ARVADA — Standley Lake football battled its way to a 20-14 victory over Harrison late Friday afternoon at the North Area Athletic Complex.
“Two gritty games,” Standley Lake coach Tyler Gallas said of the Gators’ back-to-back one-score wins over Greeley Central and Harrison to start the season. “We need these games to grow into being a tougher team. We’ve got some gritty kids who really want to play hard for each other. I’m enjoying coaching the crap out of them.”
It’s the first 2-0 start for Standley Lake since the 2021 season.
The Gators are in the newly formed Class 3A Foothills League which has plenty of Jeffco flavor. The conference consists of defending 3A state champion Pomona, along with Jeffco schools Green Mountain, Evergreen, Conifer, Wheat Ridge and Standley Lake.
Kent Denver is the lone non-Jeffco team in the league.
Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Public Schools
“It’s great,” Standley Lake coach Tyler Gallas said of the 2-0 start. “We are excited about our new schedule. We are excited about our new league. We are grateful to be back in the Jeffco League. We are excited for that competition coming up.”
Standley Lake waisted no time Friday in getting its crowd fired up. Harrison junior Carter Ward fumbled the open kickoff. Standley Lake junior Onyx Quante recovered the loose ball to give the Gators great field position.
Standley Lake junior Jaden Epps scored his first of two first-half touchdowns to cash in the takeaway.
“Our kickoff team doing that gave us motivation,” Epps said. “That helped us out and got us hyped.”
Epps second touchdown run of the opening half pushed the lead to 14-0. Harrison did score before halftime to cut the lead to 14-7 going into the break.
Standley Lake senior quarterback Xander Colm scored on a 28-yard touchdown run in the third quarter to get the lead to 20-7. The Panthers (0-2) closed the gap to 20-14, but the Gators had a long drive to eat up the clock late in the fourth quarter.
Epps got Standley Lake down to Harrison’s 1-yard line in the final minute. The Gators went into ‘victory formation’ and took a few knees to end the game.
“It felt good to finish,” Epps said of the Gators running out the clock with a long drive. “Once I heard ‘victory’ it was exciting to be 2-0.”
Standley Lake will host Centaurus back at NAAC at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 10.
“I hope it’s just like this one,” Gallas said facing Centaurus next week. “It will give us a chance to get better and we need that going into league play.”
Standley Lake opens conference play against Conifer on Sept. 18 at NAAC.
Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Public Schools
