No. 4 Dakota Ridge shows off its offensive firepower

LITTLETON — Dakota Ridge demonstrated Friday night how dynamic, potent and fast striking its offense can be.

The Eagles — No. 4 in the CHSAANow.com Class 5A boys basketball rankings — put up 31 points in the second quarter at home against rival Chatfield. Four different players — Trevor Fuller, Ethan Berninger, Staff Schattinger and Logan Culp — combine for seven 3-pointers in the quarter that pushed the Eagles lead to 46-29 at halftime.

“I was proud of them. The first-quarter nerves were real,” Dakota Ridge coach Sean Kovar said of playing in front of the large student sections for both South Jeffco teams. “Once we settled in and got good open shots we made good basketball plays.”

Dakota Ridge would eventually win 81-66 against the Chargers (1-3 record).

All 10 players that suited for the Eagles (4-2) scored. Fuller (16 points), Berninger (16 points), Schattinger (15 points) and Isaac Pullig (10 points) all finished in double-digits.

“I love this team with the aspect of on any given night anyone can be our leading scorer,” Kovar said. “We go 8, 9, 10 deep. We have confidence in our bench. We want to play fast and we have a lot of guys who can score.”

The Eagles bench combined for 42 points, led by Berninger and Schattinger.

Chatfield did slow down Dakota Ridge’s momentum in the second half by speeding them up. The Chargers forced the Eagles into some turnovers in the third quarter and actually outscored them 14-11 in the quarter.

“We wanted to try to dictate the pace. We wanted to speed the game up,” Chatfield junior varsity head coach Brady Stambaugh said of the second half. “We wanted to get pressure and I felt like we executed that part of the game.”

Stambaugh had the head coaching duties for both the JV and varsity games Friday night with varsity head coach Erik Buehler missing the game. Buehler’s son was born earlier this week.

“We kind of had this planned for a while,” Stambaugh said of taking over for Buehler as he spends time with his family after the birth of their baby boy and Monday, Dec. 5. Buehler will be back on the bench next week according to Stambaugh.

Chatfield will have something to build on after playing what Stambaugh called the ‘most complete game of the season’ despite the loss. Chatfield senior Shay Rumsey finished with a game-high 20 points. Senior Cutter Painter had 14 points and junior Liam McGuire finished with 11 points for the Chargers.

“We fought through some empty positions there,” Kovar said of the third quarter. “Brady (Stambaugh) is an awesome coach. It was cool to coach against him. We used to battle as JV coaches when he was at Ralston Valley. He is a good friend of mine.”

In the end, Dakota Ridge’s dozen 3-pointers and making 7-of-8 free throws in the fourth quarter sealed the win.

“We want to win every game,” Fuller said of the mentally as the Eagles head toward Winter Break in less than two weeks.

Dakota Ridge gets another chance to face area rival and former league foe. The Eagles host Columbine in the second-game of another girls/boys varsity doubleheader that begins at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 13, at Dakota Ridge High School.

With nearly its whole team back from its 5A Jeffco League runner-up squad from last season, expectations are high with Dakota Ridge staying in 5A with the addition to 6A for the current 2-year cycle.

“There is defintely more pressure and that is what makes it fun,” Fuller said of the Eagles being the favor to win their conference and expected to make a deep playoff run. “It makes it better when everyone is fighting to beat us. We don’t want to be too cocky. We want to just go out and play.”

Kovar isn’t looking far ahead of what his team has coming up after Winter Break.

“We are big on focusing on the next play, the next practice,” Kovar said. “We don’t think down the road or look at our ranking. It’s all about getting better. Coming to practice to get a little bit better each day. We are having fun. It’s a great team to coach. They are getting some deserved recognition and it’s a credit to their hard work.”

Chatfield stays on the road. The Chargers head to Brighton to face the Bulldogs on Tuesday next week. The newly formed 6A Jeffco League is something that Stambaugh and Buehler are excited about.

“We love going twice,” Stambaugh said of the 7-team 6A Jeffco League playing each other in home and away games for a 12-game conference schedule that begins the second week of January. “I think it is important that Jeffco stays true that, play each other twice to have a true league championship. We have been fighting for that.”