During last Friday’s PepFest at Becker High School, the Becker Bulldog football team was presented a trophy and banners officially naming them to the 11th Annual MaxPreps Tour of Champions, presented by the Army National Guard.

 

This award is one of the most prestigious team awards in all of high school sports and it is an exclusive honor reserved for the top 100 teams nationwide.

 

In order to be eligible, a team must win a state championship and be highly ranked in the MaxPreps National Rankings. For football, only 50 of the country's best are invited and with nearly 17,000 competing varsity teams. This puts the Bulldogs ahead of 99.9 percent of their opponents!

 

The Bulldogs — who completed an undefeated season at 13-0 and crushed South St. Paul, 35-14 in the state 4A championship— finished ranked #216 nationally, No. 1 in Minnesota and No. 1 in Class AAAA for the 2015 season.

 

“For more than a decade, MaxPreps, in partnership with the Army National Guard, has honored the top high school sports teams in the nation,” said Andy Beal, president and founder of MaxPreps. “Becker High School is one of a very select and elite group of football teams to be honored this year. We congratulate the coach, players and the Becker High School community for earning the Army National Guard national ranking trophy.”

 

Head Coach Dwight Lundeen has been the only head football coach in the 46-year history of Becker High School football and has not shown any signs of slowing down. 

 

“I’ve been doing this (coaching) for a long time and it’s quite an honor to receive this kind of recognition,” Lundeen said. “The school and community loves Becker football and these awards seem to come along when you do things the right way.”

 

In the football program’s 15th state playoffs appearance last November, the talented Becker Bulldogs defended their 2014 title with a 21-point victory over the Packers in the Prep Bowl at TCF Bank Stadium. The Bulldogs jumped on the board for an early lead with a score after a 95-yard opening drive and built a 28-0 before the end of the second quarter. The Packers responded with two touchdowns in the second half but it was not enough as Becker ran away with the win and the crown.

 

Gabe Dertinger and quarterback Andrew Stanger for the Bulldogs were key contributors in the win. Dertinger ran for 151 yards and scored two touchdowns on 20 carries, and Stanger completed 12-of-18 passes for 218 yards and a touchdown. As a team, the Bulldogs racked up 452 yards of total offense — 347 of those came in the first half of the game.

 

En route to the 2015 MSHSL Class AAAA football playoffs, the team went 8-0 in East Central Conference play and captured the Section 6-4A title after a win (22-21) over Orono. In that game, Becker entered the fourth quarter down 14-7, but they rallied to eke out a one-point win and were unscathed the rest of the way riding the leadership of their senior class.

 

Becker outscored its opponents 586-115 and notched more than 40 points in eight-of-13 games. 

 

Minnesota Army National Guard Staff Sergeant Jon Dubois presented Coach lundeen and the team with the national ranking trophy. The team also received a banner for their rafters with their special recognition.

 

MaxPreps computer rankings are used to determine team rank for the Tour of Champions. The system utilizes the huge number of game results stored in the MaxPreps database. 

 

“Generally, the more a team wins the higher the ranking, but the system also takes into account quality wins (against other highly-ranked opponents), margin of victory and strength of schedule,” said MaxPreps representative Glenn Martin.

 

Martin also said the Tour of Champions honor is given to 50 schools throughout the United States, and it can be won back-to-back or more times than once, but it is rare.

 

“Eden Prairie is one of those schools that has won this trophy more than once,” he said. But that’s not very common.”

 

Following the PepFest, students and athletes gathered in the common area to get their chance to be pictured with the massive trophy. The football team donned “We run this state” t-shirts that the National Guard handed out that had the words school and city crossed out in red lines.

 

“Thank you to the National Guard and MaxPreps for this award,” said Lundeen on the gym floor in front of the entire school assembly. “We feel fortunate and honored. This isn’t just a football award but it’s a Becker school award because you students and your families have shown so much support for us at home, on the road and in the playoffs. Thank you!