In a rematch of Becker’s Sept. 13 with Holy Angels (Becker won 14-0) the Bulldogs ended the Stars’ season Nov. 7 in the Class AAAA state football quarterfinals in Brainerd, 35-15.

The undefeated, top-seeded Bulldogs (11-0) won handily behind a pair of touchdown passes from QB Tyler Kowalkowski to WR Carter Reckelberg and advanced to the state semi-finals to be played at U.S. Bank Stadium this past Thursday.

The Bulldogs took on the 10-1 Marshall Tigers Nov. 14 at the Bank with kickoff at 10:30 a.m. (Full report on game in next week’s Patriot).

In the Holy Angels game, the Bulldogs scored first when Isaac Daluge ran the rock in from 10 yards up to put the home team up 7-0. Holy Angels responded by Gavin Coughlin returning an interception within 5 yards of the goal line late in the first quarter. Coughlin would find WR Daniel Devine from 11 yards out to bring the Stars within one as the second quarter commenced. The XP attempt by kicker Isaac Rodriguez-Paiz failed and the Bulldogs retained the lead at 7-6.

However, Rodriguez-Paiz redeemed himself when a short while later he connected on a 29-yard field goal to help the Stars take a short-lived 9-7 lead.

Approaching halftime, Becker made it 14-9 with a 65-yard touchdown pass from Kowalkowski to Reckelberg. 

In the third quarter, the Kowalkowski-to-Reckelberg connection hooked up again, this time on a 46-yard strike to take a 20-9 lead.

Bulldog Sawyer Brown added a 63-yard touchdown later in the quarter to push the lead to 27-9. Brown only carried the ball three times, going for 71 yards in addition to one catch for nine yards. He also had one interception. Becker added five sacks.

Holy Angels’ Emmett Anderson scored from three yards out in the fourth quarter to make it 27-15 Becker before a failed two-point try.

Brown would cinch the victory a little while later as he scored from two yards out to make the final score 35-15.

The Bulldogs finished with 402 total yards compared to 228 for the Stars.

Kowalkowski was nine-of-16 for 184 yards and two TDs. Through the air, Reckelberg had three catches for 133 yards and the two scores.

On defense, Landen Kujawa had five tackles and two assists while Kaden Nicolas had three tackles and three assists. Kujawa leads the team with 104 tackles on the year. He also leads the team in rushing with 620 yards.

The Stars finished the season with a 7-4 record, reaching the state quarterfinals for the fourth time in five years. The 2022 season ended in the state quarterfinals against Zimmerman 51-6; Becker won the 2021 state quarterfinal 24-7, played at Monticello High School; and Holy Angels beat Orono 14-7 in the Section 5AAAA final in 2020, which was the final game of the season due to the pandemic.

The state tournament moves inside to US Bank Stadium for the final two rounds, with the semifinals on Thursday and Friday. Friday’s semifinal is between Orono and Totino-Grace, starting at 11:30 a.m. The winner of that contest would face the Bulldogs should Becker prevail against Marshall.

The championship game is on Friday, Nov. 29.

Quarterfinal results: Orono 49, Hermantown 21; Totino-Grace 24, Hill-Murray 0; Marshall 21, Byron 0.