Unlikely unbeatens Durango, Sierra Vista face off

Only three of the state’s Class 4A high school football programs remain undefeated, and it’s no surprise that national power Bishop Gorman is one of them.

The other two would have to be described as unforeseen, to say the least.

Sierra Vista (7-0, 4-0 Southwest League) travels to Durango (6-0, 3-0) at 7 p.m. Friday in a battle of surprisingly undefeated teams.

“At the beginning of the season, you wouldn’t have thought these two teams would be both undefeated,” Durango senior linebacker Brent Gray said. “It was kind of like a sleeper pick on these two teams. But we’re really excited, especially since they’re right down the street. It’s like a big rivalry game. We’ve just been working hard, waiting for this moment.”

To call Durango a surprise probably doesn’t do the word justice. The Trailblazers entered the season on a 16-game losing streak and had gone 1-26 in the past three seasons.

“The energy on the field is so much different from before,” Gray said. “Before, everyone was kind of expecting to lose every game. We went in not really trying, because we thought we were going to lose every game. Now it’s picked up, because we know we can win every game and we’ve got to put forward effort and whatnot.”

Durango coach Matt Gerber said he and the other coaches had a good feeling about the team in the offseason.

“I don’t know if (the players) believed,” Gerber said. “We did as a coaching staff. We knew what we had.”

The Trailblazers snapped the losing streak with a 40-0 victory over Valley, a team that entered the season having lost 18 in a row. That win gave the team a foundation of confidence on which to build.

“I think the kids started to pick up on it after game one,” Gerber said. “They had some people saying they were going to lose to Valley, and they came out and made a statement. I think that just propelled them the rest of the way.”

Senior defensive back Jayson Johnson said the team started to build for success with offseason work in the weight room. And he said a positive attitude hasn’t hurt.

“We love to win,” Johnson said. “We all have that winning mindset, and I think that’s so key to our game plan and everything we do.”

Like Durango, Sierra Vista was hardly a likely pick to be undefeated after eight weeks. The Mountain Lions have had one winning record since 2007 and were 3-7 last season while playing at the Class 3A level (then Division I-A). But despite being undefeated, neither team cracked the top 10 in the latest coaches poll.

“We’ve come out and trained very hard, and we feel like it’s our time now,” Johnson said. “It’s due time that we get the recognition we deserve.”

Contact prep sports editor Damon Seiters at dseiters@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-458. Follow @DamonSeiters on Twitter.