After four consecutive wins after an 0-2 start to the season, the Durango football team had a big matchup against Palmer Ridge, literally and figuratively, at Durango High School on Friday night.
The Demons were ranked sixth in 4A and Palmer Ridge was ranked fifth before the matchup. Both teams were 1-0 in the 4A Soco 2 League. It was a big matchup, literally, for the Demons. Palmer Ridge had three offensive linemen who were over 6-foot-2-inches and 300 pounds. Durango’s biggest lineman was Warren Uptain, who’s listed at 6 foot and 245 pounds.
Therefore, Palmer Ridge had a size and strength advantage and used it to its advantage by running the ball down the middle of Durango’s defensive line through huge holes. The Bears won the game by rushing for three touchdowns. Palmer Ridge ran out the clock to end the game victorious 24-21.
Durango fell to 4-3 overall and 1-1 in the 4A Soco 2 League, snapping a four-game winning streak. Palmer Ridge improved to 6-1 overall and 2-0 in the 4A Soco 2 League after the win.
“They were much bigger, but with that being said, we missed a lot of opportunities to win that game,” Durango interim head coach Ryan Woolverton said. “I couldn’t have been prouder of how the team responded and how they fought. It’s night and day from week one at Montrose with the same-size kids. They competed, they battled and missed opportunities in the first half was the name of the game.”
Durango senior quarterback Cully Feeney had 224 yards passing and two passing touchdowns. He only had 15 rushing yards. Woolverton said Feeney tweaked his ankle during the second quarter which limited his mobility for the rest of the game.
Sophomore running back Grady Feeney had about 100 total yards on offense and a rushing touchdown. Junior wide receiver Seb Tripp had 71 yards and two receiving touchdowns. Sophomore wide receiver Mason Miller had 62 yards receiving for the Demons.
“Leaning on those running backs, both him (Grady Feeney) and Ryan Dugan, they did a great job,” Woolverton said. “In this type of offense, when you know one of the two back there (Cully Feeney) can’t pull, can’t read the backside, it changes the dynamics. We made some adjustments second half and we were fairly successful. Grady was a big part of that.”
Palmer Ridge running back Avier Elvira had two rushing touchdowns and over 150 yards rushing. Bears quarterback Carson Campbell also had a rushing score and an interception.
The Bears used their large offensive line to run the ball easily in its first drive. The Demons finally stopped Palmer Ridge on third down at Durango’s 21-yard-line. Palmer Ridge kicked a 38-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead with 7:15 left in the first quarter.
The Demons ran the ball consistently well to start their first drive with Cully Feeney keeping some for himself. After a Grady Feeney run, Cully Feeney found Tripp on a bubble screen and Tripp took it 13 yards for the touchdown. Durango led 7-3 with 4:30 left in the first quarter.
On the Demons’ next drive Feeney found Tripp across the middle who took it 30 yards down the right side to put Durango deep into Bears territory. The drive stalled and Burns missed a 39-yard field goal to the left to start the second quarter.
On the first play of Palmer Ridge’s drive, Elvira had a huge hole and took it 80 yards for the score for a 10-7 lead with 11:33 left in the second quarter.
Burns had his second field goal try blocked as Palmer Ridge led 10-7 with five minutes left in the first half.
After a targeting call on Durango, Campbell found a receiver for a 30-yard connection down to the goal line. Luckily for Durango fans, Campbell rolled out to his right a few plays later and threw an interception in the back of the end zone to Durango’s Malakai Baier. Palmer Ridge took a 10-7 lead into halftime.
“We were calm, we expected to be in the game,” Woolverton said about the team’s attitude at halftime. “We have a lot of faith with how the team has come along. We knew we shot ourselves in the foot in the first half. If we eliminated those mistakes in the second half we knew we could put some points on the board.”
Woolverton pointed to the two missed field goals as the big missed opportunities. He said there were some exchange issues with some new personnel on for special teams but the team learned from it.
Early in the third quarter. Palmer Ridge converted a fourth down with a fake punt to keep the drive alive. The Bears continued to run the ball up the middle. Campbell then bounced one to the outside to get inside the Demons’ 10-yard line. Elvira scored from 7 yards out to give Palmer Ridge a 17-7 lead with 6:04 left in the third quarter.
Feeney struggled to show the accuracy he showed in previous games and the Demons had to punt. Burns hit a high punt which was muffed and Durango recovered at the Bears’ 20-yard-line.
A few plays into the drive, Feeney rolled out to his left and found Tripp open in the middle of the field. Tripp turned and took it to the house for a 17-yard score. Palmer Ridge led 17-14 with 3:42 left in the third.
Down three in the middle of the fourth, the Demons moved the ball methodically with short gains which led to multiple first downs. On third-and-9 at midfield, Palmer Ridge brought the blitz and hit Feeney which caused an incompletion. Woolverton decided to go for it. Feeney threw it out to his brother Grady but Grady came up about five yards short with about 4:30 to go.
“We were concerned with their line,” Woolverton said about the decision to go for it. “We saw the number of timeouts we had and the way their line had worked. Our guys were getting tired. We were concerned if we gave them that ball back they could easily run that clock out.”
Elvira chewed up clock and yards as the Bears tried to run out the clock. Campbell scored on the quarterback sneak for a 24-14 game with 2:35 to go.
Down 10, Feeney found Miller on two deep shots to get the Demons down to the goal line. Feeney pitched it to his brother Grady on an option play for a 2-yard score. Durango trailed 24-21 with 1:23 to go but never got the ball back.
Durango hits the road to play at Air Academy next Friday at 6 p.m.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
