As Trent Moench crossed into the end zone for his first varsity touchdown last Friday, he held the football up in the air with his right hand, then took a knee to have a word with his brother.
Walker Moench, Trent’s older brother and a 2024 Dakota Ridge graduate, died on Sept. 21 when he was hit by a vehicle while riding a dirt bike in Sterling.
Which is why less than a week after the tragedy, when Trent took the handoff on a jet sweep, it seemed predetermined that the junior wideout would find paydirt. He ended up scoring twice that night, with another TD on a catch later in the game.
“On that run, I just pictured straight green grass in front of me. All I saw was the end zone, even though watching it on film, there were a lot more defenders and it was way crowded,” Trent Moench said. “But I never saw all that. When I finally got into the end zone, my brother always used to throw the ball up when he scored, so I wanted to shoutout him by doing the same thing.
“When I took the knee, I got emotional. I thanked him for what he just did for me, and I let him know that I love him. It was a quick moment of appreciation for him. I started getting watery eyes, but at the same time, I was just too happy in the moment to actually shed a tear, especially after my teammates came and mobbed me.”
That moment encapsulates how the Eagles are holding each other together amid what’s been an impressive, yet difficult 4-1 start to the season.
A few days after Dakota Ridge’s season opener, Lindsey Duran, the wife of defensive coordinator Tierre Duran, passed away following a year-long medical battle. Then came Walker’s death, as well as the passing of longtime athletic trainer Larry Franca, prior to last Friday’s game against Cherokee Trail.
It’s been gut-punch after gut-punch. But amid the heartbreak, Dakota Ridge isn’t folding. Quite the opposite.
“The kids understand that when they’re on the field, it’s okay to have a chance to breathe and get their mind off the things they’re going through,” Dakota Ridge head coach Jeremiah Behrendsen said.
“Between that, and the perspective of how they’re just super thankful for so many of the things they still do have, they’re finding joy in being on the field together. These hard situations are galvanizing them.”
Football as “the perfect distraction”
In the game following Lindsey Duran’s death, the Eagles coaching staff and the bulk of the fans at Jeffco Stadium wore Lindsey’s favorite color, purple, in her honor. Then, Tierre Duran’s unit proceeded to turn what was a close game early into a one-sided affair, forcing four turnovers while shutting down Green Mountain’s rushing attack in a 37-20 victory.
That marked the first win of Behrendsen’s tenure as head coach, and jump-started Dakota Ridge’s four-game winning streak that’s seen the Eagles rise to No. 2 in the latest Post Preps Class 4A rankings.
Tierre Duran said coaching has been “the perfect distraction for me” since the loss of his wife of 18 years.
“It’s been a struggle,” he said. “She’s been my best friend and companion for a long time. It’s been hard, and the struggle was real. Losing Walker was another hard-hit. He wasn’t just a football player, he was one of the guys. And losing Larry Franca, our longtime legendary trainer whom our aux gym is named after, was also a heartbreaker because he was another one of the guys.
“Friday night lights is a great escape for the struggle of my reality right now. Being a part of a football program has been such a relief because we have that brotherhood and sense of camaraderie, and that’s been huge for me in my grief.”
The Eagles won another emotionally-charged game last Friday in their first action since Walker’s death, beating Class 5A Cherokee Trail 31-13 at Jeffco Stadium.
In a pregame ceremony, Dakota Ridge retired Walker’s No. 91, and the crowd wore white shirts with a football player angel on the front and his surname and number on the back. The Eagles wore helmet decals honoring Walker that were placed alongside purple bulldog decals, which were already in place in honor of Lindsey Duran. Walker’s dad, Eric Moench, flipped the opening coin toss.
The Eagles dominated the Cougars on a night that Eric Moench says “our family will never forget.”
“The game Friday night had a ton of nostalgia, some magical wonderful feelings, and it was three hours to kind of (detach from sadness) even though Walker was the center of attention for the game,” Eric Moench said.
“Don’t get me wrong, we were higher than a kite on Friday night. (My wife Danielle and I) turned the grief off for a little bit. Then unfortunately we had to wake up again on Saturday, and we were right back down at the bottom. And at 3:02 that day, Walker had been gone one whole week. It seemed like forever already.”
While the Moench family soaked in Friday’s tribute, the players did too. For Dakota Ridge junior QB Kellen Behrendsen, who had known Walker since age four, the night “was tough and really hard, but seeing that outpouring of support honestly also made me really happy.”
“It showed how much Walker meant to so many people,” Kellen Behrendsen said. “And how he left a legacy at Dakota Ridge, and everywhere he went. He was so much more than just a football and basketball player.
“Seeing Trent score was amazing, and the best part is, we didn’t plan any of that. The goal wasn’t to get him to score. He was just able to find the end zone, and make plays. I felt like Walker was with him and everyone that night.”
On Trent’s second TD, Behrendsen passed to the wideout on a whip route in the back corner of the end zone. Trent toe-tapped just inside the out-of-bounds line, fell down with the ball secured, then got up and fell again, face-planting amid the celebration.
“We’re pretty sure that Walker gave him a quick little leg sweep, just to put him in check real fast,” Eric Moench said with a laugh. “We believe it was a little bit of big-brother action right there.”
Honoring Walker’s memory
Even with the goosebumps that came from last week’s game, this week, the Dakota Ridge community’s come back down to earth. It’s been hard for everyone to come to grips with Walker’s death, which is still under investigation by the Sterling Police Department.
But Tierre Duran says that the guidance of Jeremiah Behrendsen is keeping the team focused. And the subservient leadership training that the program went through over the summer — a three-day, approximately five-hour course that Jeremiah, who has been at the school for 21 years, insisted his coaches and players take — proved crucial amid this fall’s adversity.
“Jeremiah’s just been a pillar,” an emotional Duran said. “He’s been able to be really strong for a lot of people at the same time.
“… At the beginning of (the summer training), we didn’t realize how important this was going to be for our program. I thought it was going to be more for the kids, and teaching them about brotherhood and togetherness. But it ended up being more for me, too. I needed it as a coach and a man just the same. He’s been unbelievable as a first-year coach, especially coming into fill in for a legend like coach (Ron Woitalewicz). He’s risen to the occasion.”
So, too, has the Littleton community, which donated over $30,000 in the past week for a project that will be carried out in Walker’s honor.
The plan is for a set of bleachers to be constructed on the east side of the turf field at Dakota Ridge. Jeff Arnold, a Dakota Ridge dad who is heading up the project, anticipates there will be labor, material and equipment donations on top of the money already raised.
The bleachers will likely be 10 or 12 rows high, possibly stained in Dakota Ridge colors, and will have a memorial for Walker. Arnold says the hope is to have the project, which will require dirt excavation as well as concrete work, ready for an unveiling ahead of the 2025 spring sports season.
Eric Moench believes the bleachers will be a fitting tribute to a young man who “was kind, caring, and would do anything to help the person next to you.” Beyond his four years practicing at the field, Walker was a fixture there watching lower-level football games and other Dakota Ridge sports.
“We were sitting there at the JV game a few weeks ago against Mesa Ridge, because (as a family) we always try to get over there if we can because we know a lot of the guys playing in the JV and freshman games,” Eric Moench recalled. “We’re sitting on the track with a table and folding chairs running the scoreboard, and everybody else is sitting on the track, which makes it hard to see the action over the players standing on the sideline.
“I’m looking at all the people standing around and Walk goes, ‘We need bleachers. We’ve always needed bleachers.’”
As the details of the project get hammered out, the Eagles are locked in as league play begins this Friday at Ponderosa. Dakota Ridge appears stocked to make another playoff run, and possibly even match or surpass the program’s best finish, when Woitalewicz’s Eagles lost 35-29 to ThunderRidge in the 2004 Class 4A state title game.
Two-way star linebacker/running back Landon Kalsbeck leads Class 4A in sacks (six) and is also tied for the classification lead in TDs (10). Dakota Ridge’s experienced offensive line, anchored by tackles Jace Winchester and Zach Wolfinger, is setting a physical tone. And a stout secondary highlighted by junior safety Jack Offerdahl, brother of CU running back Charlie Offerdahl, is full of playmakers.
“We have a lot of guys on our team good enough to make names for themselves,” Duran said. “But they’re realizing that making a name for Dakota Ridge as a team is more important than individual statistics. So I feel like this team can make a run, deep into the playoffs, and they have the want, will and desire to make a push for the championship.”
Though the void from Walker’s death won’t fade anytime soon, the forthcoming bleachers in his honor will forever preserve his legacy.
“For me, knowing that I’m going to walk down there for however many years I’m here — and I’m going to see those bleachers, and think about him, think about a big kid with a great personality and a huge heart — I’m going to know the difference we made in his life as coaches and as a program,” Jeremiah Behrendsen said. “That’s so significant that he’s returning the favor. It’s pretty special.”
