No. 1 ranked Rockets remain undefeated

Slow and steady may win the race, as the fable "The Tortoise and the Hare" has proven time and time again.

In this instance, however, the hare put his head down and kicked it into overdrive, leaving nothing to chance or cocksure attitude.

The top-ranked and unbeaten New Rockford-Sheyenne Rockets remained that way by bending, but not breaking, against the unrelenting ground game of the fifth-ranked St. John Woodchucks, taking a 42-18 win to further solidify their spot atop Nine-Man Region 2 three weeks into the season.

In spite of giving up 200 yards on the ground to the 'Chucks and getting a taste of competitive football for three quarters, the Rockets got two insurance touchdowns in the fourth quarter to pull away.

Coach Elliott Belquist knew coming in that St. John was, far and away, the most physical program NR-S has faced this year.

"Our boys got smacked in the mouth a few times in the first half, and they didn't back down," said Belquist. "It was nice to see some of our younger players step up in the second half and make some plays."

In the coach's view, it was good to get some quality plays in in the second half, something they hadn't experienced in two lopsided wins to begin the season.

"We haven't been in [a four-quarter game] this year, and it showed, as we were physically exhausted after the game," he said. "It was good to see things not come so easy, especially on the defensive side."

Senior returning All-State receiver Bo Belquist turned his focus to running the ball in this contest, and posted a career-high in that department with 224 yards on 14 attempts and four touchdowns.

"We put him at quarterback for a little 'wildcat' look on the second play of the game," the elder Belquist said. "It was a play we haven't shown this year, and he was able to bust a big one."

The experimentation on offense followed a general theme for the Rockets in the contest in an attempt to throw some changeups at the Woodchucks.

"We mixed it up between the spread and power game, but wanted to burn clock in the second half, so we stayed in the run game," said Belquist.

The slender back traded scores with the Woodchucks for five possessions, running it in from 60 and 18 yards out and securing his only touchdown pass from Johnny Grann in the second quarter, a 56-yard catch and sprint.

After a stop, NR-S running back Hunter Thompson got the crucial separator on the scoreboard with a 29-yard strike from Grann later in the quarter. St. John would get their final score in the waning minutes of the half on a two-yard run by Adam Jollie.

Up 28-18 at the half, the final score was still in doubt after both teams' defenses held firm in a scoreless third stanza, but Belquist put the exclamation point on his night with a pair of scores in the fourth.

He would also have a busy evening on the other side of the ball, registering nine tackles and five assists, and Thompson had 10 total stops, four of them solo.

Also on defense, Hunter Johnson and Colt Soderholm finished with six tackles and Nathan Holzwarth five. Kaden Jensen had four stops, all unassisted, and had the Rockets' only interception.

Coach Belquist had praise for the play of Jensen, a sophomore, along with classmate Nick Berglund with four tackles.

"I was pleased with the way our defense handled adversity," said Belquist. "We moved Hunter to middle linebacker to get a little more beef back there, and put Bo at outside to get a bit more quickness at the edge in the second half to change things up."

He added, "I think St. John only had three first downs in the second half. I wasn't quite sure if it was us just wearing them down, or the halftime adjustments that made a difference. Probably a little bit of both."

Grann threw for 116 yards and two scores on 7-for-9 passing, and Holzwarth was the leading receiver on the stat sheet with four receptions for 63 yards.

The first two scores for the Woodchucks (2-1, 2-1) were provided by Bradley Defender on short runs of five and three yards. The 190-pound senior, said Belquist, stepped into St. John's main back role after their top runner, Tyreece Gunville, was injured the previous week.

"[Defender's] more of a physical back that can run well," said the coach. "He's tough to bring down in their power game, and then you add the triple option where you're thinking of stopping the dive, and then the mix it up with pitching it to the running back."

"St. John played the first half extremely well, took advantage of their possessions by using a lot of clock and then converting on third downs and keeping the chains moving," Belquist added.

The Rockets are currently tied with North Prairie, also 3-0, on top of the Region 2 table. Contender Cavalier is also 3-0 overall, but has played one less region game.

This past Friday was NR-S' bye week. They will be back in action when they host Homecoming against North Border on Sept. 20.

"There are some things we need to polish up on, and we need to ramp up on our conditioning this week to prepare for those grind-it-out battles we'll have coming up," said Belquist.

Nine-Man Region 2 Football

NR-S 42, St. John 18 at New Rockford

St. John 6 12 0 0 18

NR-S 14 14 0 14 42

First Quarter

NR-S: Bo Belquist 60 yard run (Johnny Grann run)

St. John: Bradley Defender 5 yard run (pass failed)

NR-S: Belquist 18 yard run (pass failed)

Second Quarter

St. John: Defender 3 yard run (pass failed)

NR-S: Belquist 56 yard pass from Johnny Grann (pass failed)

NR-S: Hunter Thompson 29 yard pass from Grann (Nathan Holzwarth pass from Grann)

St. John: Adam Jollie 2 yard run (run failed)

Fourth Quarter

NR-S: Belquist 5 yard run (Holzwarth pass from Grann)

NR-S: Belquist 26 yard run (pass failed)

NR-S Statistics

Offense

Passing: Grann 7-9-116 yards-2 TD; Belquist 1-1-37

Rushing: Belquist 14-224-4 TD; Thompson 5-10; Grann 3-4; Nathan Holzwarth 2-(-4)

Receiving: Holzwarth 4-63; Belquist 1-56-TD; Thompson 3-34-TD

Defense

Tackles (unassisted-assisted): Belquist (9-5); Thompson (4-6); Holzwarth (4-1); Kaden Jensen (4-0); Hunter Johnson (3-3); Colt Soderholm (3-3); Nick Berglund (2-2); Koby Duda (1-3); Nick Presnell (1-2); Elijah Dean-Scott (1-2); Ben Schaefer (1-0); Billy Fleming (1-0); Evan Ulrich (0-1)

Interception: Jensen