Dakota Ridge lights up the scoreboard in playoff win over Longmont

LAKEWOOD — Dakota Ridge’s offense was an unstoppable force Friday night at Jeffco Stadium.

The No. 2-seeded Eagles scored touchdowns on six straight offensive possession in an eventual 56-35 track meet style playoff victory against No. 15 Longmont. 

“We knew we would be pretty good offensively,” Dakota Ridge coach Ron Woitalewicz said after the Eagles had their fifth game of the season of scoring 50-plus points. “The one thing (Longmont) has struggled a little bit this year has been defense. We knew we would put some points up.”

Longmont (7-5 record) actually jumped out to an early 8-0 lead with a 90-plus yard kickoff return for a touchdown by senior Caleb Johnson, followed up by a successful two-point conversion. However, the undefeated Eagles (11-0) didn’t panic being down 16 seconds into the game.

“We knew there was plenty of time left in the game. We knew from the start we were the better team. One mistake wasn’t going to affect us,” Dakota Ridge senior Dante Capolungo said. “We stayed cool and handled it like we always handle it.”

Dakota Ridge’s offense kicked it into high gear in the second quarter. Following a 31-yard touchdown run by junior Noah Triplett in the first quarter, the Eagles put up four rushing touchdowns in the second quarter to open up a 35-22 halftime lead.

Quarterback Adam Graves weaved his way into the end zone on an 18-yard touchdown on the second play of the second quarter to give the Eagles a 14-8 lead. Capolungo had a pair of touchdown runs less than a minute and a half apart to put Dakota Ridge up 28-15.

“Anyway I can get the ball into my hands I’m grateful,” Capolungo said after his two rushing touchdowns along with an interception late in the fourth quarter. “As long as we are scoring I’m happy.”

Senior Isac Pingarron had a 1-yard touchdown run with 2.4 seconds left before halftime during the run of six straight possessions with touchdowns for the Eagles.

“We’ve got so many weapons offensively,” Woitalewicz said. “What are you going to take away?”

Graves threw touchdown passes to seniors receivers Xander Kanter and Connor Fitzhugh in the third quarter to push the lead to 49-28. The Eagles final score was a 91-yard touchdown run by Triplett.

“I felt like it was an early wake-up call,” Triplett said of the Trojans’ opening kickoff return. “It was over and we needed to answer. We knew we were the better team. We just needed to prove it. We stepped up to the plate after that.”

Dakota Ridge moves into the Class 4A state quarterfinals next week where it will host rival and No. 7 Chatfield likely next Friday night back at Jeffco Stadium. The Chargers handled Ponderosa 31-9 just down the street at Trailblazer Stadium.

Chants of “We want Chatfield” rang out from Dakota Ridge’s student section midway through the fourth quarter with the Eagles holding a 3-touchdown advantage over the Trojans. 

“It’s going to be a battle next week,” Woitalewicz said. “We are going to have to get a lot better.” 

Dakota Ridge edged Chatfield 29-28 back on Oct. 29 to claim the 4A Metro 1 League title. The Chargers led by two scoring going into the fourth quarter.

“Whatever team executes better and makes the least mistakes is going to come out on top,” Capolungo said. 

Longmont’s high-powered air attack came into Jeffco Stadium with some impressive numbers. Senior quarterback Keegan Patterson had more that 3,200 yards passing and 28 touchdowns. The senior duo of Johnson and Jack Moll both had more than 1,000 yards receiving while combining for 19 touchdowns.

Patterson had a trio of rushing touchdowns as he tried to keep pace with Dakota Ridge.

It was an emotional week for the Eagles. Mary Beth Price, the mother of two Dakota Ridge football players suddenly passed away Monday. 

“It was totally emotional,” Woitalewicz said of the passing of Price. “How our kids dealt with it all week was pretty cool. The whole community rallied around them.”

Woitalewicz put sophomore Stephen Price in the backfield on the final snap of the football game with the Eagles taking a knee to run out the clock. The son of Mary Beth was greeted by teammates after Longmont players after the final buzzer sounded.

“We got the win for her,” Capolungo said.