ROCORI football blanks Byron in the Class 4A state semifinal, will play Hutch for title
MINNEAPOLIS – ROCORI football got it done in the Class 4A state semifinal the same way the team has all season: defense and senior quarterback Will Steil.
After three scoreless quarters Thursday against Byron in U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, the Spartans’ star quarterback had the only touchdown in the game halfway through the final frame. ROCORI won 7-0 thanks to that 2-yard score and all of the defense’s stops.
“You’ve got two teams that are very physical, that like to run the ball,” ROCORI coach James Herberg said in the press conference. “It was a defensive battle."
ROCORI (10-2) will play Hutchinson (10-2) at 4 p.m. on Nov. 24 back at the home of the Minnesota Vikings in a bid to win the program’s third state championship. ROCORI last won a title in 2019.
Thursday’s game was ROCORI’s fourth shutout this season and its fifth in a row decided by single digits.
“It’s not fun to go into these games that are so tight the last four weeks, I just keep saying it: our schedule has helped prepare us for this,” Herberg said. “We’ve been in this moment a lot.”
Steil’s touchdown came at the end of a 60-yard drive by the Spartans. In previous trips to the red zone in the first quarter and at the end of the second, the senior threw a pick from the 8-yard-line and kicker Andy Pedroza missed a field goal. ROCORI outgained its opponent on offense 206 yards to 162, but with the Bears holding the edge in possession time, the defensive shutout was all the more impressive and necessary.
“I thought it was a pretty physical game,” Steil said. “Both sides of the ball were just hammering each other, both lines were going rally hard.”
Steil said he felt like that scoring drive might be ROCORI’s last chance to win the game and prolong their season. Junior Grant Tylutki said last year’s one-point semifinal loss to Simley was on his teammates’ mind during practice all week.
Both are a contingent of Spartans who play two ways. Tylutki led the team with 10 tackles against Byron followed by classmate Aaron Baisley’s nine and senior Dwight Kiffmeyer’s eight. Kiffmeyer also had 2.5 sacks from the defensive line.
The interception was one of just two passes Steil didn’t complete to Spartan receivers in 13 attempts. Most of ROCORI’s yardage came on the ground, however. Junior Anthony Rodriguez and Steil both contributed to the 146-yard total with 16 touches. Rodrguez’s 74 yards came in big chunks when he could break through the Bears’ strong defense. Steil had 67 yards, bringing his total to 1,008 this season. He also has 1,216 passing yards and on Friday he was named a Minnesota Mr. Football finalist by the Minnesota Football Coaches Association. The winner will be announced at a banquet Dec. 10. Most of his passing yards were to Pedroza, who had 46 on five catches.
Steil praised the Bears’ defensive schemes in holding ROCORI to 13 points fewer than its season average. On September 22 the Spartans had a similar low-scoring shutout against their championship opponent. Hutchinson hosted ROCORI in the Week 4 clash, holding the Spartans to a Tylutki receiving touchdown and Pedroza field goal in the first half. The game ended 11-0 in ROCORI’s favor, but the Tigers are in the middle of a seven-game winning streak and haven’t scored fewer than 30 points during that time. They beat North Branch (10-2) by a score of 56-28 in their semifinal Friday.
Contact reporter Reid Glenn at rglenn@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: ROCORI beats Byron in the Class 4A state football semifinal
