4A No. 3 Chatfield football survives test against rival Dakota Ridge
LAKEWOOD — Nothing like a good old-fashion football rivalry game to get the competitive fire burning on a chilly Friday night at Jeffco Stadium.
Chatfield, No. 3 in the current CHSAANow.com Class 4A football poll, put the game into the hands of senior running back Ben Frenette and its massive offensive line against Dakota Ridge. Frenette went over the 1,000-yard mark on the ground for the season while rushing for a trio of scores in a 38-17 victory.
“We told him (Frenette) to take the game over,” Chatfield coach Bret McGatlin said.
After Dakota Ridge closed the gap to 23-17 midway through the third quarter, Chatfield senior Cole Ingersoll recovered a key fumble by the Eagles to get the ball back into the hands of the Chargers’ workhorse. Frenette had his longest run of the game with a 47-yard touchdown with 4:51 left in the third quarter to open up a 31-17 lead after a successful 2-point conversion.
“It took a lot of energy tonight,” said Frenette, who had well over 150 yards rushing on the night and now has 16 rushing touchdowns on the season.
Chatfield’s defense held Dakota Ridge to just a field goal in the second half. The Chargers iced the game with a 61-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Colton Arne to senior Josh Swinney with less than 4 minutes to play to make the final score 38-17.
The victory, coupled with Golden’s 28-27 victory over Heritage officially wrapped up the Class 4A Plains League title for Chatfield (8-1, 4-0 in league).
“It feels good to get it done on our Senior Night,” Frenette said about clinching the conference title. “These are the best guys I’ve met in my entire life. It feels great to do this with them.”
The Chargers weren’t feeling good early on against the Eagles. Chatfield got popped in the mouth early against south-Jeffco rival Dakota Ridge.
Senior Anthony Salvi intercepted a pass by Arne on the opening drive of the game. Dakota Ridge capitalize on the good field position when Salvi caught a 10-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Drew Dominic to give the Eagles a bit of a surprising early lead.
“I wasn’t going to overlook them and our players wouldn’t either,” said McGatlin. “We didn’t think this would be a blowout by any means.”
The Chargers hadn’t been tested yet during their conference stretch. Chatfield had outscored its pervious three conference foes 175-14.
“We knew we could play with them,” Dakota Ridge coach Ron Woitalewicz said. “A couple of costly fumbles that turned into touchdowns for them. Physically … when they are 270 (pounds) across the front and we are 185 (pounds) across the defensive front we just had to try to hang on for dear life.”
Dominic scored the other touchdown for Dakota Ridge with a 19-yard scramble with 2:22 left in the second quarter to make it a 16-14 game. However, a long pass from Arne to senior Keland Rumsey in the closing minutes before halftime set up a late touchdown run by Frenette to make it a 2-score game at halftime.
“I think we were kind of comfortable the whole time. You always have to come out each drive with a positive mindset and that is what we did,” Chatfield senior linebacker Cameron Manzanares said. “I always feel comfortable when we are giving the ball to #23 (Frenette). If we are down or if we are winning.”
Chatfield has now won eight straight games after dropping its opener against Braden River (FL) in Orlando back on Aug. 24. Braden River holds a 7-1 record and is one of the top teams in the 7A District 11 standings in Florida.
Chatfield closes out its regular season on the road against Heritage next Friday night at Littleton Public Schools Stadium.
“I think this game will help us prepare for the playoffs,” Manzanares said. “This was a competitive game. It will help us get better.”
Dakota Ridge (5-4, 3-1) had its 4-game winning streak snapped with the loss. The Eagles wrap up their regular season schedule against Adams City next Thursday night at Trailblazer Stadium in Lakewood.
As it stands right now, it looks like Chatfield might be the only Plains League team to make the 16-team field of the 4A state tournament. The Chargers will grab the automatic bid as conference champions and no other team in the league is currently in the top 16 in the RPI standings.
“We’ll play Adams City and see what happens,” said Woitalewicz, who added he was extremely pleased with the effort of his players against Chatfield. “I’ll go on the bus and pull up ColoradoPreps.com to see what everyone else is doing.”
