Renck: A Father’s Sonshine. Dakota Ridge climbs final mountain with coach, quarterback leading way to title

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 -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 locality a bundle of potency 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 - After six losses in the semifinals after falling in their lone title battle appearance in thirty years of Dakota Ridge dreaming awoke to a blissful reality on Sunday morning The Eagle has landed DRidge Nation you are champions Quarterback Kellen Behrendsen of the Dakota Ridge Eagles looks to pass before a touchdown thrown to Leo Lukosky during the A high school football state championship tournament against the Palmer Ridge Bears on Saturday Dec at Canvas Stadium in Fort Collins Colo Photo by Timothy Hurst The Denver Post 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 reported This is a full circle moment Knowing I was able to bring this home with my brothers on the gang and my dad it means so much Father knew this was accomplishable 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 longed for when moving from Akron to Littleton and taking a job as the Eagles freshman squad offensive coordinator in I love this district coach Behrendsen revealed 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 points per meeting and allowed We still had all the same guys and we kept getting better revealed 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 of his passes for 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 association Behrendsen was more accurate than a DNA test He completed his first nine passes He had 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 -yard number Landon Kalsbeck of the Dakota Ridge Eagles breaks multiple tackles on his way to a long touchdown run against the Palmer Ridge Bears during the A high school football state championship challenge on Saturday Dec at Canvas Stadium in Fort Collins Colo Photo by Timothy Hurst The Denver Post Following a Jack Offerdahl interception Behrendsen took the shotgun snap and fired a dart to Jaxson Arnold who raced yards untouched to the end zone When the Eagles were briefly threatened in the third quarter Behrendsen climbed the pocket and launched a ball 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 - 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 reported My quarterback puts trust in me And he absolutely put on a show He does this every event 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 -foot- weighs pounds What he lacks in physicality he makes up for with efficiency Behrendsen finished the season with completions in attempts an alarming percent with touchdowns and three interceptions He added more helium to statistics on Saturday going for -for- for 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 reported 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 manageable 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 percent of the time And this week they were not about to let stress steal their bliss After practices we did chosen fun stuff Kellen announced 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 locality 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 revealed This was for DRidge Nation This championship was built on the backs of years of people A lot of them are here this day It is special