The Dakota Ridge Eagles will head out on the road to face off against the Golden Demons at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Keep an eye on the score for this one: both teams posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.
Two Thursdays ago, Dakota Ridge really took it to Bear Creek for the full four quarters, racking up a 47-19 win at home. Dakota Ridge pushed the score to 40-13 by the end of the third, a deficit Bear Creek had little chance of recovering from.
The match pitted two dominant signal callers against one another in Blake Palladino and Adrian Rico. Palladino had a great game and threw for 274 yards and three touchdowns while completing 77.8% of his passes. Meanwhile, Rico was balling out in the loss, throwing for 305 yards and three touchdowns.
Meanwhile, Golden had already won five in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 16.8 points), and they went ahead and made it six on Friday. They blew past Standley Lake, posting a 46-6 victory on the road. Given Golden's advantage in MaxPreps' Colorado football rankings (they are ranked 35th, while Standley Lake is ranked 92nd), the result wasn't exactly an upset.
Golden's victory was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Kalin Hufford, who threw for 149 yards and four touchdowns while completing 75% of his passes. Trey Abrams was in the mix too, providing Golden with two touchdowns.
Their wins bumped Dakota Ridge to 4-3 and Golden to 6-1.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Friday's matchup: Dakota Ridge has been unstoppable on the ground this season, having averaged 226.3 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Golden struggles in that department as they've been averaging 182.1 per game. It's looking like Friday's contest might have some serious battles in the trenches.
Dakota Ridge came up short against Golden in their previous matchup back in October of 2022, falling 49-41. Thankfully for Dakota Ridge, Jazel Riley iv (who threw for 312 yards and three touchdowns while picking up 12.0 yards per attempt, and also rushed for 111 yards and two touchdowns) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
