LAKEWOOD — Class 4A football leagues, particularly more than a few in the Denver-metropolitan area the past few seasons, have proven to be the land of haves and have-nots.
There’s disparity throughout the ranks. Ask Dakota Ridge, which is competing in the Plains League that quickly is turning into another version of it — heading into Week 8, only two of the six league teams had winning records.
But as one of the Plains teams headed toward the postseason with what is now a 6-2 overall, 2-1 record, Dakota Ridge, which waxed John F. Kennedy 44-6 on Thursday night at Jefferson County Stadium, has been playing with a purpose.
“When we scheduled games, not wins, the first five weeks, I think playing Pine Creek, playing Standley Lake and playing Wheat Ridge really got us prepped to be a good football team,” Eagles coach Ron Woitalewicz said.
Ranked No. 9 in the Associated Press 4A media poll, Dakota Ridge fell to top-ranked Pine Creek in nonleague and opened league with a 28-16 defeat to Ponderosa that it didn’t see coming, but is back on track with consecutive blowout victories in a season that has had little ebb and flow.
“That’s the tough part,” Woitalewicz said. “That’s why we had to go out and schedule some pretty good nonleague games.”
There was no doubt on Thursday. The Eagles led early and often and rode the productive Jeremy Lujan, who cruised to 221 yards rushing and four touchdowns.
“It felt really good and we knew this was a big game,” said Lujan, who mentioned that the two teams got into a bit in 7-on-7 play during the summer and had it carry over on Thursday.
Said Woitalewicz: “He breaks that first line, he’s got some magic. His moves have moves. He gets one-on-one and he’s going to win that battle.”
Overall, Dakota Ridge’s lines were superior and its defense swarming — the Eagles scored twice as stoppers, on a safety when the Commanders couldn’t handle the ball in their own end zone and a 30-yard fumble return for a touchdown by Nick Gultig.
John F. Kennedy, now 1-2 in league play, has dropped two in a row after a 6-0 start. It was under the 40-point mercy more than 2 minutes before halftime and never recovered after Lujan’s first touchdown, a 65-yarder on the first series.
Next up for Dakota Ridge is a home game against another Denver Prep team, Abraham Lincoln, then the all-important finale at Littleton.
“Our goal right now is to finish strong and see what happens,” Woitalewicz said.
John F. Kennedy 0 0 0 6 — 6
Dakota Ridge 30 14 0 0 — 44
DR — Lujan 65 run (Barwick kick). DR — Lujan 1 run (Barwick kick). DR — Safety, JFK recovered own fumble in end zone. DR — Lujan 44 run (Barwick kick). DR — Gultig 30 fumble return (Barwick kick). DR — Lujan 4 run (Barwick kick). DR — N. Cohn 4 pass from Anderson (Barwick kick). JFK — Krueger 57 pass from Horta (run failed).
Neil H. Devlin: ndevlin@denverpost.com or
