ARVADA, Colo. — A combined 66 points were scored in a second-half barnburner between the Dakota Ridge Eagles and Golden Demons, ultimately decided by a touchdown in the final nine seconds by the undefeated Eagles.
Noah Triplett punched in a rushing score with only nine seconds remaining in the game to put his team ahead 45-38.
It was one of Triplett's four scores throughout the entire game. The junior tailback scored the first touchdown of the game for the Eagles, followed by another rushing score, and a kickoff return for a touchdown.
Senior Dante Capolungo added the second score of the night for the Eagles, with a diving catch in the end zone off of a 35-yard toss from Adam Graves.
Graves also hit Jacob Lafave in the fourth quarter in the flat, and the senior wide receiver took it 20 yards to the end zone, diving toward the pylon.
The home Demons got on the board in the first quarter, after Dalton Summers picked off a pass from Graves to give Golden its first drive. Luc Chevalier then took a handoff from 40 yards out and went relatively untouched into the end zone.
After a 10-7 break, Golden quarterback Jazel Riley IV took responsibility for four of the Demons' scores. He rushed for two touchdowns back-to-back, before tossing a 60-yard touchdown pass to Josh Torrey.
The Demons were down only one score, when Riley took the rock in his own hands for 40 yards -- 30 of those with only one shoe -- and carried his team to a 38-38 tie with less than 4:00 remaining in the game.
Riley was only able to touch the ball again with nine seconds left on the clock -- not enough for any heroics to lift his Demons past a two-game losing streak.
Golden falls to 7-2 and faces Bear Creek in the final game of the regular season.
Dakota Ridge improves to 9-0 and will host Chatfield for the final regular season finale next week.
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