Durango youth lacrosse teams concluded their season at the Lax Fiesta, held at Albuquerque’s Balloon Fiesta Park May 21-22, and four scored first-place finishes.
The Durango boys fifth-and-sixth grade team and its third-fourth grade team won championships, and the seventh-eighth grade team tied for first. There was no championship game for the girls seventh-eighth grade teams, but Durango won three out of four games to finish first.
The Demons’ seventh-eighth team beat Sante Fe 9-1 and a combined team from Los Alamos, El Paso and Las Cruces 9-1. The Demons then met Albuquerque in championship, but fell behind 5-2. The Demons clawed back to tie the game at 5, and send it into a four-minute sudden-death overtime. Neither team scored, so the championship ended in a draw.
Dane Matlock led the team with five goals and three assists. Bradin Gurule scored five goals, and Wynn Daniels had three goals and an assist. Logan Muraro scored three goals, and Charlie Guion and Jak Phetsrithong each scored twice.
The U12 Demons beat Los Alamos 8-7 and El Paso 5-2 but lost to the Albuquerque Duke City Bears 5-2. They met Duke City again in the championship, and this time Durango dominated the game 8-2. Max Miles scored six goals. Asher Owens and Mason Philpott scored three each, and Noah Foutz and Miles Hutcheson both scored two. Goalie Donny saved more than 60% of the shots he faced in two games Saturday.
The third-fourth grade boys went undefeated to win their title. Saturday, the team beat the Duke City Bears 7-4 and Los Alamos 9-3. On Sunday, several Demons joined Santa Fe’s team to keep the game happening, and Durango prevailed 7-3. Durango then squared off with Duke City again and claimed the title with an 8-5 win.
Ollie Ownes scored nine goals, Jack Cavanaugh had eight, and Colby Philpott and Kellen Hernandez scored four.
Durango’s girls competed only at the seventh-eighth grade level but won three out of their four games. The team beat the Duke City Bears and Santa Fe, in overtime, on Saturday. The team beat Duke City and fell to Santa Fe, but despite no championship game being contested, the team still finished in first.
The tournament wrapped up the teams’ seasons, but Matty Marks with 10th Mountain Lacrosse is putting on a camp in Durango from 9 a.m. to noon on June 7-8.
More information at https://www.10thmtnlax.com/
