The tone was set early and definitely: four plays, 68 yards, 1 minute and 6 seconds off the clock.
Dakota Ridge quarterback Kellen Behrendsen threaded an 8-yard pass to receiver Trent Moench. Then Landon Kalsbeck, gliding through huge holes, ran for 19 yards, 10 yards and 31 yards. Touchdown. Dakota Ridge 7, Heritage 0.
Statement made.
The final in the Class 4A semifinal Saturday afternoon at Jeffco Stadium: Dakota Ridge 31, Heritage 14. The game wasn’t nearly that close. The Eagles’ impressive victory gave them 13 wins for the first time in school history and sent them to the 4A championship game for the first time since 2004.
No. 1 Dakota Ridge (13-0) will play No. 3 Palmer Ridge (13-0) next Saturday at Canvas Stadium on the Colorado State campus in Fort Collins. Palmer Ridge beat No. 2 Montrose 31-29 on Saturday on the Western Slope.
“All the credit to our O-line, they opened the way for all of us, and I’m so thankful for those guys,” said Kalsbeck, the senior running back and linebacker who’s headed to Washington State. “I am so proud of this team and the brotherhood we have formed. I’ve been playing with a lot of these guys since the first grade. You’re seeing that this season.”
Kalsbeck rushed for 165 yards and three touchdowns on just 19 carries. His 3-yard run put the Eagles ahead, 14-0, in the first quarter, and his 1-yard bull rush made it 28-0 at the end of the first half. Complementing the Kalsbeck show was a gorgeous 25-yard scoring pass from Behrendsen to Coby Stewart down the sideline.
Behrendsen, a senior and the son of head coach Jeremiah Behrendsen, threw for 121 yards, completing 9 of 15 passes.
“I think our guys are (peaking) at the right time,” Jeremiah Behrendsen said. “We have been taking care of the ball on offense really well. And today? Tackling the guys that Heritage has? Like we did? Wow, our guys tackled really well.”
Heritage’s 5-10, 210-pound senior running back Mo Thenell rushed for 296 rushing yards and three scores vs. Durango in last week’s quarterfinals, but Dakota Ridge limited him to 63 yards on 19 carries.
Heritage had two chances to get back into the game. Late in the second quarter, senior quarterback Jamison Seese engineered an impressive drive, highlighted by his 26-yard scramble. But on a fourth-and-six play at Dakota’s Ridge’s 13, his pass was batted down by senior Brady Palladino.
Heritage forced Dakota Ridge to punt and pieced together another impressive drive. But this time, Seese was gang-tackled, losing a yard on fourth-and-goal at the Dakota Ridge 1.
“We played a great football team, but our D-coordinators gave us a great plan, and we just came out and executed that plan,” Palladino said.
As for his TD-negating play, Palladino said, “Their guy just cut to the inside, I jumped in and swatted it. I made a play.”
Jeremiah Behrendsen said that Palladino and senior Blake Bishop “were all over the field,” and added that senior defensive lineman Marcus Weston was a 295-pound force on Saturday.
“Marcus has played the best football of his high school career in the last three weeks,” the coach said.
The Eagles were limited to a 34-yard field goal by junior Aydan Smith in the second half, but they still controlled the game. Senior Diego Coria, spelling Kalsbeck for much of the second half, rushed for 63 yards on 19 carries.
Heritage, which finished its season 9-4, finally got on the scoreboard early in the fourth quarter on a 5-yard pass from Seese to junior running back Cash Rubenzer, who sneaked into the corner of the end zone. Heritage scored again with 18 seconds left in the game on a 2-yard pass from Seese to senior tight end Hudson Cass.
After a series of late-season injuries, Dakota Ridge was nearly back to full strength Saturday and was fortified by the return of senior safety Jack Offerdahl from a knee injury. However, the Eagles suffered two key injuries during Saturday’s game. Senior offensive lineman Josiah Sisneros went down with a leg injury late in the second half, and senior Lorenzo Nencioni dislocated his ankle late in the fourth quarter.
“That’s part of the game, we all know, but it’s still awful for those kids,” Jeremiah Behrendsen said. “But we have other kids, we have depth and we’ll adjust.”
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