The Bulldog football team knocked off the #2-seeded Delano Tigers on the road last Saturday to qualify for the Section 6AAAA championship. Big Lake beat #1-seeded Zimmerman in the other semi-final to pit the Hornets against the Bulldogs for the section title.
Saturday’s game in Delano featured a brand new, artificial turf field and some down right cold weather. The game figured to be a matchup of two power running teams and that’s exactly what the fans in the stands got, especially on the visitor’s side.
The Bulldogs tallied 389 total yards compared to 342 for Delano. Most of Becker’s yards came via the ground game where Sidney Boros, Alex Blomgren, Josh Fobbe, Brady Sheeley and Austin Hemmelgarn amassed yards against the Tiger defense. Boros finished with 229 yards on 24 carries and scored twice.
But the game belonged to Lucas Dertinger as he was a force on both sides of the ball and dashed Delano’s hopes with acrobatic plays. It was his third and final interception with the clock winding down that sealed the Bulldog victory and sent the Tigers home with their tails between their legs.
It was Delano who established control of the game early as they took the opening kickoff and marched right down the field and scored from one yard out. They went for two, and made it to go up 8-0.
Becker responded with a TD as Blomgren tumbled over some bodies enroute to a three-yard score. Becker’s two-point conversion attempt failed and the score remained 8-6 through the end of the first quarter.
Becker was able to capture those two points back when early in the second, Mick Radunz tackled Mike Shoultz in the end zone for a safety — a key moment for the Becker defense. The other key plays were the three interceptions Dertinger pulled down to thwart any Delano scoring opportunities.
The Tigers were well balanced, gaining 141 yards on the ground and 201 through the air. Shoultz looked like Joe Namath when he’d throw a ball towards WR Calvin Wishart and Wishart would come down with just about any pass in his direction. Wishart finished with 38 yards receiving and one TD on four catches.
The Bulldogs pulled ahead late in the second quarter when Fobbe crossed the goal line from six yards out for Becker’s third score. Dertinger’s extra point put the Bulldogs up 15-8 at the half.
The game went back-and-forth from there as Delano scored early in the third on a 40-yard bomb to Sam Kern and another successful two-point conversion.
Becker quickly responded with Boros bursting through the Tiger defense and scoring from 68 yards out to put the Bulldogs back in front. A failed two-pointer left the score at 21-16 in favor of Becker.
The Tigers closed out the third quarter with a five-yard TD score, but their two-pointer failed and they saw they had a slim lead at 22-21.
Boros scored his second TD from five yards out to start the fourth, but Dertinger’s kick was blocked and the ‘Dogs jumped back on top at 27-22.
Finally, Becker got a little breathing room when they capped a long drive on their next possession with a three-yard TD from Blomgren to go up by 12.
Delano wouldn’t go quietly as they rallied for another score from 19-yards out, but failed on their two-pointer again and the game got tense at 34-28 in favor of Becker with mere minutes left.
Delano’s last gasp came when they approached midfield with under a minute left — and Shoultz’s pass to Wishart was tipped, and Dertinger stretched back and pulled in the acrobatic pick.
Moments later, the Bulldogs and their faithful fans stormed the field while the Tigers on the other side of the field hung their heads.
Justin Reichle finished with six tackles and had two assists on defense. Radunz had five tackles including one for a loss. Mikey James had five tackles, two sacks and two tackles for loss.
Sam Ricker and Brayden Weber each had a fumble recovery as Delano committed five turnovers.
Up Next
The Bulldogs (6-4) take on the Big Lake Hornets ( 5-5-1) at 1 p.m. Saturday in Monticello. The Becker/Big Lake winner will play the winner of the Cloquet (9-0)/North Branch (7-2) matchup in the first round of the state playoff tournament at SCSU Oct. 10.
