LAKEWOOD — After back-to-back losses to start the season Dakota Ridge got in the win column Friday at Jeffco Stadium.
Dakota Ridge — No. 10 in this week’s CHSAANow.com Class 4A football rankings — grabbed a 56-30 victory over Mesa Ridge in marathon game that took over three hours to play. The Eagles loss to Pueblo West in Week 1 and suffered a 35-7 loss to rival Columbine last week in a lightning shortened game.
“It feels great. I’m so happy to be here at Dakota,” said junior quarterback Blake Palladino, who transferred from Mullen High School. “I just love the environment and the family that we’ve built. We are going to have a good season.”
Palladino helped spark a 35-point first half for the Eagles. Palladino scored on a 24-yard touchdown run for the first touchdown of the game.
“When we can get the running game going and that opens up the passing game for us,” Dakota Ridge coach Ron Woitalewicz said after the Eagles’ offensive breakout. “What (Palladino) gives us is quarterback run game stuff. He’ll get more comfortable in our offense.”
After Mesa Ridge tied it up 7-7 with a 50-yard touchdown pass from sophomore Bryce Riehl to junior Tanner Widic it was Palladino’s turn to do some damage through the air.
Palladino tossed a trio of touchdown passes over the span of seven minutes to give Dakota Ridge a 28-7 lead midway through the second quarter. Junior Walker Moench (11-yard TD), Brandon Miller (33-yard TD) and Bobby Levin (7-yard TD) had the scoring catches.
“I’ve got a bunch of guys and I like to spread it around,” Palladino said. “I’ll take what I can get.”
After an interception by junior Connor Swanson that set the Eagles (1-2 record) up on Mesa Ridge’s 32-yard line, junior Stephen Price plunged in from a yard to put extend the lead to 35-7.
However, Mesa Ridge (1-2) had its best drive of the half to cut the lead to 35-15 at halftime. Freshman Tre Salas scored on a 5-yard touchdown run and the Grizzlies converted a 2-point play to cut the lead to 35-15 at halftime.
“We still need to get better,” Woitalewicz said. “Too many penalties. It’s frustrating when the whole pace gets slowed down.”
While the pace might of slowed down in the second half the scoring did not. Mesa Ridge put in a pair of touchdowns. The final score was a 3-yard touchdown run by junior Isaiah Jones.
“Mesa Ridge ran the ball hard,” Woitalewicz said. “We have to do a better job stopping the run. We have to do a better job tackling. We go high and get run over. Then they fall for another three yards.”
Dakota Ridge senior running back Noah Triplett had touchdown runs of 3 and 52 yards to get on track. Mesa Ridge was able to bottle up Triplett for the majority of the game.
Palladino threw his fourth touchdown pass of the night on a 2-yard score to Moench with 3:36 remaining to make the final score 56-30.
“That is why it was so important for Blake to have the night that he had,” Woitalewicz said. “Now all the sudden on film we opened up a whole other element. We just have to keep getting better.”
Dakota Ridge hits the road next week to face Rampart in Colorado Springs ahead of a huge rivalry game against 5A Chatfield on Sept. 23 at Jeffco Stadium.