Becker Ready To Battle Marshall Thursday At State Football Tournament

The Becker football team will play against Marshall Thursday morning in a Class AAAA semifinal matchup at US Bank Stadium. Kickoff is set for 10:30 a.m..

Marshall enters Thursday's game with a 10-1 record. The only blemish came in a week three home loss to Waseca by a 20-14 final score. The Bulldogs check in with an 11-0 record heading into the matchup.

The Bulldogs beat Academy of Holy Angels 35-15 to earn their first trip back to US Bank Stadium since 2021. Becker lost back-to-back section playoff championships against rival ROCORI in 2022 and 2023.

Get our free mobile app

The Spartans beat the Bulldogs 22-20 in 2022 and then beat them again 30-21 in 2023. This year Becker beat Little Falls 56-14 in the opening game of the section playoffs before beating previously undefeated Princeton 28-7 in the section championship.

"This year we were fortunate enough to get through the (8AAAA) section final and get into the state tournament," longtime Becker coach Dwight Lundeen said. "If you look at the QRF, which is the system of evaluating coaches, we have the highest QRF in the state because of our tough schedule.

"I think we had five teams that we had played throughout the year that ended up playing for section finals, so we are battle-ready and we have played a lot of good games," Lundeen said.

Last week's weather was seasonably cold and windy but Thursday's game will be played indoors at US Bank Stadium, although the Bulldogs have been practicing outdoors.

"We just keep telling the kids, just a few more hours and it will be sunny and 70," Lundeen said. "We are not a very big team but we are quick and we like to throw the ball and I think those things will be in our favor indoors."

The Bulldogs boast a giant senior class of 25 players who have played 31 career games together to this point.

"Isaac Deluge is a tremendous defensive player plus he plays on offense, my second captain is Mitchell Soltau, who our leading receiver with great hands and will be playing in college, Sawyer Brown is a quarterback/receiver and we move him all over the field and he's a Division One (level) corner, a finalist for Mr. Football and Landen Kujawa is a great running back and linebacker for us," Lundeen said.

"Of course there are many others who make a big impact both offensively and defensively," Lundeen added.

Thursday's opponent, Marshall, is a unique one because it's one of only a few that Lundeen has never faced in his career that goes back to 1970.

"In the six hundred and some games that I've coached, we have not played Marshall," Lundeen said. "We really like what we see (from them) on film, they are very physical on defense... and that's what they have been riding this year- they have shut out several teams.

"They have a really good fullback that they give the ball a lot to, so we will have to put our big boy pants on and stand in there and try to tackle that guy all day long."