Green Mountain kicks last-second field goal to defeat Standley Lake

LAKEWOOD — Sophomore Nowell Dacres jumped into the stands after a dramatic 17-14 victory to help lead the singing of the fight song with the Green Mountain High School Marching Band.

“It was really cool seeing our players sing the school fight song with the band. I don’t know when the last time the football players did that,” Green Mountain coach Jesse German said after his Rams improved to 2-1 on the season. “We practiced with the band this week. That was sweet.”

Moments early, it was Darces with a sweet 30-yard run on the football field that helped set up a last-second field goal to defeat Standley Lake on homecoming night for the Rams. The sophomore broke off the long run to put the Rams at the Gators’ 30-yard line with under 3 minutes to play and the game tied at 14-14.

A few more runs by Darces and junior quarterback Zachary Wallace got the Rams down to the 4-yard line. Sophomore Brandon Zertuche kicked a 20-yard field goal with 15.8 seconds left in the game to send the huge homecoming crown into a frenzy.

“It’s great to see all the support we had from the fans,” said Wallace said who had a pair of touchdown runs in the second half that gave the Rams a 14-0 lead early in the fourth quarter. “Especially with the year off of fans because of COVID. It is great to see all this support.”

Standley Lake (2-1) fought in the fourth quarter with a solid 65-yard scoring drive that was capped off with a 6-yard touchdown pass from sophomore quarterback Braeden Smith to senior Evan Shanks with 5:37 left in the fourth quarter.

On the next drive, Junior Cannon Frost stripped the ball out of the hands of Green Mountain junior Anthony DiGrazia and recovered the fumble on Green Mountain’s 39-yard line. Three plays later Frost would score on a 12-yard run to tie the game up at 14-14 with 3:47 left in regulation time. 

However, Green Mountain wouldn’t be denied a victory on its homecoming.

“We finished. Our core values finished,” Wallace said about guiding the Rams down the field in the final three minutes for the game-winning drive. “We just had to do what we do.”

Despite both teams scoreless after the first half, German was confident the Rams could get things going offensively against the undefeated Gators.

“We felt like we were in good position coming out after halftime, make some adjustments and score,” German said. “There wasn’t a whole lot of scoring, but we ended up on the good side and we’ll take it.”

German was also happy to have Dacres back on the field after the starting running back was out in the loss against Golden last week. Wallace also got dinged up against the Demons, but was instrumental in the victory over Standley Lake.

“Those are definitely difference makers,” German said of Wallace and Dacres. “We still have some guys out, but we have more guys getting healthy. These kids are growing up and buying in to what we are doing every day.”