By Jim Thomas

They stayed with Durango for as long as they could which was the first half. But the Demons, who have a very good football team this year, dominated Cortez in the second half and left Panther Stadium with a 58-20 victory Friday night, Sept. 25.

"I thought our kids played hard as they could as long as they could against a team that had more talent than we had," Montezuma-Cortez High School head coach Dick Geddes said following the game. "You can’t take anything away from Durango because they have a very good football team."

After the Demons went four-and-out their first possession, the Panthers methodically marched down field from their own 22-yard line. Quarterback Josh Mortensen, out of the run-and-shoot offense, hit several quicks for short gains. But facing a fourth-down-and-long situation, Bryce Tanner ran 34 yards on a fake punt for a first down at the Durango 23. Jake Collett made a long run on a draw to the Durango 3. But the Panthers, who don’t have much of a place-kicking game, elected not to try for a field goal after being stopped and getting backed up to the 9. They turned the ball over on downs after not punching it in.

"We have been working and working on it. But we just have not been doing a good job so we decided to go for the touchdown," Geddes noted.

Durango took the ball at the Cortez 9 and marched all the way down field for a TD. Mike Wakefield gained 24 yards off a lateral for a big play. Wakefield bulled his way over for the score with 1:52 showing in the first quarter. The kick was wide.

After Cortez went four-and-out, the Demons had the ball in good field position at the C39. Durango pounded the ball up the middle and Wakefield ran over from the 1 for another TD at 8:53. Nick McCoola booted the extra point for a 13-0 lead.

The Panthers marched from their own 22 for a touchdown in 10 plays. Mortensen completed four pass during the drive including a 36-yarder to Adam Williams for the TD. The pass attempt failed and Durango held a 13-6 lead with 5:45 remaining. The teams traded several possessions but neither could score. The Demons came close as they completed a pass to the C10 but time expired.

The final two periods belonged to the Demons. After Cortez could not move the ball on its first possession of the third quarter, Durango scored. The biggest play was a 26-yard reverse by Joey Maynes. Jon Griego bulled his way for 2 yards into the end zone with 7:45 showing. The kick failed and Durango was up 19-6.

Cortez certainly made things interesting, though, as Mortensen hit Williams for a 78-yard TD strike with 6:44 showing. Mortensen hit Tanner for the two-point conversion. Durango held a slim 19-14 lead.

But the Demons took advantage of a fumble at the C13. Wakefield ran off tackle for the score at 3:33. The pass failed but Durango led 25-14. A few minutes later the Demons scored again following a short punt. From the C36, Wakefield took the ball on a sweep and rambled down the sideline untouched to paydirt. Durango led 31-14 with 1:48 to play.

In the final quarter, Durango started things off by scoring early when Wakefield bolted 66 yards with 10:30 left. Durango led 38-16 following McCoola’s kick. Cortez came back to score its final TD when Mortensen hit Adam Herrmann from 5 yards out. The run failed. Durango led 38-20.

McCoola passed to Chris Wolverton for a 65-yard bomb with 8:19, making it 45-20. Griego scored again from 1 yard out at 6:11 and McCoola booted the PAT for a 52-20 advantage. At 4:01 the Demons scored again when Griego rambled 9 yards and McCoola connected on the PAT for the final 58-20 score.

Geddes said he that it was a little unjust when Durango left in all its starters late in the game and did what it could to run up the score.

The Demons finished with 323 yards rushing and 246 passing. Cortez ran for 157 and passed for 128.