Kellen Behrendsen remembers making pad forts at Dakota Ridge football practices.
The son of coach Jeremiah Behrendsen was born into the Eagles football program and helped deliver the No. 1 Eagles their first-ever state championship. Dakota Ridge beat Palmer Ridge 38-14 in the Class 4A state title game on Saturday at Canvas Stadium on the campus of Colorado State University.
Kellen Behrendesen hit on 14 of 16 pass attempts for 253 yards, four touchdowns and one interception. Nathan Rodriguez had five catches and a touchdown and Jaxson Arnold had 87 receiving yards and a touchdown. Landon Kalsbeck and Leo Lukosky each caught a touchdown. Coby Stewart had two interceptions, while Brady Palladino and Jack Offerdahl each had a pick.
(Doug Ottewill/ColoradoPreps.com)
The Dakota Ridge offense, fueled by the good vibes a pair of first-quarter interceptions provided, burst out of the gate. The Eagles (14-0) exploded to a 21-0, first-quarter lead and had a 194-36 advantage in total yards in the opening 12 minutes.
“It hasn’t hit me yet that I’ll never play for my dad again,” Kellen Behrendsen said. “We did some fun things after practices this week. After it snowed we went and shoveled off the ‘DR’ in front of the school so everyone knew we were still playing.”
Even with the Eagles success this season, there’s moments at home where the father-son duo turn off their football relationship.
“I’m a pretty intense dad in general but I will say this,” Jeremiah Behrendsen said. “There’s about 90% of the time when I am at home that I am dad. I want to be dad at home. When he wants me to be coach at home I am. I was coach a lot more at home when he was younger. Our coach is so organized and efficient, we get a lot done at school.”
For Palmer Ridge (13-1), Cole Harris completed 17 of 38 passes for 218 yards, two touchdowns and five interceptions. Eli Stewart caught three passes for 91 yards and two touchdowns. Drew Japp had an interception.
The explosive playmakers of Dakota Ridge set the tone early. Behrendsen hit Kalsbeck with a swing pass that he took 44 yards for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead. The Washington State recruit wiggled out of several tackles as he sprinted down the sideline for the score.
“I just kind of stopped thinking and had to go score,” Kalsbeck said. “We have such an elite group of athletes that can make plays all over the field and that’s been our strength all year. We don’t have one guy that can make plays, we have 10.”
On its first drive, Palmer Ridge kept its drive alive on a fake punt when Dere Zertuche hit Carter Charron with a 17-yard pass. But Harris’ pass was intercepted by a diving Offerdahl.
It took just one play for Dakota Ridge to take a 14-0 lead as Arnold shook off a tackle and took a short pass from Behrendsen 84 yards for the score.
After just two plays, the Eagles’ blitzkrieg continued with Brady Palladino’s interception.
Leo Lekosky’s 6-yard touchdown reception put the Eagles up 21-0 with 3:09 left in the first quarter.
Palmer Ridge got on the board with a seven play, 75-yard drive that Harris capped with a 22-yard pass to Stewart with 9:57 left in the second quarter. The Eagles answered with Arnold’s 14-yard touchdown run and took a 28-7 lead into the halftime locker room.
To start the second half the Bears got just what they needed, a 65-yard touchdown strike from Harris to a wide-open Stewart as the Eagles’ coverage broke down. Palmer Ridge trailed 28-14 early in the third quarter.
The Palmer Ridge defense forced a three-and-out on the next Dakota Ridge possession. But the Bears’ offense couldn’t convert on a fourth-and-1 on their next possession.
Moments later, Rodriguez diving, 39-yard touchdown catch was the play of the day as he slid into the end zone, popped up and offered an emphatic spike of the football. Dakota Ridge took a commanding 35-14 lead with 5:07 left in the third quarter.
It was a play that snuffed out any momentum the Bears had left.
“I got a little bit yelled at for that spike,” Rodriguez said. “I think that catch evened it out a little bit, though. I did my best to get around the defensive back. And I did. I smoked him. I just did my best to track the ball. At the end, I couldn’t see it and just stuck my hands out. It’s overwhelming, the adrenaline is crazy and I spiked the ball. What else could I do?”
While it was a rhetorical question, he could be a catalyst that ended the Eagles 21 21-year wait between state title game appearances. The 2004 team finished runners-up and at the time, coach Jeremiah Behrendsen was the offensive coordinator on the freshman team.
“I was just a baby at the time,” Behrendsen said. “As I watched my son grow up I saw he was surrounded by incredible kids and incredible families. I knew it was a special group and I knew the group had a chance to be something special.”
That group is now state champions.
