FORT COLLINS — What began as forts made of pads as a toddler ended with a hug made of tears as a senior.
His teammates clearing the field at Canvas Stadium, posing for snapshots that they can live in forever, Kellen Behrendsen raced up the stairs at the 30-yard line. He greeted both sets of his grandparents, brother and mom with an embrace decades in the making.
Behrendsen was born into the Dakota Ridge community, a bundle of energy, curiosity and light.
And on a chilly Saturday night, he became his father’s sonshine.
Behrendsen and his dad Jeremiah guided Dakota Ridge to its first state football championship, overwhelming Palmer Ridge 38-14.
After six losses in the semifinals, after falling in their lone title game appearance in 2004, thirty years of Dakota Ridge dreaming awoke to a blissful reality on Sunday morning.
The Eagle has landed. DRidge Nation, you are champions.
“I have been here my whole life, raised here. I started going to practices when I was little. I was making forts out of the pads, playing with other kids,” Kellen Behrendsen said. “This is a full circle moment. Knowing I was able to bring this home with my brothers on the team and my dad, it means so much.”
Father knew this was possible before the coach. Jeremiah watched his son grow up competing with great kids who were surrounded by strong families. This is the kind of life he wanted for when moving from Akron to Littleton, and taking a job as the Eagles freshman team offensive coordinator in 2004.
“I love this community,” coach Behrendsen said. “I absolutely thought (Kellen) might win state someday because I knew this group had a chance to do something special if they came together the right way.”
The bonds begin forming on two feeders during middle school. When the players morphed into one as freshmen, the vision began to crystallize like a Polaroid picture. That season the Eagles averaged roughly 50 points per game and allowed 50.
“We still had all the same guys, and we kept getting better,” said star receiver Nathan Rodriguez. “We knew our senior year was going to be our year.”
Behrendsen felt responsible for getting the Eagles across the finish line. Consistency was paramount. As a first-year starter last season, he completed 67.6 % of his passes for 12 touchdowns and six interceptions. For a kid who wants to be engineer, he knew there were bigger numbers available if he solved the equation of work, film and calm.
Against an undefeated Bears team, Behrendsen was more accurate than a DNA test. He completed his first nine passes. He had 167 yards on his first seven attempts.
On the Eagles’ opening drive, he connected on a swing pass to Landon Kalsbeck. The one-man wrecking ball who is headed to Washington State broke three tackles and juked two other defenders for a 44-yard score.
Following a Jack Offerdahl interception, Behrendsen took the shotgun snap and fired a dart to Jaxson Arnold, who raced 84 yards untouched to the end zone.
When the Eagles were briefly threatened in the third quarter, Behrendsen climbed the pocket and launched a ball 50 yards in that air that Rodriguez hauled in for a diving touchdown worthy of SportsCenter.
His subsequent celebration – think Rob Gronkowski with the Patriots – provided an exclamation point, showing why Dakota Ridge outscored opponents 565-168 this season.
“I absolutely burned the DB. I was a little bit overwhelmed with excitement and spiked the ball. But I think it was fair to do that, don’t you?” Rodriguez said. “My quarterback puts trust in me. And he absolutely put on a show. He does this every game. He’s got the arm, and he believes in us, and it’s why he is so good.”
What makes Behrendsen special is the work performed in the shadows. He stands 5-foot-11, weighs 155 pounds. What he lacks in physicality, he makes up for with efficiency. Behrendsen finished the season with 235 completions in 286 attempts, an alarming 82.1 percent, with 42 touchdowns and three interceptions.
He added more helium to statistics on Saturday, going for 14-for-16 for 259 yards and four scores.
“He is really smart and an incredible decision maker. Experience is the difference this season. And he has grown into being a leader,” coach Behrendsen said. “As he played better, his teammates started to believing in and his confidence grew tenfold.”
Father and son tried to keep this past week as normal as possible. They lived in cliches. Kept everything the same even when they knew the stakes were higher, the end was closer. The pair tries to avoid football talk at home, where coach estimates he is dad “90 percent of the time.” And this week, they were not about to let stress steal their joy.
“After practices we did some fun stuff,” Kellen said. “When it snowed, we went out and shoveled the ‘DR’ out front of the school so everybody still knew we were playing. … But honestly, it still hasn’t hit me that I am not going to play for him again.”
The son plans to continue to his career. He has attracted interested from five Division III and Division II schools, including CSU-Pueblo. Dad will keep coaching.
Long ago, he realized something very cool about giving up your time for children who are not your own. You gain another life.
You become part of something bigger. As the Dakota Ridge players celebrated, as tears rolled down cheeks, Jeremiah basked in the glow of his son, overcome with gratitude on what they had done.
“We have worked really hard to cultivate the type of community where everyone has your back. We have worked really hard to get to this point. I have watched great coaches and players try. We were building and building and building,” coach Behrendsen said. “This was for DRidge Nation. This championship was built on the backs of 30 years of people. A lot of them are here today. It is special.”