ROCORI football season ends against Hutchinson, Spartans finish Class 4A runner-ups
MINNEAPOLIS – For more than a decade, the district containing ROCORI and Hutchinson has dominated Class 4A football.
The teams met in the championship Friday and, in Hutchinson’s third appearance in as many years, the Tigers beat the Spartans 14-6. It’s Hutch’s seventh state title and first since 2021.
In the postgame press conference, coach Andy Rostberg pointed out that eight of the past 11 Class 4A championships have featured a team from their district. In addition to the Tigers’ four appearances, Becker played in two in a row in 2013-14, and Willmar and ROCORI played back-to-back in 2018-19, the last of the Spartans' three program titles.
“That was a brutal game out there, and we knew it was going to be that way,” Rostberg said. “ROCORI’s defense is really good, and we made enough big plays, some big turnovers, to hang on.”
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When ROCORI and Hutch played Sept. 22, the Spartans handed the Tigers their first loss of the season 11-0. Hutchinson was hindered by having several impact starters either out or go down with injuries in the game, including QB Logan Butler, running back Carter Verhasselt and linebacker Andrew Lipke. Hutch lost its next game against Becker, too. The Bulldogs also beat ROCORI in the regular season but lost in the Section 8-4A championship.
“It was a battle,” ROCORI coach James Herberg said of the state title game. “Hutchinson is an amazing football team, and they've been humming lately. Scoring 56 points a game, just ground and pound: chunk, chunk, chunk. And tonight, I think our defense held up in some tough spots.”
This season, ROCORI’s defense allowed fewer than two touchdowns per game. The Spartans didn’t let the Tigers score until ten minutes into the second quarter, and senior Nathan Soldner had a pick off a pass tipped by junior Aaron Baisley, ruining a Hutch first-quarter redzone drive.
Baisley was one of three Spartans to have double-digit tackles, leading the team with 15. Luke Zimmer had 14, and senior Will Steil had 10. Dwight Kiffmeyer had six tackles as well, and his two sacks secured him the most valuable teammate award.
“It was just a physical battle,” Kiffmeyer said. “Just do your job, your assignment, and hopefully we can score some points on offense.”
Kiffmeyer said it’s helpful to have talented teammates on the other side of the line who push ballcarriers his way. He finished the year with 5.5 sacks, the most on the team.
“I just play with great guys around me forcing guys back into my position,” he said. “I’m very grateful to have some of the best guys in the state with us.”
The Spartans couldn’t get anything going in the run game and Steil, who plays quarterback in addition to linebacker, threw two interceptions. In the first quarter, Hutchinson also forced a fumble, which the Tigers recovered.
Steil only gained 31 yards with his feet, and a lot of the running load dropped to junior Anthony Rodriguez after Grant Tylutki entered concussion protocol. Tylutki’s loss impacted ROCORI’s gameplan in all phases – he leads the team in receptions and receiving yards, return yards and tackles. Before being benched Friday, Tylutki had five tackles, a punt return and a carry for four yards.
In his 11 carries, Rodriguez was often jumped on quickly by the Hutchinson D, only averaging 1.6 yards per carry. Of the Spartans' 181 total yards, 128 came through the air. Junior Andy Pedroza was Steil’s favorite target, pulling in six catches for 26 yards, but Caleb Maddox had the most yards on the team. His 80 yards were largely thanks to a third-quarter 67-yard touchdown catch from Steil. The TD and failed two-point conversion tied the game at 6-6.
Besides senior Grady Minnerath, ROCORI returns three of its four top tacklers next year. Tylutki, Baisley and Zimmer are juniors. Offensively, ROCORI will have a lot of open positions to fill with Steil, Rodriguez, Pedroza, Soldner, Colten Phillipp and Austin Griffith graduating. Herberg said he is proud of his team, but especially the seniors and leaders.
“I have not been around young men that inspire me like these guys have,” Herberg said, referencing injuries and other adversities the Spartans have faced and overcome. Starting senior linebacker Jackson Primus has been missing for a few weeks with an injury.
“It’s a resilient group of guys when a senior captain middle linebacker is out, and then tonight to lose another captain in the title game, it’s just been next guy up,” Herberg said. “Every single week they’ve got better, and they feed off of each other.”
Contact reporter Reid Glenn at rglenn@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: ROCORI football loses 2023 state championship to Hutchinson
