The Big Lake Hornet football squad gave their all, but the Becker Bulldogs proved too talented in the semifinals of Section 6AAAA playoff competition. With the win, Becker was declared section champions since the rest of the season was put “in pause” due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Princeton had beaten Delano Friday night (30-12) and since no games could be played beyond that night, Becker was declared the section winner based on its #1-seeding. Princeton finished 6-1 with their only loss coming against Annandale in the first contest of the year. Becker finished  4-2 with their only losses coming to Rocori (14-13) and Hutchinson (20-7).

After a scoreless first quarter, the Bulldogs came alive in the final 12 minutes of the first half by scoring three times to go up 21-10.

The first score came when QB Ryan Bengtson found Derk Roske in the far reaches of the end zone for a nine-yard TD. Later, Lukas Paulson thrilled the Becker fan base with a sensational, 84-yard dash up the middle of the field on a flip pass from Bengtson to put Becker up by two scores.

The final TD of the first half came when Bengtson deftly dropped a pass into the arms of Luke Eigen from 24 yards out to go up 21-0.

Bengtson was hot as a pistol as he completed 15 of 22 passes for 270 yards and four TDs in the game. His fourth TD came on a 69-yard bomb to Nick Berglund in the third quarter to close out the scoring.

The Hornets struggled to capture the magic they had in their final game of the year and their first playoff game against Zimmerman the week before. Becker’s defense was stellar and limited the passing and rushing efforts of the Hornet offense. 

QB Brandon Stern was relentlessly harassed by the Bulldogs and finished with just 64 yards through the air on seven-of-16 passing. He also had two interceptions and was sacked three times.

RB Reilly Mullen couldn’t navigate the ground game either as he could only muster 29 yards on 10 carries.

Caden DeWall had seven tackles, one assist, three tackles for loss and one sack. Brayden Weber had six tackles, two sacks and three tackles for loss for the Bulldogs.

Landen Goebel and Ethan Orgon were the two Bulldogs with INTs. Dailen Adu-Gyamfi and Joseph Goth recovered two Hornet fumbles.

The Bulldogs finished with 339 yards gained in the game compared to just 227 for Big Lake.