Dakota Ridge football clinches 4A South Metro League title

LAKEWOOD — Dakota Ridge football hasn’t missed a beat under first-year head coach Jeremiah Behrendsen.

The Eagles — No. 3 in this week’s Class 4A Colorado Preps Football rankings —  pushed their winning streak to eight Friday night at Jeffco Stadium with a 47-21 victory over Golden. More importantly, Dakota Ridge officially wrapped up the 4A South Metro League title with the win.

“Maybe some of the pressure of it is off,” Coach Behrendsen said of wrapping up the league title with one more week left of the regular season. “In all reality, for our preparation we are still going to attack next week the same way.”

Dakota Ridge closes out its regular season against Bear Creek at 7 pm Thursday, Oct. 31, at Jeffco Stadium. The Bears got off to a nice 4-1 start with the return of head coach Tom Thenell, but Bear Creek (4-5, 0-4 in league) has lost four in a row since it entered conference play.

“We still need to go back to work and beat Bear Creek next week,” said Dakota Ridge junior Landon Kalsbeck, who had rushing touchdowns of 17, 18 and 70 yards against the Demons. “It really does feel great to win league. I think this is a tough league.”

Since Dakota Ridge’s Week 1 loss to south-Jeffco rival Chatfield, the Eagles (8-1, 4-0)  have soared to their current 8-game winning streak over the last two months. 

“That first game was tough, but we knew we could bounce back,” Kalsbeck said of the opening week loss to 5A’s Chatfield. “We hope they (Chargers) keep winning because it makes us look better.”

Chatfield holds a 7-2 record and just defeated Arvada West on Thursday night at Jeffco Stadium in a 22-21 thriller. 

It is the second straight conference title for the Eagles. Dakota Ridge won the 4A Mountain West title last year in the final season for longtime head coach Ron Woitalewicz, who retired after last season. 

“We know the expectations,” Behrendsen said. “We have had success as a program and we want to continue it. We have a bunch of good kids who are really good football players. As coaches we felt we would be letting the kids down if we didn’t reach goals like this.”

Dakota Ridge has won six league titles over the past seven seasons. 

The Eagles grabbed a commanding 28-7 halftime lead over the Demons. Juniors — quarterback Kellen Behrendsen (coach’s son) and Kalsbeck — each had a pair of rushing touchdown in the opening half.

Golden’s lone score was a 43-yard touchdown run by sophomore quarterback Thatcher Matthew midway through the second quarter to end 21 unanswered points by Dakota Ridge to start the game. 

Junior Jack Offerdahl and senior Sam Callas both had rushing touchdowns in the second half. Kalsbeck ripped off a 70-yard touchdown run for the longest play of the night.

“We try to be varied in what we do,” Coach Behrendsen said of the Eagles having four different players with rushing touchdowns on the night. “We’ve got three or four guys on the field who we can get the ball to different ways.”

Matthews tossed a pair of touchdown passes in the third quarter as the Demons fought to stay within striking distance. Sophomore Colin Meier had a 32-yard touchdown catch and senior Cooper Needham had a 20-yard scoring grab to cut the Eagles lead to 35-21 late in the third quarter.

The Demons were actually the last squad to prevent Dakota Ridge from winning the league title. Golden won the conference title in 2022.

“It’s amazing,” said Behrendsen, who is in his first year as the Eagles starting quarterback for the team his father was an assistant coach for many years before taking over the head job this season. “I’ve been watching this all since I was like 2 years old. It’s an amazing feeling.”

Golden (4-5, 1-3) finishes off its regular season against Highlands Ranch (5-4, 3-1) at 4 p.m. Friday, Nov. 1, at the North Area Athletic Complex. A win will be critical for the Demons to have a chance to make the 24-team 4A state tournament. Golden sat No. 23 in the CHSAA Selection and Seeding Index prior to the loss to Dakota Ridge.