AURORA — The last time this happened, mullets were just coming into fashion.

Thankfully, neither Dakota Stonehouse nor any his Glenwood Springs teammates have the business-in-the-front, party-in-the-back hairstyle. But the Demons do have the mountain school’s first state championship since 1980, which they earned Saturday by outlasting Fort Morgan 23-14 in the Class 3A title game at Legacy Stadium.

“Dakota Stonehouse is something, isn’t he?” Glenwood Spring coach Rocky Whitworth said. “He can do everything.”

Stonehouse, the Demons senior quarterback, passed, ran and even defended his team to victory. The passing (20-for-28, 204 yards, two touchdowns) and the running (91 yards, one touchdown) were expected. The defense was not. Stonehouse had not played on that side of the ball all season, but lined up at safety for a few plays and managed to stand out there as well.

“I’ve been begging to go in all year,” Stonehouse explained. “I was part of the dime personnel, and they called it on a few long third downs.”

Most notable was his vicious-but-clean hit on Fort Morgan receiver Casey Scott after a 10-yard reception in the second quarter.

“He knocked me out over here on the sidelines,” Scott said. “He hits pretty hard for a quarterback.”

The Demons (14-0) didn’t seal this matchup of unbeaten teams until the final moments, when Stonehouse sneaked in from 7 yards out to provide the final margin. Fort Morgan twice had the ball in the fourth quarter while trailing only 17-14, but couldn’t penetrate a staunch Glenwood Springs defense.

While much attention was given the Demons’ high-powered spread offense, the defense was at least equally responsible for the victory. The Demons weren’t completely able to neutralize Mustangs running back Chris Cobbley, but enough so to prevent Fort Morgan from comfortably moving the ball.

“It was just like fire came under us,” Demons linebacker Keenan Hartert said. “It was an amazing feeling and I’ll never forget it. We knew this team was going to be the best we’ve ever faced, especially on defense, and we knew to win this game it was going to take an enormous effort like something we’ve never done.”

Cobbley rushed for 77 yards and scored both Fort Morgan touchdowns (one on a reception), but the Demons forced the Mustangs to throw much more than they are accustomed to doing. Mustangs quarterback Garrett Pape completed only eight of 27 passes (he went 1-for-10 in the second half) and was intercepted once by Taylor Parsons.

“They were playing deep on us,” Scott said. “They wouldn’t let us run any deep routes. They have good corners. You have to give them some credit.”

Cobbley’s second touchdown, a 20-yard run early in the fourth quarter made it 17-14. Glenwood Springs had gone up 17-7 in the third when Stonehouse found receiver Kevin Screen on an out-and-up route and delivered a perfectly-placed spiral for a 34-yard touchdown. The play was vintage Stonehouse.

“I don’t know how he does it; he’s just incredible,” Screen said. “I love having him as my quarterback because he’s an awesome athlete.”

Glenwood Springs appeared ready to enter the locker room with a 10-0 lead, on the strength of a 5-yard touchdown from Stonehouse to Screen and a 22-yard field goal by Clay Hawkins.

But Pape found Cobbley for a 29-yard score 46 seconds before intermission to trim it to 10-7.

The Demons never could breathe comfortably until running back Michael Hudson broke off a 32-yard run with less than 2 minutes to play with Fort Morgan out of timeouts, two plays before Stonehouse’s sealing run. Hudson finished with 116 yards on 15 carries.

“Fort Morgan is the No. 1 defense in the state and they played a heck of a game,” Stonehouse said of a unit that entered allowing an average of only 9.5 points a game. “We had to play our best game to defeat them, and Mikey had a great game running and the receivers did a great job of getting open.”

Mustangs coach Harrison Chisum indicated his players will hurt for the short term, but soon will be able to reflect on the merits of a 13-1 campaign.

“I told them I was proud of them,” Chisum said. “There’s 38 other teams wishing they were playing right now.”

The outcome provided a stark contrast to the disappointment Glenwood Springs endured last season, when they entered the postseason as the No. 1 seed but lost 28-27 to 16th-seeded Sterling in the opening round.

“As many lessons as Sterling taught us, I’ll still always regret it,” Hartert said. “But I still feel as though this championship is just as much for (last season’s) seniors as it is ours. They taught us everything we knew.”

The gold hardware also was just as much for injured receiver Connor Riley, a senior starter who broke his left foot in 50-39 quarterfinals win at Berthoud.

“I just gave him a big hug,” said Screen, who caught four touchdowns in the final three playoff games. “He’s loving this.”

As is the town of Glenwood Springs, which seemingly all was in the stands despite the 183-mile trip to the stadium.

“The emotions, I can’t even explain them,” Stonehouse said.

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