Football Preview: Dakota Ridge Eagles vs. Loveland Red Wolves
The Dakota Ridge Eagles will stay at home for another week and welcome the Loveland Red Wolves at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Dakota Ridge is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They simply couldn't be stopped two weeks ago as they easily beat Bear Creek 51-0. Given the Eagles' advantage in MaxPreps' Colorado football rankings (they are ranked tenth, while the Bears are ranked 105th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Dakota Ridge can attribute much of their success to Landon Kalsbeck, who gained 130 total yards and two touchdowns, and Kellen Behrendsen, who threw for 182 yards and three touchdowns while completing 76.5% of his passes. Landen Stubblefield was another key player, picking up eight receiving yards and a touchdown.
Dakota Ridge was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 221 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 200 rushing yards in nine consecutive matches.
Meanwhile, it can be hard to translate regular season success to the playoffs, but Loveland had no problem doing just that on Sunday. They blew past the Spartans, posting a 45-14 win. The victory was familiar territory for the Red Wolves who have now won four matchups in a row.
Loveland can attribute much of their success to Ryder Eastin, who rushed for 81 yards and three touchdowns on only ten carries, and Deon Christopher, who gained 196 total yards and a touchdown. Eastin is becoming a predictor of Loveland's success: when he posts at least two rushing touchdowns the team is 2-1 (and 3-5 when he doesn't).
Loveland didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off four passes before the game was over. Jaxx Sare led the group effort, picking up two of those interceptions all by himself.
Dakota Ridge's win was their eighth straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 9-1. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 43.0 points per game. As for Loveland, their victory bumped their record up to 5-6.
Things could have been worse for Dakota Ridge, but things could have been a whole lot better as they took a 35-21 loss to Loveland in their previous meeting back in November of 2022. Will Dakota Ridge have more luck at home instead of on the road? Come back here after the game to get an analysis of the match and other football content.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
