Defense was the name of the game for the second week in a row for the Bulldogs but this time they came up just a little short.

Eppard Field was the hotspot Friday night as fans from both teams packed the stadium for an epic battle.

Hutchinson, coming off an 8-0 regular season record last season with just about all their players returning, against a re-built Becker squad coming off a rough, 3-5 season.

Russell Corrigan, a 6’-4”, 230-pound QB for the Tigers was a handful for the Becker defense. Corrigan has the legs of Earl Campbell and an arm that rivaled Kenny Stabler — and yet, the Becker defense held their own for most of the night.

The game began with Becker receiving the ball and marching down the field to the goal line of the Tigers before a fourth down attempt at a touchdown failed. QB Josh Fobbe did well to mix up various runs along with short passes to grind it out to the shadow of the goal posts. His pass to Carter Heitala on fourth down in the corner fell to the ground and Becker settled for an empty scoreboard.

Corrigan and the Tigers struggled to find their game early and after three futile plays, they punted the ball back to Becker. The Bulldogs returned the favor moments later and the rest of the first quarter was much like the first drives — some good gains here and there, but when the time came, the defense for both clubs stepped up.

Becker’s LB Caden DeWall was all over the field making key stops during many Tiger drives. The Halvorson twins — Tommy and Teddy — as well as Brayden Weber, were also key contributors on defense.

Eventually, the Bulldog defense failed to contain Corrigan, Hayden Jensen and Tyler Schiller, who rambled for most of the yards the Tigers gained on their next drives. On a third down from the two-yard line, Corrigan scored to put the visitors on top early in the second quarter. A successful two-point conversion meant Hutchinson was enjoying an 8-0 lead on their opponent’s home turf.

And they almost took the wind out of Becker’s sails as moments later they drove the field again and neared the end zone. The Bulldogs caught a break when Corrigan mishandled the ball and Becker’s Brayden Weber pounced on it to preserve the 8-0 deficit.

Becker took advantage of the momentum swing, as they drove the length of the field with under four minutes left. This time, Fobbe used his legs instead of his arm to score six with one second left in the half. They tried some trickery on the two-point attempt — a double reverse pass back to Fobbe in the end zone, but the pass fell incomplete and halftime arrived with an 8-6 lead for Hutchinson.

The third quarter was nearly identical to the first as both teams mounted scoring threats, but failed to change the score on the scoreboard. Late in the third, Hutchinson mounted a drive that resulted in another TD for Corrigan and the two-pointer was good to go up 16-6.

Things looked a little dire for the Bulldogs as time was winding down and the home team needed two scores to stay in the hunt.

With under three minutes to go, Becker’s offense found a spark and traveled the length of the field for a score. Fobbe found Cade Callahan in the end zone for a passing TD and Kicker Emma Domka executed the extra point to bring Becker within three at 16-13.

Exciting drama ensued.

Becker’s coaches ordered an on-side kick and Austin Berning appeared to squib a nice ball towards his rushing receivers. However, Hutchinson anticipated the on-sider, had Corrigan and others with good hands along the line to field the kick. Sure enough, the ball ended up in Corrigan’s mitts and he dashed forward to the Becker 15 before being tackled just short of the goal line.

It appeared the game was wrapped up as the clock neared the 2:00 mark.

However, Hokan Bengtson’s boys played like the Purple People Eaters and gobbled up Corrigan and his entourage on the next few plays, ­ forcing them to go for the TD on fourth down from the four yard line. They were stopped and the Bulldog defenders exited the field in a frenzy.

Now it was up to the offense to try and march 96 yards for the winning score. And they nearly pulled it off. 

Through some great running and quick passing — including two hook and ladder plays — the Bulldogs got to midfield before their magic disappeared. On fourth and 10, Fobbe’s pass over the middle dropped inconspicuously to the grass, and all Hutchinson had to do was run a play to run out the clock.

Corrigan finished with two rushing TDs and was five-for-five throwing for 94 yards. Schiller gained 78 yards on 17 carries to lead the running game.

Fobbe was 21-of-46 for 235 yards and one TD through the air and one on the ground. Isaac Koop gained 41 yards on 11 carries and Heitala led all receivers with four catches for 46 yards.

The Halvorsons had 12 tackles between them and Dewall added four and an assist.

Becker finished with 321 yards gained to Hutchinson’s 277.

Up Next

The Bulldogs travel to St. Cloud Apollo (1-1) next Friday night.