On a hot Saturday afternoon at Stubler Memorial Field in Glenwood Springs, the Palisade Bulldogs and Glenwood Springs Demons played an 80-minute game, and threw in a couple of 10-minutes overtimes for good measure.

The final result: a 0-0 deadlock.

“You have to give some credit to Palisade today. They kept the pressure on us and continually battled back,” Demons coach Wayne Smith said. “Their keeper might just be the most valuable player on the day. Two-thirds of the game was played at our attacking end of the field, but at the end of the day, the ball has to go in the net.”

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 If ever there was a lopsided tie, this game was it.

The Demons, coming off an emotional 2-1 win on Friday night at home against Durango, assaulted Palisade goalkeeper Zach Guptill all afternoon with near misses and shots that flew just high or hit the crossbar.

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Glenwood recorded 24 shots on goal for the game. By contrast, Palisade was able to mount just one legitimate shot at Demon keeper Carlos Guardado, who spent a good portion of the afternoon watching the red-clad Demons on offense at the other end of the field.

Glenwood senior Angel Bernal had a couple of scoring opportunities in the game’s early going. He had a shot in traffic turned away by Guptill at the 37:24 mark of the first half, and then minutes later sailed an attempt just high off the Palisade goal after a centering pass from fellow senior Jack Reinhold.

Senior midfielder Alan Videla had a lengthy shot scooped up on a short hop by the Palisade keeper, and with 18:12 showing on the clock until halftime, senior German Alvarado darted a near-miss at the left side of the opposition’s net.

Just prior to intermission, a header by sophomore forward Reid Swanson was barely off the mark, but the rebound in front of the net found Alvarado waiting, only to have Guptill cradle the ball in his arms once again.

As the sun grew hotter in the second half of play, both teams started to slow.

Swanson fed a centering pass to Bernal as the Demons continued to push the pace at the Bulldogs. As had been the case with all of the Demon attempts up to that point, Bernal’s shot missed the left corner of the Palisade net by inches,

Demon sophomore Kevin Popoca had a golden opportunity from just in front of the net near the end of regulation, but the point-blank shot hit the top crossbar and sailed high into the air and out of bounds.

With regulation over, an extra 10-minute period started to decide things.

The first overtime saw Guptill turn away several more Demon shots, and in the second extra session, Demon junior Justin Garces was off target on Glenwood’s last scoring chance of the day.

The referee’s whistle ended the day with the scoreboard reading 0-0.

“I wasn’t really worried about a letdown today after last night’s game,” Smith said. “A lot of teams play back-to-back games. The kids played really hard. We just didn’t get it done today.”

The Demons will be back in action Thursday, Sept. 5, with a road contest at Steamboat Springs.