Only two more golf tournaments remain for the Montezuma-Cortez High School and crunch time begins today, Sept. 7, at Rifle. The final test is Sept. 12 at Eagle Valley.

Two golfers, the number four and number five, are battling it out for the fourth and final spot for Regionals, set Oct. 9-10 at Gunnison. Chris Dibsie and Tony McComb, both seniors, are within a stroke (average) of each other.

"It will be interesting," MCHS head coach Mike Allison said. "We can only take four golfers. They will be battling it out."

The Panthers most recently competed in two tournaments in Durango, the first at Dalton Ranch on Aug. 30, and the second at Hillcrest on Aug. 31. The Panther varsity was only going to compete in one of those tournaments but a forced cancellation of an early tourney at Moffat County gave the Panthers an opening.

At Dalton Ranch, freshman Shea Sena shot a 78, Keenan Lovett 87, Casey Stone 91, Dibsie 85, and McComb 84.

Durango continues to be the class team of the Western Slope. Right now, the Demons are a cut above the competition, and they proved it again Wednesday when they brushed aside their problems to easily win the Demon Invitational at Dalton Ranch Golf Club with a score of 224, 12 strokes better than runner-up Aspen. Grand Junction and Fruita tied for third at 239. A total of 15 teams participated. The Panthers finished in fourth place.

Individually, Durango freshman sensation Jake Hermes shot a 3-under-par 69 – including a 4-under 32 on the back nine – to win medalist honors for the fourth time in seven tournaments this season.

"This kid is awesome," Allison said. "And he is only going to get better."

Fruita’s Chase Workman was closest to Hermes with a 74, followed by Durango’s Ross McDermott with a 76 and four golfers with 77s – Aspen’s Colt Hartrich and Patrick McLenan, and Grand Junction’s Reed Alexander and Eric Winder.

"As a team we are still up and down and still feeling our way. We are trying to put it together. The kids are really doing a good job and we are going in the right direction," he remarked.

The Panthers returned to Durango, but this time they took on Hillcrest Golf Course.

Hermes won his second tournament in as many days. He birdied Nos. 17 and 18 to shoot a 1-under 70 for the victory. And in turn, the Demons captured another team title – their seventh in eight tries on the year. Durango’s team 220 was six strokes better than second-place Grand Junction.

McDermott, the runner-up in the individual standings with a 72 after shooting a 76 at Dalton Ranch the day before.

Grand Junction’s Kyle Sullivan shot a 73 to lead the Tigers to a 226. Rifle and Fruita tied for third at 233 and Aspen finished fifth with a 234. The Panthers placed out about eighth, according to Allison.

Rifle’s Luke Antonelli and Aspen’s Patrick McLenan matched Sullivan’s 73 to form a three-way tie for third place in the individual standings. Grand Junction’s Eric Winder fired a 74 to finish sixth.

Allison was not happy with the fact that tee times at both golf courses started at 11 a.m. Some of his golfers did not tee off until 3:30 p.m. so they had to finish near dusk.