Golden take driver’s seat in 4A Jeffco League football race

LAKEWOOD — Golden might have found another offensive weapon in Johnny Meyers.

The senior made two huge offensive plays Thursday night at Jeffco Stadium to help the Demons to a 49-41 wild victory over Dakota Ridge. The victory left Golden as the lone remaining undefeated team in Class 4A Jeffco League play.

“I’ve played running back all my left, but all through high school I’ve just been playing defense,” said Meyers, who only had five catches and one rushing attempt on the season going into Thursday’s conference showdown against Dakota Ridge. “I finally got my chance and I got one (touchdown).”

After Golden senior quarterback Jazel Riley put the Demons up 42-35 on a 25-yard touchdown run on a 4th-and-10 play midway through the fourth quarter, the Demons got a huge defensive stop tackling Dakota Ridge running back Noah Triplett a yard short of a first down.

Golden (5-3, 3-0 in league) took over on its own 24-yard line. The Demons were shorthanded at running back with starter Luc Chevalier leaving the game due to injury, so Meyers went into running back.

The Demons went with an empty backfield on 1st-and-19 from the 14-yard line.

“They had an A-gap blitz and I had to scramble out,” Riley said of the 57-yard pass play to Meyers. “I threw it deep and I had to trust he would come down with the ball.”

Meyers made the catch and then three plays later on a 3rd-down and long Meyers got his second rushing carry of the season and scored on a 30-yard run to extend the Demons’ lead to 49-35 with 1:01 left in the game.

Three of Golden’s final four touchdowns came on either third or fourth down.

“That wasn’t the plan,” Golden coach Matt McDougal said of the Demons’ success on 3rd and 4th downs. “Early on we were running the ball well, but then Dakota Ridge took away one of our reads and Luc (Chevalier) got hurt. We had to take some shots and trust Jazel. There is a reason he was Player of the Year last year in our league.”

Jazel finished with three touchdowns passes, along with a pair of rushing touchdowns in the fourth quarter.

“We knew Dakota Ridge was a good team coming in and it would be a battle for a possible league championship,” Riley said. “We just had to run our stuff that we’ve been doing. With the trust we have between coaches and players we knew we would get this.”

Triplett was just as impressive as Riley. Dakota Ridge’s running back that verbally commit to play football at Drake University this week had four touchdown in the loss. The Eagles (3-5, 1-1) took a 35-28 lead on a kickoff return for a touchdown by Triplett early in the fourth quarter.

“Dakota Ridge is a dangerous team,” McDougal said. “Any team that has Noah Triplett on it is dangerous.”

Riley answered Triplett’s monster game by guiding the Demons to three scores in the final 9 minutes of the game.

“We feel like we are playing at our best right now,” Riley said.

Golden closes the season with a non-league game against Adams City next Friday. The Demons head to the Western Slope to face Grand Junction where they can officially clinch the conference title.

“This win means so much to me and the team,” Meyers said. “We lost to Dakota Ridge by one score last year. This feels great.”

The Eagles defeated Golden 45-38 last season as Dakota Ridge won the league title.

Dakota Ridge heads to the Western Slope next week to play Grand Junction. The Eagles finish out the regular season against Standley Lake on Oct. 28.