Becker advances to Class 4A championship with 28-7 win over Marshall in semifinals

After his team defeated Marshall 28-7 to advance to the Class 4A championship on Thursday, Becker football coach Dwight Lundeen declined to rank this year’s team against past teams, and with good reason.

Becker has won three championships and entering Thursday’s state semifinals at U.S. Bank Stadium, had appeared in five other championship games.

It would be like ranking your children.

But in the aftermath of the Bulldogs’ convincing victory, Lundeen was willing to give this year’s group a superlative.

“We’re blessed with great speed. We don’t look great getting off the bus, but we play pretty well,” Lundeen said. “The better the weather and the better the turf, the better we are. And that’s team speed.”

Becker will face the winner of the Orono-Totino Grace semifinal in the 4A Prep Bowl on Friday, Nov. 22, at 1 p.m.

Ranked No. 1 in Class 4A for the entire season, Becker (12-0) showed why in the first half. The defense shut down Marshall’s offense, and senior Sawyer Brown pulled the Bulldogs out of a slow start thanks to his all-around skills. He threw a pinpoint 14-yard pass to Mitchell Soltau for Becker’s first touchdown early in the second quarter, then scored from 1 yard out seven minutes later to increase Becker’s lead to 14-0.

Brown might share a name with a well-known country music band, but he deserves the spotlight to himself after a terrific effort Thursday.

Marshall tried to rally and cut the deficit to 14-7 on a 1-yard touchdown run by Gavin Schaefer before halftime, but the Tigers (10-2) never threatened Becker’s lead after that.

Becker salted the game away with a pair of third-quarter touchdowns minutes apart, then turned the game over to its defense.

“I am so confident in these guys that, if they’re running the ball, we can take that away,” Lundeen said. “And if they’re throwing the ball, we have 11 guys out there that can stop that, too. I don’t think we have a weak spot that you could really consistently attack.”