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DURANGO WINS BEHIND A GREAT SENIOR FINISH TO END THE REGULAR SEASON
This year’s Senior Night at Durango was a little more special than ones in recent years.
“It was probably the first Senior Night in a long time at Durango with kids that actually won,” Durango coach Gary Maki said.
Durango completed its turnaround regular season with a 48-20 victory against Bonanza to improve to 8-2 for the season.
The Trailblazers relied on its starting unit to distance it from the Bengals early before letting the backups finish it off.
Durango will face Cimarron-Memorial in the first round of the playoffs. Earlier in the season, Cimarron beat Durango 54-7, but Maki is ready for another shot.
“If we come out and play the way we can, then we’ll be alright,” Maki said.
DURANGO FINDS WAYS TO WIN
Durango coach Gary Maki was in awe of his team’s 63-6 victory against Western on Friday night.
Maki said he didn’t expect the Trailblazers to win in such dominating fashion.
“I think offensively, we’re really starting to click,” Maki said. “And the defense has had a real nice past two weeks.”
Julio Mora rushed for 163 yards and three touchdowns for the Trailblazers while Mike Mehling ran for three more.
Durango (7-2) will finish off its regular season with a home game against Bonanza before a first-round playoff clash with Cimarron-Memorial.
Durango lost to Cimarron 54-7 earlier in the year.
“I think we’re mentally in a better place than we were the first time we played them,” Maki said.
HOMECOMING SWEET AS DURANGO ROLLS BEHIND MORA
Julio Mora rushed for more than 200 yards and four touchdowns Friday night to lead Durango to a 60-20 victory against visiting Sierra Vista.
“We go as Julio goes,” Durango coach Gary Maki said. “He is our workhorse. Every team designs to try to stop Julio and we have to adjust to get him going.”
Durango led 27-14 at halftime and poured it on in the second half.
The solid performance couldn’t have come at the better time. The Trailblazers (6-2) were missing a few key players last week in falling 54-7 at Cimarron-Memorial and used this week to get back on track.
“We not only lost, we got hammered last week,” Maki said. “This was probably our best offense performance from beginning to end. The boys bounced back. I saw a lot promising things out there tonight.”
DURANGO'S HOPE OF SMASHING CIMARRONS HOMECOMING COMES UP SHORT
James Poole runs. He runs fast.
He spins, jumps, jukes, and when things are going well for him and his Cimarron-Memorial teammates, he finds himself standing on the sidelines, just the way he did for most of the second half Friday in the Spartans’ 54-7 homecoming win over Durango.
“I wanted to go back in, but coach didn’t let me,” Poole said afterward.
No, Poole’s work was done for the day when the Spartans walked off the field in the first half with a 34-point lead, just seconds after the senior running back dazzled the Durango defense for his fourth touchdown of the game.
There were 15 seconds to go in the second quarter when Cimarron lined up at its own 45-yard line, seemingly ready to run the clock out on the half, but Poole had other ideas.
He took the handoff, darted through a congested area of defenders with a series of jukes, busted right and went untouched down the sidelines for a score.
“James ran the ball extremely well tonight,” Cimarron coach Rod Vollan said. “He found the holes and made the plays we’ve come to expect from him.”
Poole totaled 259 yards in the game, scoring on runs of 47, 31, 79 and 55 yards.
The most exciting of those was a 79-yard touchdown with just over two minutes remaining in the second quarter.
After clearing the first level of Durango defenders by breaking tackles, Poole found himself at midfield with one man to beat, Trailblazers defensive back Keiffer Mancebo, who was closing in on the tackle.
Poole hurdled Mancebo, who watched from his knees, arms raised in frustration, and was home free from there.
“I just wanted to get in the end zone,” said Poole. “I was going to do whatever it took — hurdle, spin, whatever. I saw him go for the tackle and I just jumped.”
Cimarron opened the game in grand fashion when Stephen Nixon returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown, exploding up the middle and through a pack of Durango defenders, leaving no doubt the Spartans had forgotten about their heartbreaking overtime loss to Legacy of a week ago.
“That would have broken a lot of teams,” Vollan said. “But we practiced with great focus and intensity this week and it showed up tonight.”
Senior quarterback Kenneth Banks passed for 160 yards on 5-for-7 passing and connected on two long touchdowns of 68 and 69 yards to A.J. Morrison and Brian Dover, respectively.
Heading into the game, Durango coach Gary Maki knew the task at hand, namely stopping Cimmaron playmakers Poole and Nixon, and the duo didn’t prove Maki wrong.
“We were debating all week how to approach them,” he said. “They were phenomenal, breaking tackles and gaining yardage when we thought we had them.
“It just wasn’t a very strong performance on our part.”
Durango (5-2) hosts Sierra Vista next week, while Cimarron (4-2) hosts Mojave for Senior Night.
DURANGO WINS BEHIND HUGE SECOND HALF EFFORT
Durango's Julio Mora rushed for five touchdowns and Mario Corchado returned an interception 101 yards for a score, helping the No. 10 Trailblazers (5-1, 4-1 Southwest) defeat host Pahrump Valley (0-5, 0-3) 49-7 on Friday.
Pahrump led 7-6 at halftime for its first lead all season, but was unable to stop Durango’s 43-point second-half surge. Mora scored on runs of 16, 41, 10, 2 and 2 yards, and Greg McKinney added a fourth-quarter TD on a 50-yard interception return.
Pahrump took its lead on Dejhan Celius’ 11-yard run and Greg Walker’s conversion kick, but suffered a 14th consecutive loss.
DURANGO GOES TO SPRING VALLEY AND DOES THE UNTHINKABLE
“We’re No. 2!”
It’s not exactly a traditional rallying cry during a jubilant postgame celebration.
But this has been no ordinary season for Durango High’s football team, which improved to 4-1 overall and 3-1 in Southwest League play with a 31-28 win at Spring Valley on Friday.
The defeat came against Bishop Gorman, a huge favorite to win the division. Friday’s victory enables the Trailblazers to control their destiny as far as capturing the No. 2 seed for the playoffs, only a year after finishing 1-9.
“This whole week our plan was to get the second seed in the playoffs,” quarterback Chase Roberts said. “We’re second in our division now. We can still get knocked off, but it’s pretty tight.”
Roberts was a major factor in Durango’s victory as Julio Mora, who entered as the leading 4A rusher in Southern Nevada, was held to 53 yards on 18 carries.
Roberts, a junior, passed for 175 yards and three touchdowns during the first half when the Trailblazers opened a 24-14 lead.
“We know (opponents) have to put men in the box to stop (the run) and it opens up our passing game,” Durango coach Gary Maki said. “In the past four games we’ve been very fortunate with our running game. Tonight we had to rely on our passing game and it came through. We know our quarterback can do the job and we have good receivers.”
Spring Valley (3-2, 3-1) almost came back to win by holding the Trailblazers to 28 yards in the second half.
Trailing 31-14, the Grizzlies scored two touchdowns in the final 3:06. After Nick Uniate’s 2-yard scoring run, the Grizzlies recovered an onside kick to set up a 1-yard score by Uniate.
Spring Valley got the ball back one last time in the closing seconds after a failed onside kick and a defensive stand, but a desperation heave by Jordan Cox was intercepted.
Mora’s longest run of the game resulted in his only touchdown. He carried 10 yards for the Trailblazers’ only points of the second half after John Williams got his second blocked punt of the game to set up a short field early in the fourth quarter.
“If one part of our team is slacking, the other parts have to step it up,” Williams said. “Being the defensive captain, I told the guys that if the offense can’t do it, the defense is going to have to pick them up. That’s how a team works.”
BEHIND MORA WE TRUST
Durango junior running back Julio Mora rushed for 163 yards, including touchdown runs of 20 yards, 13 yards, and 1 yard, as the Trailblazers (3-1, 2-1 Southwest) held off visiting Clark (0-3, 1-3).
Durango led 19-6 at the half, and a 21-yard TD run by Michael Mehling and a 28-yard field goal by Anthony Ramirez early in the fourth quarter gave the Trailblazers a 23-19 lead.
Clark cut the deficit to 29-19 on a 3-yard TD run by Chris Jackson with 9:31 to go, but the Chargers would get no closer.
Andre Clay rushed for 112 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries to lead Clark. Jackson added two TD runs.
Mehling had 80 yards and two TDs on six carries.
BLAZERS PICKING UP STEAM
Durango's Julio Mora ran for 51 yards and three touchdowns, and the Trailblazers (2-1, 1-1 Southwest) squelched Desert Oasis (1-1, 0-1) with three interceptions and two fumble recoveries en route to a 30-20 home win.
Durango led 21-7 at halftime, with Mora scoring on two 1-yard runs and Michael Mehling on a 37-yarder, set up by Donovan Smith’s 33-yard punt return.
The Trailblazers stretched their lead to 30-14, with Mora running in from 19 yards and Anthony Ramirez kicking a 40-yard field goal.
Mora’s TD was set up by quarterback Greg McKinney’s 42-yard keeper, while Gary House’s fumble recovery led to the field goal.
For Desert Oasis, Ronald Hunt scored in the second half on a 2-yard run and a 24-yard reception from Brennen Stott, the latter with 1:37 to play.
Hunt also played a role in the Diamondbacks’ first-half TD. He fielded a kickoff at his 1-yard line and handed off to Colin Maestas at the 20. Maestas raced the final 80 yards.
DURANGO OPENS SEASON WITH A ROMP OVER RANCHO
Durango topped the 20-point mark only twice last season in going 1-9.
So, yes, there were plenty of smiles after Durango’s offensive performance in its season-opening 53-19 victory Friday night at Rancho.
The highlight of the impressive win was the Trailblazers’ 30-point second quarter, which turned a 7-0 lead into a 37-6 blowout by halftime.
“We knew we had the potential to score on offense,” Durango coach Gary Maki said. “However, we also knew we were able to shoot ourselves in the foot. Tonight, we played very well and ran the ball which controlled the game.”
Junior Julio Mora rushed for 205 yards and three scores, and Michael Mehling added 70 on eight carries.
“They (Mora and Mehling) are a good 1-2 punch,” Maki said. “I think they are unselfish players and complement each other very well. We have other weapons on offense, but these two are the workhorses.”
The Trailblazers outgained the Rams 379-176 and held Durango to 5 yards rushing. Two of Rancho’s biggest plays came through the air — a 67-yard screen pass from William Goose-Garrdet to Mike Cruz and a 40-yard pass from Goose-Garrdet to Harvey Yarbrough late in the third quarter.
Mora had touchdown runs of 1 yard, 1 yard and 5 yards, and Mehling added a 10-yard score. Michael Neighbors caught two touchdown passes, and Eric Wathogoma took an interception 54 yards for another score.
UNABLE TO MOVE THE BALL HURTS BLAZERS IN THE END
Bishop Gorman football coach Tony Sanchez was stone-faced Friday as he scolded his offense in a postgame huddle.
Though his team had just posted a convincing 31-0 road victory over Durango, the coach had reason to be concerned.
The second-ranked Gaels were penalized 16 times for 122 yards in a game they might have won by 50 points.
“We were our biggest enemy tonight,” Sanchez said. “We’ve got to do a better job of holding ourselves accountable. We’ve got to focus better.”
A flurry of false-start penalties ruined several early scoring opportunities for Gorman, which finally managed to take a 7-0 lead on a 12-yard touchdown run by Victor Belen with 2:58 left in the first quarter.
Though the Gaels racked up 162 yards in the first half while holding the Trailblazers to 38, they failed to find the end zone again until late in the half.
With 3:22 left in the second quarter, Shaquille Powell capped a nine-play, 55-yard drive with a 6-yard TD run to stretch Gorman’s lead to 14-0.
Durango (1-1) fumbled on its next possession, and Powell recovered the ball and returned it 56 yards for a score. It was the first defensive touchdown of his career.
“I thought that was really big,” Powell said of the two touchdowns he scored in just more than a minute. “It gave us that extra push we needed.”
The Gaels (2-0) continued to dominate in the second half but were held to a 22-yard Collin Ditsworth field goal in the third quarter and a 15-yard TD run by Powell in the fourth.
Sanchez said his defense made the win possible.
“We got a great defensive performance,” said Sanchez, whose squad held the Trailblazers to 120 yards on the night. “Our coaches did a great job scheming.”
Powell led the Gorman offense, logging 111 yards on 12 carries. Belen added 95 yards on 13 carries, and teammate Jarrett Solomon completed 9 of 16 passes for 76 yards.
Julio Mora, who rushed for 205 yards and three touchdowns in Durango’s season-opening victory over Rancho on Aug. 28, was held to 95 yards on 13 carries Friday.
The Trailblazers offense pushed the ball into Gorman territory just once, on a second-quarter drive that ended at the Gaels 43-yard line.
Though the Gaels made the win look easy, Sanchez said his squad headed into the game expecting a battle.
“I’m new to the area,” the first-year coach said, “so I’m afraid of everybody.”
YOUR 2009 VARSITY FOOTBALL TEAM
BE BIGGER, BE STRONGER, BE FASTER
YOU MUST BE BIGGER,STRONGER,AND FASTER THAN YOUR OPPONENT FOR US TO WIN NEXT SEASON. WE WILL SEE WHO IS HUNGRIER IN THE WEIGHT ROOM!!!!!!!
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