LAKEWOOD — Dakota Ridge is going to go as far as Blake Palladino will carry them.
The Eagles senior QB ran for two scores and threw for two more on Friday at Jeffco Stadium as No. 7 Dakota Ridge trounced No. 10 Thomas Jefferson 52-28 in the second round of the Class 4A playoffs. It was another signature performance for the four-year starter and Northern Colorado commit who carries Dakota Ridge’s championship hopes on his shoulders.
Dakota Ridge has never won a state title in football, and will likely be an underdog for the rest of the way, starting next week against No. 2 Erie. But that’s no matter for coach Ron Woitalewicz’s crew, who is riding a five-game win streak entering their fourth quarterfinal showing in the last five years.
“We gave Blake the keys to the car, so how he goes, we’re going to go,” Woitalewicz said. “We’re going to have to clean a lot of stuff up to win in the quarterfinals. We took 17 points off the board with penalties tonight, and against a team like Erie, you can’t do that and expect to win. But I anticipate a Battle of the Blakes next week — our Blake against (Erie star QB) Blake Barnett.”
Dakota Ridge owned the opening quarter in front of a sparse crowd. Jack Seidel’s 19-yard field goal made it 3-0 for the Eagles, who added Palladino’s four-yard TD scramble in the waning seconds of the first quarter.
The home team tacked on another TD on its next possession, with Palladino finding tight end Walker Moench for a 30-yard TD pass, putting Dakota Ridge up 17-0.
Meanwhile, the Spartans struggled to generate any progress on offense. They even punted on a third-and-long to try and flip the field, and didn’t pick up their first first-down until the 9:48 mark in the second quarter.
But TJ finally woke up when Jake Scobey’s 50-yard punt pinned the Eagles on the two-yard line, and the next play, cornerback Xavier Allen perfectly read a screen pass, picked it, and walked into the endzone to put the Spartans on the board. Then the visiting offense finally found a rhythm, culminating in QB Dimitri Haralambopoulos’ 27-yard TD pass to Doren Sacha, who high-pointed the pass in double-coverage and dashed to the endzone.
That got the Spartans back in the game and cut the deficit to 17-14 with 58 seconds left in the half, but Palladino responded with a rapid drive and a 34-yard TD pass to two-way sophomore standout Landon Kalsbeck. That pushed Dakota Ridge’s lead to 24-14 and deflated the hard-earned momentum that the Spartans accumulated.
“To get that score back at the end of the first half was a big momentum shift for us,” Woitalewicz said. “And defensively, we did a great job in the second half really swarming to the ball and shutting down the run game.”
Dakota Ridge controlled the second-half tempo en route to the win. Palladino went over the 100-yard mark on the Eagles’ first possession of the third quarter with a 48-yard run that set up his six-yard TD run a few minutes later to make it 31-14.
Kalsbeck added a 46-yard scoring run in the final seconds of the third quarter, and the rout was on at 38-14. TJ chipped away with Haralambopoulos’ 68-yard TD pass to Sacha, but Dakota Ridge tacked on another TD via Stephen Price’s six-yard run. Then Kalsbeck added salt in TJ’s wound with a 55-yard TD scamper with 4:18 remaining, the sophomore’s third TD of the night, pushing the score to 52-21. Spartans senior Jake Tapia’s two-yard TD run in garbage time was the final score.
Despite TJ’s defeat, 2023 marked another successful season on Holly Street under Mike Griebel. The former Heritage head coach and Columbine defensive coordinator has guided TJ to the playoffs in four of his five seasons at the helm, including a perfect 8-0 mark in the COVID-affected spring 2021 season that saw the Spartans win the Class 4A title.
“(That 2021 season) established us with some credibility, and that we were someone to be considered,” Griebel said. “We were a factor, and I believe that team, which featured a Steinmark Award winner (in Avery Shunneson), we would’ve made quite a bit of noise and moved through the bracket in the fall season… I don’t want to take anything away from that team. CHSAA put out a bracket and we won the damn thing, and nobody beat us.”
While the elder Griebel calls the TJ defense, the Spartans offense is helmed by his sons, co-offensive coordinators Mitch Griebel (a former Heritage star) and Mikey Griebel (a former Columbine star and Gold Helmet finalist).
Behind those coaches and a 16-man senior class that Mike Griebel describes as “savvy,” the Spartans finished 10-2 this fall. It was TJ’s first 10-win season since the school went 11-1 in 2007 and lost in third round of the Class 5A playoffs to Douglas County, the eventual state runner-up.
Griebel also noted that TJ’s success is more evidence that football in Denver Public Schools is “trending.” Five DPS schools made the playoffs: In Class 5A, Denver East pulled off its first fall football victory in 15 years with last week’s first-round defeat of Mullen, while Denver South joined TJ in qualifying for the 4A bracket and Northfield and Denver North made the 3A bracket.
“Having five DPS teams in the playoffs is awesome, and we’re excited and proud of the other DPS schools,” Griebel said. “We’re headed in the right direction as a district, and the seeds of all this a decade ago which is growing and helping all these DPS programs is the Futures Program. We’re keeping a lot of kids in the city and playing for city schools.
“Now, the middle school kids are seeing us having success, they’re watching and they know who’s doing what. I think as they see these DPS teams make the playoffs, they’re going to think, ‘Hey, let’s stay home in our neighborhood school.”
Meanwhile, Dakota Ridge knows they’ll be facing a steep climb from here on out, and they’re embracing that fact. As of Friday, the three teams that the Eagles lost to during the regular season were still alive — Pueblo West, Broomfield and Class 5A Chatfield — so the Eagles are battle-tested. Erie, meanwhile, has been on the doorstep of a title the past two seasons.
“Being an underdog is going to be a motivating factor for us,” said Woitalewicz, whose best finish in his 23-year tenure at Dakota Ridge was a narrow 35-29 loss to ThunderRidge in the 2004 4A state title. “From here on out, nobody’s going to give us a chance. That gives us the opportunity to go shock the world.”
Palladino echoed his head coach’s sentiment.
“(A championship run) has been my dream for a long time,” the QB said. “And I’m going to give it everything I have. We’ve been underdogs before, but we know if we all play together, we can be the best team in the state.”
