The Becker Bulldogs are one win away from another Prep Bowl Championship!

By the time you are reading this article, the result of the Prep Bowl game against Totino-Grace will already be yesterday’s news (literally) — so will the boys, coaches and fans be smiling or frowning?

Check back next week for the details of the game.

For this week, we’ll focus on the semi-final matchup against Marshall that propelled Becker to the title game in Class 4A high school football.

Becker 28, Marshall 7

The game between the Bulldogs and the Tigers kicked off last Thursday under the glass-enclosed arena of U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. The first quarter was scoreless as both teams looked for a spark to ignite their fortunes as the undefeated, 11-0 Becker Bulldogs took on the  10-1 Marshall Tigers.

It was Becker’s defense that once again thwarted the opponent’s offense as the boys gave up just seven points, 190 total yards while forcing the Tigers to punt five times in the victory. Fourteen Bulldog defenders recorded at least one tackle while they punished the Tigers, decidedly in the run game, giving up just 33 yards on the ground.

The Bulldogs dented the scoreboard first when Mitchell Soltau reeled in a 16 yard pass from QB Tristan Kowalkowski to go up 7-0 in the second quarter. A short while later, the Bulldogs added to their lead when Sawyer Brown crammed into the end zone from one yard out to go up 14-0.

Later in the second quarter, the Tigers finally mounted a drive and scored when Gavin Schaefer rolled into the end zone from two yards out to make it 14-7.

That was as close as the Tigers would get for the rest of the game. Once the Bulldog offense got into a rhythm, they were hard to stop.

In the third quarter, Cody Klatt completed a long drive by the Bulldogs with a four yard run to go up 21-7. Carter Reckelberg snatched a 29 yard pass from Kowalkowski to put the Bulldogs up by three scores.

Evan Norberg, Becker’s ever-reliable kicker, converted all four extra point tries to aid in the win. He also drilled a field goal in the closing seconds of the game, but a declined roughing the kicker call negated the play. Becker opted to kneel and win the game rather than take the points and give Marshall another possession.

Kowalkowski finished with 188 yards on 10-of-17 passing and the two TD scores. Landen Kujawa led all rushers with 45 yards on 10 carries including a 17-yarder.

Brown was the leading receiver for the Bulldogs as he caught five balls for 106 yards including one for 43. 

On defense, Kujawa led Becker in tackles with 12, five solo. Owen Angell had six total tackles.

Becker finished with 328 yards total to Marshall’s 190. The Bulldogs had 18 first downs to Marshall’s 11. Becker was five-for 12 on third downs and three-for-three on fourth down tries. Marshall was one-for-11 on third downs and two-for-four on fourth downs.

Up Next

The undefeated Eagles of Totino-Grace beat Orono in their semi-final game by a score of 30-21. In one of their closest games of the year back in October, they beat Orono by a score of 11-8. The only other close contest they had during the season was a 21-20 win over Hutchinson on Sept. 13.

The Eagles have won 10 state championships, including in 1977, 1978, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012, and 2016.

Becker has three state championships including titles in 2005, 2014 and 2015.