John's Journal: Speed (And Multisport Athletes) Key For Becker

After Becker defeated Marshall 28-7 in Thursday’s Class 4A football semifinals at U.S. Bank Stadium, Bulldogs coach Dwight Lundeen met the media while sitting at a dais with two players, seniors Landen Kujawa and Kaden Nicolas.

During the 11-minute interrogation session, this question was posed: How many of your football players play football and only football?

Lundeen -- who was hired as Becker’s first football coach in 1970 and remains the only head coach in program history – thought for a second and then said, “We have probably five percent that just play football.”

Then he looked to his right and his left, nodded toward Landen and Kaden and said, “These two guys have been to the state wrestling tournament. We love that, and we have tremendous basketball players on our team and lacrosse players.”

Wrestling practice started across Minnesota this week, but Landen and Kaden have a pretty solid excuse for missing out on mat time. They will stick with football for one more week, playing in the Prep Bowl next weekend. Then they will return to the wrestling room and in all likelihood return to the state wrestling tournament.

Nicolas, who first qualified for state wrestling as an eighth-grader, has finished fifth (106), second (113), second (126) and was a state champion at 139 last season. Kujawa has wrestled at state the past three years, placing fourth (120 pounds), fourth (132) and third (145).

Nicolas (who will wrestle at Augustana University in Sioux Falls) is listed in the program as weighing 175 pounds and Kujawa is at 170. Note: They may have worn full pads when stepping on the scale.

“When they go out for other sports it’s such a huge carryover for their development,” Lundeen said. “They love to play football and it's fun to watch them play, and they really enjoy it. And then we'll go watch them wrestle in the state tournament, and we'll go watch them play baseball, and it's just very much a part of who we are.”

Lundeen joked that Nicolas “played, I think, all 22 positions at some point in the game.” Kaden was in on four tackles while playing all over the field (he even threw a pass), and Kujawa carried the ball 10 times for 44 yards. He also had a game-high 12 tackles, matching Marshall’s Jack Meier.

Becker is loaded with multisport athletes, and they also have speed to burn. Marshall coach Terry Bahlmann said the fast-twitch Bulldogs presented a big challenge for the Tigers.

Four Bulldogs – Kujawa, Carter Reckelberg, Owen Angell and Isaac Daluge – rushed for between 26 and 47 yards each as Becker totaled 154 yards on the ground. Tristan Kowalkowski completed eight of 15 passes for 168 yards, including a 14-yard TD toss to Mitchell Soltau and a 29-yarder to Reckelberg. Sawyer Brown had a one-yard rushing touchdown and Cody Klatt had a four-yard score.

“They’ve got four track kids basically running the football, and they throw a lot of things at you,” Bahlmann said. “Our run defense has been fantastic; I think that going into the game we had given up two rushing touchdowns all year, so that's been our strength. But, you know, they hit us on the edges with their speed.”

Becker has not given up a single point in the third quarter all season, outscoring the opposition 138-0 in that stanza. They have been outscored 48-38 in the fourth quarter … usually situations where the outcome is already decided. In total, unbeaten Becker has outscored its opponents 442-85 in 12 games.

The Bulldogs are a perennial power, making their 18^th appearance in the state tournament and owning three titles (2005, 2014, 2015). As always, the coach was asked where the 2025 team ranks against the previous squads.

He turned the question about talent into a statement on character (so surprise there).

“We've had a lot of great players and it’s always hard to compare,” Lundeen said. “I would say this is the best speed that I've coached in my 55 years. And then there’s character. We have 25 seniors and when your best players are your players of character, it allows you to win the close games and close out something like this. There's never a question if they're going to be eligible or there's going to be any kind of infractions out there. They just play football. They absolutely love to play football, this group of kids.”

And they love to wrestle and play basketball and baseball and lacrosse and other sports, too.

Thursday’s Nine-Player semifinal games were highly entertaining, with four unbeaten teams taking to the Vikings’ turf to decide who will play in the Prep Bowl.

Hills-Beaver Creek defeated Mountain Iron-Buhl 26-20 in the opener, which went down to the wire in a wild finish to a game that began crazily.

A miscue on the opening kickoff return put MIB on its own 4, and Hills-Beaver Creek’s Beau Bakken tackled quarterback Micaden Clines in the end zone for a safety three snaps later. Two-zip Patriots.

“Field position right off the bat was a big deal,” said Bakken, a 6-foot-4, 215-pound senior. “We backed them up and all of a sudden we kind of got after them defensively. To get that safety was pretty big and it kind of set the tone for us.”

Bakken ran the ball 27 times for 90 yards and caught a 16-yard touchdown pass from Jamie Metzger, who stands 6-5 and weighs 200 pounds.

Hills-Beaver Creek won a state title in 1990 and reached the state semifinals in 2021. Mountain Iron-Buhl won the state champ in 2022.

In the other Nine-Player semifinal, the teams from Fertile-Beltrami and LeRoy-Ostrander/Fertile-Beltrami traded punches as well as big plays before Fertile-Beltrami came out on top 60-33.

Fertile-Beltrami senior Isaiah Wright was absolutely electric, carrying the ball 24 times for 361 yards and seven touchdowns. He came into game with 2,067 rushing yards in 11 games, an average of 187 per game.

In the 2021 Prep Bowl, LeRoy-Ostrander had defeated Fertile-Beltrami 58-8.

State Football Semifinals

Thursday

4A/ Becker 28, Marshall 7

Nine-Player/ Hills-Beaver Creek 26, Mountain Iron-Buhl 20

Nine-Player/ Fertile-Beltrami 60, LeRoy-Ostrander/Lyle-Pacelli 33

6A/ Anoka vs. Minnetonka

Friday

9 a.m. 2A/ Jackson County Central vs. Kimball

11:30 a.m. 4A/ Orono vs. Totino-Grace

2 p.m. 5A/ Chanhassen vs. Elk River

4:30 p.m. 2A/ Staples-Motley vs. Chatfield

7:30 p.m. 6A/ Shakopee vs. Maple Grove

Saturday

9 a.m. 1A/ Springfield vs. Mahnomen-Waubun

11:30 a.m. 1A/ Parkers Prairie vs. Minneota

2 p.m. 3A/ Dassel-Cokato vs. Pequot Lakes

4:30 p.m. 3A/ Albany vs. Stewartville

7:30 p.m. 5A/ Alexandria vs. Owatonna

--MSHSL senior content creator John Millea has been the leading voice of Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Threads at johnmilleamn and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get podcasts. Contact John at [email protected] or [email protected]