A couple turnovers early in the game helped catapult the Bulldog football team to a rout of the Foley Falcons in the first round of the Section 6AAAA playoffs at home Tuesday.

 

The game was never close and #4 Becker rolled to a 48-8 win, pushing them to the semifinals to play #1-seeded Zimmerman Saturday on the road.

FB Nick Goth tallied four TDs in the statement win.

 

Tuesday’s game  started with Becker receiving the kickoff, but after  a short drive, they had to punt the ball away. On Foley’s first play from scrimmage, a  faulty handoff led to a fumble, which Becker jumped on in Foley territory.

 

Three minutes later, Nick Goth plunged over the goal line for a TD and a successful two-point conversion showed the home team up 8-0 at 7:34.

 

The Bulldogs kicked off moments later, and the Foley receiver dropped the ball and Becker pounced.

 

Goth finished off the 40-yard drive with a four-yard scamper to paydirt and Becker was up by two scores. Another successful two-pointer (pass from Josh Fobbe to WR Carter Hietala) meant the Bulldogs were up 16-0 with five minutes left in the first quarter.

 

Foley sputtered on their next drive and had to punt the ball back to the Bulldogs, who wasted little time in converting their next drive into points as Goth plowed in from two yards out as the second quarter started and the XP was no good, so the home team held a lead of 22-0 with 9:50 to go until half.

 

Another fumble on the kickoff resulted in another recovery by the Bulldogs and another short drive and another Goth TD. This time the extra point was good and Becker was rolling at 29-0 with 8:37 to go in the first half.

 

Foley finally found a little rhythm on their next drive — thanks in large part to a personal foul call on Becker — and they drove to Becker’s 33-yard line before turning the ball over on downs. With 3:10 left in the second quarter, one would assume the time in the quarter would run out before another score, but that was not in the cards for Becker.

 

After three consecutive penalties (two on Becker) pushed the ‘Dawgs back to the shadow of their own goalposts, a screen pass on second and 25 to Austin Berning resulted in 22 yards and on fourth and one at Becker’s 42, Goth gained five yards to Foley’s 47 and a bomb to WR Kevyn Vilayphanh with 19.5 seconds left, lit up the scoreboard for Becker once again. The XP was no good, but Becker saw their lead grow to 35-0 with an entire half of football yet to come.

 

Not much changed as far as fortunes for either team in the final 24 minutes. Becker kept their foot on the gas and scored two more TDs while Foley dented the scoresheet with just one.

 

On Becker’s first possession of the second half, they drove to the Falcon 12 before Ethan Wilson scored from there to go up 42-0. 

 

Foley finally got on the board with 1:52 to go in the third quarter when a roughing the QB penalty aided their drive and RB AJ Enerson bulldozed into the end zone for a TD. The two-pointer was good and the scoreboard read 42-8 with one quarter to go.

 

By this time, Becker’s starters on both sides of the ball were resting up for this weekend’s game and Zack Wenner took over under center. The junior drove the Bulldogs down the field and despite a couple penalties and losses for yards, he had the team down to Foley’s 27 yard line on a fourth and 17.

 

On a brilliantly-blocked play from 27 yards out, tailback John Stangler took the handoff from Wenner and raced around the right end to the end zone for Becker’s final score with 6:15 to go.

 

With the game in hand, Foley surrendered and Becker was able to run out the clock to victory.

 

Fobbe finished  with 79 yards on five-of-11 passing and one TD. The Becker defense held Foley QB Jamison Gothman to 10 yards through the air on one-for-four passing.

 

Goth tallied four TDs and had 50 yards total on 15 carries. Morgan Boros had 62 yards on the ground, including a 20-yarder and Kevin Andres — who is part of the one-two punch along with Goth in the backfield — was limited to 15 yards on two carries before being knocked out of the game on a fierce hit at the sidelines. Andres said he felt fine after medical checked him out, but with the score already in Becker’s favor, the coaching staff decided to hold him out of the game and save him for Zimmerman.

 

The Bulldogs racked up 377 yards (295 on the ground) to Foley’s 48. Foley committed three turnovers to Becker’s none and they had just five first downs compared to Becker’s 20.

 

Becker’s next foe, the Zimmerman Thunder went 5-3 during the regular season with losses to New London Spicer, Albany and Dassel-Cokato. Becker finished 3-5 with losses to Chisago Lakes, Hutchinson, Big Lake, Brainerd and Willmar.

 

The winner of the Saturday Becker/Zimmerman game will play the winner of the Big Lake/Delano game Nov. 2 in Monticello.