Whew! The Becker Bulldog football team got off to an inauspicious start to their final regular season game of the year against Albany Wednesday night, but recovered and came away with a 16-point win to finish 6-2.

 

On Becker’s first possession of the game, two holding penalties back-pedalled the Bulldogs to their own 19 yard line before QB Josh Fobbe had his pass picked off  at the 18. Just six plays later and less than five minutes into the game, Albany’s Alex Wolf scored from six yards out to put the Huskies up early, 7-0.

 

On Becker’s subsequent possession, the tailback tandem of Cale MacMillan and Sidney Boros were grinding out yardage before Fobbe’s QB sneak on fourth and one produced a fumble, which Albany recovered at the five-minute mark of the first quarter.

 

Albany was fired up and took possession at their own 48 yard line and marched to Becker’s 18 yard line, before they failed on a fourth and three and Becker took over with 2:24 to go in the first stanza.

 

Fobbe’s foibles continued as his pass on first down was intercepted once more and returned to Becker’s 20 yard line. To Fobbe’s credit, he recovered from the disasterous start to have a spectacular game, going 12-of-21 for 236 yards and four TD scores.

 

Following the second interception, the Huskies tromped to the Bulldog five -yard line before Frankie Baker broke up a pass attempt on fourth down to give the ball back to the Bulldogs.

 

Becker decided to return the favor.

 

Incredibly, on Becker’s first play, MacMillan broke through the line but lost control of the ball and the Huskies recovered the pigskin at the Becker 14- yard line.

 

Two running plays were enough to penetrate the end zone and nearly at the start of the second quarter, Becker was down by two scores.

 

Albany successfully converted a two-point try and just like that, the Bulldogs found themselves behind by 15 and completely shaken by the turn of events.

 

But give the coaching staff and the players kudos for not getting down and letting the mistakes calculate the outcome of the game. From then on out, Becker looked more like the team that came into the contest on a five-game winning streak.

 

The play that jumpstarted the Bulldogs came on defense following an impressive punt by Fobbe that backed the Huskies up to their own one yard line with 8:53 to go in the first half. On the first play from scrimmage, Becker’s Lucas Dertinger tackled Albany’s Wolf in the endzone for a safety that took the zero off the scoreboard for the visiting Bulldogs.

 

Fobbe sought redemption on Becker’s subsequent possession and after a couple short runs by MacMillan and Boros, Fobbe launched  a 53-yard spiral into the hands of Adam Bauman for Becker’s first TD of the game. After Dertinger’s extra point, the Bulldogs found themselves down by just six with half a quarter to go.

 

With the offense hitting their stride and the defense stiffening up, the Bulldogs would score twice more before the half, both times featuring great tosses and great catches from Fobbe to Dertinger. The first of the two was a nine-yard score and the second was from 35 yards out.

 

So after all the misfortune and setbacks to start the game, by the time the half closed out, the Bulldogs found themselves in control of the game at 23-15.

 

It would take almost the entire third quarter for Becker to pull even farther ahead when Zach Fisher took the handoff from Fobbe at the 24-yard line and carried the ball to the endzone with 17 seconds to go to give the ‘Dawgs a 30-15 lead.

 

Dertinger and Fobbe would put the nail on the coffin halfway through the fourth when they connected on a 30 yard TD strike to go up 37-15.

 

Albany  scored a touchdown at the 3:27 mark to get it to 37-21 and failed on their two-point conversion — then failed on their on-side kick attempt moments later.

 

One more fumble by the Bulldog offense was inconsequential as the defense did their job and kept the Huskies at bay the rest of the way.

 

The Bulldogs finished with 404 yards of total offense compared to just 199 for Albany. Becker had 229 yards passing while the Bulldog defense held the Huskies to just 67 yards through the air.

 

The only chinks in Becker’s armor were the three fumbles lost and two interceptions — along with five penalties for 62 yards.

 

The Bulldog running game that featured Boros, MacMillan, Fisher and Fobbe gained 175 yards on 41 attempts and had the one Fisher TD. Dertinger was Becker’s top receiver, gaining 102 yards on six catches and three touchdowns.

 

Baker led the Bulldogs defense with eight tackles, followed by Halvorson and Jack Conzemius with seven. Halvorson also had an interception.

 

Albany’s Alex Wolf was the workhorse for the Huskies as he was 1-of-2 for six yards as a passer, had 43 yards  on 13 attempts for two TDs as a tailback, had one reception on two attempts as a receiver, returned four kicks for 67 yards as a returner, punted the ball four times for 132 yards, kicked the ball off three times for 86 yards and converted his one point-after-touchdown attempt early in the game.

 

Becker (6-2) was awarded the #1 seed in the Section 6AAAA football playoffs and were given a bye in the first round. Zimmerman (7-1) received the #2 seed and also got a bye.

 

Becker and Zimmerman will host second round playoff games Sat., Oct. 29 with Becker playing the winner of the Big Lake (4-4) vs. Delano (4-4) matchup and the Thunder playing the winner of Orono (4-4) vs. Dassel-Cokato (2-6).

 

The Section 6AAAA championship game will be played Nov. 4.