DCHS Sports

Red Demons take 6th at Gardner Edgerton

December 8, 2015 By DCHS Sports

The Dodge City Red Demon wrestling team took sixth place at the Gardner Edgerton Invitational on Saturday with a team score of 126. It was the highest finish that the Red Demons have had at the Gardner Edgerton Invitational.

Among the competition on Saturday were highly ranked schools from Iowa, Missouri, Oklahoma and Nebraska. The only Kansas team to finish higher than the Red Demons was Manhattan, who just edged out Dodge City for fifth place. Manhattan finished with a team score of 132.5 Eight Dodge City wrestlers earned medals on Saturday. Junior Devon Plaza, at 126-pounds, took first place in the with a 5-0 decision win over Nate Lendt from Southeast Polk High School in Iowa. Lendt is the top-rated 126-pound wrestler in Iowa. Plaza was the lone Red Demon to take first place.

Senior Clay Weil took second place at 132 and junior Tylor Garcia took third place at 138. Weil made it to the championship round by beating Zach Barnes from Southeast Polk. Garcia beat Stephen Tujague in the third place match. Tujague, from Saint James Academy, is the toprated wrestler at 138 in the 5A class.

Dodge City’s “Blue Team” took third place at the Dan Schmiedler Invitational in Lincoln, KS. The Red Demons will head to Colby on Friday for the Colby Dual Invitational this weekend.

Gardner Edgerton Invitational Results 106 – Joel Ostrom, 5th place 113 – Couy Weil, 6th place 120 – Devon Griego, 6th place 126 – Devon Plaza, 1st place 132 – Clay Weil, 2nd place 138 – Tylor Garcia, 3rd place 145 – Howard Johnson, 5th place 152 – Carlos Rojas, 8th place 195 – Ansony Quezada, 9th place 220 – Zerek Rodriguez, 5th place 285 – Osbaldo Mendez, 8th place.

By John Zetmeir
Dodge City Daily Globe

Red Demon Soccer takes third

November 10, 2015 By DCHS Sports

After losing a heartbreaker to Blue Valley Northwest in the 6A state semifinals, the Dodge City boys soccer team had one more opportunity to end the season with a win.

In Saturday’s consolation game the Red Demons beat last years state champions, Olathe East, 4-1 to earn the third place trophy. Their win on Saturday gave them a school record 19-wins and their first ever win in the state finals. In their previous two trips to state, the Demons finished in fourth place.

“It was the goal that I was looking for as a team,” head coach Saul Hernandez said. “I played more guys who weren’t able to play on Friday to get them more experience. Hopefully we make it back next year and those guys will have experience under their belt.”

After trailing 1-0, Dodge City came to life to score four goals in the final 26 minutes of the game to secure their first ever win at the state finals. It was sophomore Joshua Don Juan and senior Leo Lopez who split the four goals.

“I felt like they weren’t having fun and were just a little too uptight,” Hernandez said about the halftime adjustments. “I told them that we didn’t have anything to lose and that we needed to just play more relaxed.”

In Hernandez’s first year as the Red Demons head coach, Dodge City (19-2) had their most successful season in school history. The team’s two losses were to 5A state runner-up St. Thomas Aquinas and Blue Valley Northwest, the 6A state champion.

“It was a successful season,” Hernandez said. “We didn’t come back with the hardware that we wanted but the boys really did an excellent job handling the situations.”

In WAC competition, the Red Demons outscored their opponents 40-5 on their way to a undefeated WAC title. In 21 games this year, Dodge City outscored their opponents 94-11 and finished with 14 shutouts.

By John Zetmeir
Dodge City Daily Globe

FINAL FOUR – Red Demons advance to state semifinals after a 3-0 win

November 4, 2015 By DCHS Sports

The Dodge City Red Demons knew that as they continued to win, the games would get harder and the opponents would get tougher. It took the Red Demons 46-minutes to find the back of the net against Wichita North on Tuesday but once they did, the Redskins could not find an answer.

Dodge City beat Wichita North 3-0 to advance to the 6A state semifinals in Olathe for the first time since 2010.

Head coach Saul Hernandez never made it to the semifinals when he was a player for the Red Demons. In his first year coaching his alma mater, he gets to cross that goal off of his list.

“Honestly, (Hernandez) brought the team together even more than we already were,” senior midfielder Leo Lopez said. “Last year we had an amazing team, we just couldn’t finish. Finish, I think he got that in our heads. We just stuck to the plan. We did what he said and look where we got.”

13 minutes into the game, Wichita North missed a penalty kick that would have given them an early 1-0 lead. The Redskins were able to throw the Red Demons off of their rhythm for the first 40 minutes.

Sophomores Mario Martinez and Joshua Don Juan scored goals less than a minute apart in the first 10 minutes of the second half. From that point on, the Red Demons seized control.

“At halftime we emphasized just playing our game,” Hernandez said. “The first half I think we were nervous, a little more tense but the second half we calmed down.”

Senior Maans Spaangaeng scored the final goal of the evening in the 54th minute.

Tuesday’s 3-0 win gave Dodge City (18-1) their 13th shutout this season. Even when the shots were not hitting the back of the net, the Red Demons’ team defense has kept them in control of games this season.

“Coach (Hernandez) got that in our heads,” Lopez said. “When you lose the ball, everybody is a defender. I think that’s what helped us out this year. This game especially.”

The Dodge City boys soccer team’s final goal this season is to win a state championship. The journey to be crowned the top team in the state starts this Friday in Olathe.

“We’re going to go and represent the western side of the state and we’re going to bust our butts off and give everything we’ve got,” Lopez said.

By John Zetmeir
Dodge City Daily Globe

Demon Cross Country wraps up season

November 3, 2015 By DCHS Sports

The Dodge City girls cross country team finished up their season with a strong performance on Saturday at Rim Rock Farm where the team took seventh place at the 6A state meet. All season, the Red Demons were able to run as a pack and even against the top runners in the state, Dodge City was still able to execute their game plan. The trio of Coral Neave, Jasmine Duarte and Amelia Richter finished within three seconds of each other, taking 27th, 28th and 31st.

“This year’s team was able to truly work together,” girls head coach Brian Lenz said. “Once again they did at the state meet. For us to finish seventh and to have three girls in the top 31 was as good as we could expect. They have done a great job this year.”

On the boys side, the weekend at Rim Rock did not go as well as planned. The Red Demons finished in 10th place with Alex Ultreras finishing in 22nd place to lead the team. Brett Groth took 46th place. Both Groth and Ultreras improved their times from their meet earlier this year at Rim Rock. Head coach Buc Bolmer said the performances of Ultreras and Groth were a bright spot for the weekend.

“The state meet did not turn out like we wanted,” Bolmer said. “We are not sure what went wrong. We had already beaten some of the teams in front us however that is running. Sometimes you have a bad race.”

The two squads also finished the season as both WAC and regional champions.

Girls

27th Coral Neave, 28th Jasmine Duarte, 31st Amelia Richter, 55th Ayanna Hensley, 73rd Mariela Aldaba, 89th Marissa Ramirez, 93rd Alexis Jimenez.

Boys

22nd Alex Ultreras, 46th Brett Groth, 50th Marcelo Cruz, 56th Javier Marquez, 69th Jason Luft, 80th Ignacio Calderon, 89th Felix Marquez.

By John Zetmeir
Dodge City Daily Globe

Demons look for positive ending

October 30, 2015 By DCHS Sports

The Dodge City Red Demons do not need any extra motivation when they see that the Garden City Buffaloes are the next team on the schedule every year. The Red Demons will load up the buses for the fifty-mile drive west down Highway-50 for the 117th meeting between the two schools on Friday.

The Battle for the Hatchet has become one of the most popular rivalries in the state. For the last 77 seasons, the two schools have played for the hatchet that is given to the winning school.

After losing their first two district games, the Red Demons (4-4, 3-0) were eliminated from playoff contention. A conference title, a winning season and a chance to play spoiler are, however, on the table for Dodge City.

“A WAC championship would be big,” head coach Dave Foster said. “The hatchet is big. That’s the biggest rivalry game in the state of Kansas. Those are big enough. We’ll show up and our kids will be ready to play. As disappointed as the playoff situation is, it’s the hand that we were dealt.”

In last season’s 32-14 loss to Garden City, quarterback Caden Walters was knocked out of the game with a broken thumb in the first half. The Red Demons led the Buffaloes before the injury but without their starting quarterback, Dodge City’s offense struggled.

Walters still remembers the feeling. The senior quarterback called it heartbreaking. He felt like he let his teammates, his coaches and his community down. This season, Walters has become one of the best quarterbacks in the state and he’s ready for another shot at Garden City.

After two seasons behind center, Friday’s game will be the last for Walters as the Red Demons starting quarterback. He, along with 19 other seniors, will be playing their last game for Dodge City in the biggest game of the year.

“It’s been a great feeling being able to represent our community as the quarterback,” Walters said. “It’s a big responsibility but I like that.” The Red Demons enter their final game of the season following a 72-34 loss to Hutchinson. Garden City (7-1, 3-0) edged out the Salthawks 14-2 earlier this season. Foster knows that the Buffaloes are a good team but he also acknowledges the fact that the Red Demons will present a different challenge to the Buffaloes with their spread offense.

“They are geared toward what Hutchinson wanted to do, they are also geared to what we want to do,” Foster said. “We know what we’ll get defensively. It will be very important that we execute and we are able to run the football. If we can’t run the football, that puts everything on Caden’s shoulders.”

It is tough to predict what will happen when the two teams square off each year. One thing is for certain, both teams are always ready for the challenge.

“Rivalry games bring out the best,” Foster said. “We’ve seen some crazy things happen in this game.”

Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. in Garden City.

By John Zetmeir
Dodge City Daily Globe