LAKEWOOD — It looked and felt like a Class 4A football heavyweight battle Friday night at Jeffco Stadium.
With the 4A Metro 1 League title at stake, No. 2-ranked Dakota Ridge rallied from a 9-point deficit in the fourth quarter against No. 7 Chatfield to take a dramatic 29-28 victory.
Dakota Ridge junior Landon Giebler kicked a 26-yard field goal with 41.6 seconds to keep the Eagles undefeated on the season and claim the conference title in one of the toughest leagues in 4A this season.
“I was talking to Landon right before the field goal. He was cool, calm and collected,” Dakota Ridge junior running back Noah Triplett said. “As soon as he got it up I knew it was in.”
The Eagles (10-0, 5-0 in league) started the eventual game-winning drive on their own 30-yard line with 7:15 remaining in the fourth quarter trailing 28-26. It took Dakota Ridge 13 plays to get down to Chatfield’s 4-yard line with Triplett being the workhorse with 10 carries on the drive.
“Coach (Jeremiah Behrendsen/offensive coordinator) told us we were going to give it to Noah, hold onto the ball and run this clock down,” Dakota Ridge senior quarterback Adam Graves said of the final scoring drive.
Dakota Ridge took a delay of game penalty trying to get the Chargers (7-3, 3-2) to jump with 46 seconds left. The ball was moved back to the 9-yard line, but there wasn’t any doubt the kick from Giebler was true.
“Landon Giebler has ice in his veins. He drove in that field goal,” Dakota Ridge coach Ron Woitalewicz said. “I was hoping we’d score a touchdown there, but we just needed some points.”
Senior Jacob Lafave sealed the victory for the Eagles intercepting Chatfield sophomore quarterback Jake Jones on the play following the kickoff to the Chargers. Chatfield led the for the entire second half until the final minute.
“I’m just really proud of the grit from our kids,” Woitalewicz said. “Our kids didn’t quit. Obviously, it’s a big rivalry game where everything goes out the window. You never know what is going to happen.”
What happens now?
Chatfield and Dakota Ridge wait to see how the 24-team 4A state tournament bracket shapes up. The top 8-seeded teams will receive a first-round bye. The Colorado High School Athletic Association will release the brackets Sunday, Oct. 31.
Chatfield was No. 5 in RPI, a spot ahead of Dakota Ridge, before Friday’s game. There is a chance that both the Chargers and Eagles will earn a first-round bye.
“I like this new format,” Woitalewicz said. “I’ll have to figure out what we are going to do. I’ve never had a bye week, but we’ll take it.”
Graves did it with his arm and feet in the first half. Graves tossed a 7-yard touchdown pass to sophomore Alex Arnold in the first quarter. The senior then gave the Eagles a 13-7 lead with a 9-yard touchdown run with 6:58 left in the second quarter.
Chatfield did take a 14-13 lead thanks to the Chargers’ dynamic duo. Junior Mason Lowe had a 22-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. Senior Jake Marschall scored on a 1-yard plunge in the final minute of the first half to give the Chargers a 1-point lead at the break.
Lowe and Marschall both added another touchdown run each in the second half as Chatfield built its lead to 28-19. Marschall broke loose for the 65-yard touchdown run with 3:59 left in the third quarter to give the Chargers their biggest lead of the game.
Dakota Ridge answered with a huge defensive stop on a 4th-and-3 play late in the third quarter. The Eagles took advantage of taking over on Chatfield’s 37-yard line. Graves scored his second running touchdown of the night to bring The Eagles within 28-26 with 10:33 left in the fourth quarter.
“Adam really stepped up tonight,” Woitalewicz said. “He made some good throws. He isn’t fast, but he is hard to bring down. He does a great job managing our offense. He runs our offense to perfection.”
Another big defensive stop forced Chatfield to punt to give the ball back to Dakota Ridge.
“We were all sitting on the bench thinking we might only get one more chance to score,” Triplett said of the game-winning drive. “We came in with the mindset to be the more physical team on that drive. It definitely worked.”
It’s the second straight season Dakota Ridge has finished the regular season undefeated. During the shortened COVID season last year, the Eagles were 7-0 before losing to eventual state champion Loveland in the 4A semifinals.
With tough and close games against playoff-bound Golden and Chatfield to close out the regular season, that will likely benefit the Eagles.
“I’m actually really grateful we played two tough opponents right before playoffs,” Graves said. “Last year we probably thought we were better than we actually were.”