Having lost its last three games, there was no denying the pressure was on Green Mountain’s football team Thursday at Jeffco Stadium.
With their playoff hopes on the ropes, the Rams (5-4, 4-3 in Class 4A Mountain Plains League) faced Golden (3-6, 2-5), which was looking to spoil Green Mountain’s bid for a postseason berth.
The Rams and junior quarterback Marc Amos responded by throwing three touchdowns as Green Mountain held off Golden for a 37-31 victory.
“We tried not to dwell on the pressure of having a grueling schedule and two heartbreak losses in a row,” Green Mountain coach Kevin Rice said.
Green Mountain sits in the 19th slot in the Colorado High School Activities Association’s unofficial 4A wildcard standings with one week of the regular season left. The six conference champions, plus the next 10 team teams with the highest wildcard points will fill out the 16-team state tournament.
The Rams must leap over a handful of teams to qualify for the playoffs. On the positive side, three teams that are just ahead of Green Mountain in the wildcard point standings (Broomfield, Dakota Ridge and Central of Grand Junction) all play tough teams this week. Green Mountain must take care of its own business and beat Lakewood (4-5, 3-4) at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 4, at Jeffco Stadium, then hope for some help.
Golden did its best to eliminate Green Mountain from postseason contention.
The Demons, who were coming off a big win the previous week against Broomfield, tied the game at 21 with a 73-yard drive on their first possession of the third quarter. Junior quarterback Nate Goergen capped off the drive with a 27-yard touchdown run.
The Rams responded with a 57-yard romp from senior running back Zac Pauga for a 28-21 lead. The Rams added a field goal before Golden struck back with a 4-yard touchdown run form junior running back Jared Campbell to draw within 31-28.
Pauga added some cushion with a 12-yard scoring reception midway through the fourth quarter before Golden senior kicker Jason Nye scored the last points on the game on a field goal.
The Demons had a final chance to win the game with just over a minute to play in the game, but a sack by Pauga on Goergen and two final incompletions spoiled Golden’s hopes to play spoiler.
Senior running back Kheeland Hicks set the early tone offensively for the Rams as he charged through the Demons’ defense for 103 yard and a touchdown in the first half. Green Mountain grabbed a 21-7 advantage after a pair of scoring strikes from Amos to Pauga and Gailon Greene Jr. and held a 21-14 lead at halftime.
“We really didn’t feel any pressure. We just wanted to get back to playing out football and having fun,” Hicks said. “We hadn’t had a win in such a long time.”