe Prep had a goal called back during that stretch for a crease violation.
“I think we came off thinking we would have this in the park and had a rude awakening that we needed to step it up,” Muir said.
Senior Jack Marshall put his foot forward first with a goal with 2:42 left in the first quarter on Durango’s ninth shot.
Trevor Gabbard scored his first of five goals 38 seconds later, and Kyle Robinette put the Demons up 3-0 with 55.9 seconds left in the first quarter.
“We had a lot of unassisted goals, but a lot of guys driving to the net and finishing was great to see,” DHS head coach Jon Robinette said.
The Demons then outscored Santa Fe Prep 5-1 in the second quarter with four goals in 5:34.
“We got rattled after the first couple goals when Durango got on the board,” Santa Fe Prep head coach Sid Monroe said. “I think we recovered and actually played a very strong second half with basically being very handicapped on personnel.”
The Blue Gryphons were missing five players on spring break vacations and lost two because of injury in the first quarter. They rallied for five second-half goals and outscored the Demons 5-4 in the second half.
Durango’s first-half barrage already had sealed the win by then, though.
The victory moves DHS (3-2) above .500 for the first time this season heading into its own spring break. The Demons will return to action with a nonconference game against Pueblo West on April 1 at Adams State University in Alamosa, the first of three games in four days for them.
“It’s good to take this momentum into the break,” coach Robinette said. “It’s been a bumpy road a little bit getting the team to be a little more cohesive, but I feel like we’re making some strides in that area.”
kgrabowski@durangoherald.com
