Douglas County senior Nolan Case goes for five TDs in win over Chatfield

LAKEWOOD — Douglas County senior Nolan Case will certainly not get an invite to Chatfield’s homecoming dance Saturday night.

Case ran over, round and through the Chargers on Thursday night at Jeffco Stadium. The Huskies, spearheaded by Case’s five touchdowns led to a 44-20 victory for Douglas County to spoil Chatfield’s homecoming football game.

“It was a great game. I felt like we came out with the energy that we needed to,” said Case, who had over 300 yards of total offense. “I’m proud of my team. I couldn’t have done it without them. I couldn’t have done anything without my offensive line.”

The victory for Douglas County (4-1 record) made the return to Jeffco Stadium a sweet one for head coach Eric Rice. It was a homecoming for Rice, who is a Green Mountain High School graduate and was a co-defensive coordinator for the Rams’ 1999 4A state championship team that won the state title at Jeffco Stadium over 25 years ago.

“Coming to the stadium I purposely drove past Green Mountain down Alameda Avenue to Kipling Street,” Rice said. “I wanted to take a trip down memory lane to remember what this feels like coming to games with Coach Mac (Don McGatlin).” 

Rice admitted the victory over Chatfield is a ‘statement win’ for his Huskies. Douglas County’s last above .500 record came in 2021 when the Huskies went 6-5. This is the seventh year for Rice at Douglas County. He had 16 years as the head coach at Fort Collins too after leaving Jeffco.

“It’s defintely big,” Rice said of the win a year after the Huskies blew a double-digit halftime lead to Chatfield at home. “We were so dejected. We remembered that going into this week. We wanted to finish this game.”

The non-league game started a little mild Thursday night with the Huskies grabbing a 3-0 lead, but to say that the second quarter was a little nutty would be an understatement.

Douglas County and Chatfield combined for five touchdowns, including back-to-back kickoff returns for scores by Chatfield junior Emerson Lakra (91 yards) and Douglas County junior Aden Andrade (76 yards) which were 12 seconds apart.

When the dust settled at halftime, Douglas County had a 31-6 lead.

Case had a monster second quarter with a trio of touchdown runs. Case scored from 1-yard out with 9:08 left in the second quarter to start the scoring bonanza. 

After a Chatfield turnover, the Huskies cashed it in with a 14-yard touchdown run by Case to extend Douglas County’s lead to 17-0 with 5:26 left before halftime.

Lakra gave the Chargers (2-3) a spark with a 91-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, but the Huskies answered with a 76-yard return by Andrade. Chatfield couldn’t corral the ensuing kickoff that was recovered by Douglas County senior Liam Potts at the Chargers’ 36-yard line.

The Huskies converted a key 4th-down-and-12 before Case punched it in for his third touchdown of the quarter from a yard out to give Douglas County a 31-6 lead at halftime.

“When you have a player like that you look like a smart coach, but you aren’t doing anything special,” Rice said. “He is just so talented and gifted. Anybody can coach a team with a kid like that. I take zero credit. No credit should go to me.”

Case kept it going in the second half with a 1-yard touchdown to open the scoring. He finished his night out in style with a 75-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to extend the Huskies lead to 44-14 with 4:11 left in the third quarter.

“We kept that chip on our shoulder,” Case said of the 27-24 loss to Chatfield a year ago. “We wanted to come out and show them who we are.”

Chatfield junior quarterback Cash Williams had a touchdown pass to senior Roni Rohlman in the third quarter. Williams also had a 69-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter, but it wasn’t enough.

Chatfield begins 5A Metro League play next week. The Chargers are on the road at the North Area Athletic Complex on Friday, Oct. 3. Chatfield faces Ralston Valley — No. 5 in the current ColoradoPreps.com 5A football rankings — in what will be the Mustangs’ homecoming game. 

Ralston Valley does have a big showdown tomorrow (Friday, Sept. 26) at the NAAC against No. 2 Valor Christian. 

Douglas County will open 5A Southern League play when the Huskies host Fountain-Fort Carson (4-1) on Friday, Oct. 3. 

“It will be a battle, but I’m looking forward to it,” Case said of the big match-up against Fountain-Fort Carson next week. “I can’t wait.”