The Becker Bulldog football squad begins the 2021 season with a home game this Friday night against Rocori.

It’ll be Head Coach Dwight Lundeen’s 52nd year as the only head coach of the varsity Bulldog football squad.

“I truly enjoy coaching football,” said Lundeen.

Assistants Sam Johnson and Tony Miller will not be returning for 2021 but Lundeen will still have Hokan Bengtson, Denny Hansen, Greg Veldman, Mike Lundeen, Todd Smith, Troy Robinson, Paul Schmidt, Brent Scheideman, Curt Immerman, Jeff Zimmer and Greg Bockrath as his aides.

Sixty-four athletes in grades 10-12 will don the Columbia blue and white uniforms for the Bulldogs. Ryan Bengtson will be called upon for the second straight season to settle in at QB. He’ll have great support from a solid offensive line and superb athletes in the scoring positions, including Carter Callahan, who Coach Lundeen says is a “great runner.”

On defense, Lundeen has two shutdown starting cornerbacks in Landon Goebel and Dailen Adu-Gyanfi.

Team captains are Carter Callahan, Ethan Anderson, Landen Goebel and Max Hubbard. Student managers are Troy Nuest and Grady Muellner. David Kimmer is the athleteic trainer and Ian Holm is the statistician.

“My purpose (as coach) is to help young men to grow up to be good husbands, fathers, workers and community members,” Lundeen said. “Football is a great classroom to teach all of these things.   I like to think that our football coaches don’t TELL the players what to do but TEACH them how to do it.”

Because of that, football in these neck of the woods is not just a “fall” sport but is run and taught year-round. Lundeen and his coaches hold summer camps and 7-on-7 camps to encourge kids to go out for the sport Lundeen cherishes.

“We encourage as many students as possible to participate in sports,” Lundeen says of his camps. 

Football, as well as many physical sports, has kids of all sizes trying to find their niche on the field where they can play as many snaps as they can. Some of the kids are gifted at certain positions and need to watch their diet and nutrition to maintain or help them stay fast and agile. Others find their talents on the offensive and defensive lines where they need to add bulk and strength to support their position. Lundeen and his crew promote proper diet and nutrition and make sure their kids are always well-hydrated and healthy.

Lundeen is also grateful to two new businesses who see the importance of hydration and have supplied coupons for nutrional drinks for members of the team.

The roster includes: Carter Callahan, Eric Seavert, Mitchell Soltau, Julias Hendricks, Zach Bengtson, Julius Nyakundi, Caden Hartkopf, Logan Eisele, Hayden Harmoning, Mason Mayfield, Ethan Duncombe, Eli Scheideman, Grayson Kipka, Ryan Bengtson, Drew May, Sawyer Brown, Alexander Weiss, Joshua Robertson, Dailen Adu-Gyamfi, Kaleb Thuftedal, Nolan Muellner, Ethan Anderson, Adam Jurek, Zakariah Nyakundi, Mason Rach, Isaiah Gardner, Landen Goebel, Joshua Robinson, Harrison Kent, Kabir Bhakta, Grant Riedel, Jack Atwood, Sawyer anderson, Dylan weber, Cody Schmidt, Colton Miller, Ethan Orgon, Joseph Goth, Ian Burau, Joshua Miller, Mason Nevala, Bryce Kuschel, Logan Dierkes, Cody Becker, Dylan Kolby, Aiden Holm, Tygen Salvevold, Maxwell Olson-Burkman, Grant Studer, Maxwell Hubbard, Isaac Regel, Nabil Fisher, Reid McCalla, Cole Bergherr, Parker Meyer, Cayden Doering, Carter Leither, Kyan Blomquist, Nicholas Berglund, Gavin Swanson and Titan Hoover.

The schedule is as follows: Home versus Rocori Aug. 27; home versus Delano Sept. 10; at Chisago Lakes Sept. 17; home versus Hutchinson Sept. 24; at Big Lake Oct. 1; home versus Monticello Oct. 8; at St. Cloud Apollo Oct. 15 and at Willmar Oct. 20.