4A Football: Dakota Ridge Earns First State Championship

FORT COLLINS — Dakota Ridge left little to chance en route to winning its first state football championship in program history.

After beating Golden, Pueblo West and Heritage by multiple scores in the prior three rounds, the top-seeded Eagles blew past No. 3 Palmer Ridge in Saturday’s Class 4A state title game, 38-14. Dakota Ridge stormed off to a 21-0 lead early and never looked back, capping off a perfect 14-0 season at CSU’s Canvas Stadium.

“We proved the doubters wrong,” said senior safety Jack Offerdahl. “I was tired of getting disrespected, but we finally made it happen. Undefeated season. We’re going down in history.”

Dakota Ridge was led by second-year head coach Jeremiah Behrendsen, who has coached for the Eagles in some capacity since 2004.

“I love this community,” Behrendsen said. “A day like today, we say is for the D-Ridge nation. It’s built on the backs of 30 years of people, and a lot of them are here today.”

Dakota Ridge couldn’t have asked for a better opening quarter to its first state championship game since 2004. Landon Kalsbeck set the tone by taking a screen pass 44 yards into the end zone on Dakota Ridge’s first drive, and Offerdahl kept the momentum going with an interception of Palmer Ridge quarterback Cole Harris on the ensuing drive.

Later in the first quarter, Behrendsen’s son and Dakota Ridge quarterback Kellen Behrendsen threw touchdown passes to Jaxson Arnold (84 yards) and Leo Lekosky (six yards), giving the Eagles a commanding 21-0 lead. Brady Palladino also came up big with an interception soon after Arnold’s score.

Palmer Ridge’s lone touchdown of the first half came early in the second quarter on a 22-yard pass from Harris to Eli Stewart. Coming out of the halftime break down 28-7, the Bears struck again when Harris found a wide-open Stewart for a 65-yard touchdown.

Momentum was soon regained by Dakota Ridge, however, as Nathan Rodriguez made a diving 39-yard touchdown catch on the ensuing drive, giving the Eagles a commanding 35-14 lead.

Defensively, the Eagles totaled five interceptions, including two from Coby Stewart.

“It’s a brotherhood,” Offerdahl said of Dakota Ridge’s secondary. “We’ve worked through it every single day. We’ve been grinding. My dad (John Offerdahl) coaches our DB group. He coaches as hard as I’ve ever seen, and it means a lot.”

Offensively,

, completing 14 of 16 passes for 253 yards, four touchdowns and an interception. His first incompletion came with less than one minute remaining in the third quarter.

“He’s been probably the best player in 4A all year, and he showed that again tonight,” Kalsbeck said of his quarterback. “He’s just an absolute animal. I’m so proud of him.”

The elder Behrendsen was just as proud of his son for the growth he has shown throughout his now-complete high school career.

“He’s just really smart, and he’s an incredible decision maker,” Behrendsen said of his son. “He’s grown into being a leader. As he played better, his teammates started to believe in him, and I saw his confidence grow tenfold.”

Palmer Ridge also had an opportunity to finish 14-0, but the Bears will settle for 13-1 and a runner-up trophy. Head coach Zach Carlton’s squad beat Mesa Ridge, defending state champion Broomfield and Montrose en route to reaching the state championship game. They previously three-peated at the Class 3A level from 2017-19.

Stewart led the Bears with 91 receiving yards and two touchdowns, and Jake Coyle recorded a team-high 10 total tackles.