Becker football stays undefeated, beats ROCORI in huge Class 4A matchup
BECKER – After two hard-fought quarters with the state’s best Class 4A football team and a diving catch on a twice-tipped pass in the endzone, the ROCORI Spartan defense’s 14-quarter scoreless streak came to an end Friday.
The Bulldog defense instead had the shutout, defeating ROCORI 20-0 at home. The game was scoreless at halftime, but midway through the third quarter, star Becker quarterback Zachary Bengtson chucked the ball into coverage and junior receiver Mitchel Soltau came down with a catch through two Spartan players’ arms. ROCORI’s offense then failed to move the ball and its defense tired out.
“There’s never going to be one play, but that interception we really should have had in the end zone,” Spartan coach James Herberg said. “ Not only one guy but the second guy that tips it – then it falls in there, it’s just unfortunate. I think it was a frustrating moment for our defense.”
Both in the Green District, Becker (6-0) and ROCORI (4-2) were considered contenders for the state title. Becker’s war machine had already torn through its first four opponents by an average of four touchdowns each including last week beating annual powerhouse and state runner-up Hutchinson (3-2) by a score of 21-20. The Spartans’ only loss was an early stumble Sept. 1 against Detroit Lakes (5-0), but they swept back with four straight victories. Most recently, ROCORI’s defense held Benilde -St. Margaret's (2-3), Hutch, and Willmar (1-4) to zero points in consecutive games.
“(This win) puts us in a wonderful, wonderful position district-wise and section-wise, so we’re really feeling good about that,” Becker coach Dwight Lundeen said. “We beat a very, very good team tonight.”
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Herberg called defense the “strength" of ROCORi's team, as it forced Bengtson’s third interception this season but didn’t have anything positive to say about the offense, which fumbled away first quarter red zone drive.
“We didn’t control the ball, we didn’t get first downs, we didn’t score points and unfortunately you add all that up and it’s a recipe for disaster,” he said. “You can’t rely on our defense to make plays the entire game, score a defensive touchdown and win 7-0.”
Herberg did not pin down something for the Spartans to work on as they travel to Holy Angels (2-3) next week, mentioning that personnel, play calling and scheme could all be on the table.
“We responded after that first bit of adversity early in the year; we lost our opener and found a way to beat some really good teams in the past four weeks.”
Becker senior Kyan Blomquist and junior Owen Angell had the other TDs for the Bulldogs, both on the ground. Blomquist scored first after only 40 seconds in the fourth quarter and Angell’s came on Becker’s next drive, taking sweep handoff 64 yards to the house.
“The longer the game went, I thought we were the more physical team and once we got the lead we were able to continue that physical part and our kids ran really, really hard and that was the difference,” Lundeen said.
Next week his Bulldogs play at Big Lake (0-6).
Contact reporter Reid Glenn at rglenn@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: Becker football beats ROCORi in 2023 Minnesota high school football
