NEW ROCKFORD — The Rockets are one win away from tying the second-longest winning streak in North Dakota nine-man football history.
New Rockford-Sheyenne/Maddock has not lost since 2023. The team is coming off back-to-back undefeated seasons, and it opened with another win last Friday against Cavalier. That’s now 26 straight.
“Really, we don’t talk about the win streak. We don’t bring it up,” Rockets head coach Elliott Belquist said after his team beat Cavalier 50-34. “It’s just, we want to go undefeated. We want to win every game. And we’ve just got to worry about one game at a time, and not think about it. Someday it’s gonna happen, where we lose a game. And then it’s gonna be how you respond to that and figure some things out. But we’re still going with it, and next week’s a new week. This one’s over; start thinking about St. John.”
NR-S/M’s quarterback over the last three years had been Easton Simon. He led the way for both state championships, along with a 10-1 season that ended in the semifinals in 2023. The Rockets are more concerned with replacing him — and the other positional holes — than about a streak that was commandeered by a largely different group of kids.
“[A state championship]’s the end goal, for sure,” first-year starting quarterback Jax Demester said on Friday. “But right now we’re just thinking about St. John next week and the preseason right now. So we’re gonna go get ‘em next week.”
Demester’s first crack at starting quarterback was largely successful. If nothing else, he proved he’s talented enough with his arm to lead the Rockets’ pass-heavy offense, which stands out in a run-heavy league. Demester threw six touchdown passes and totaled more than 350 yards in the air.
“We were practicing all week,” Demester said. “Summer camp was good. We had to fill a lot of new positions, which was difficult. And we all worked together, and we found what we could do and what would work.”
On the negative side, Demester did throw two interceptions. After a touchdown on the opening drive, the Rockets didn’t score again until the 8:10 mark in the second quarter. They eventually poured it on in the third quarter.
“We know he can get it done,” Belquist said. “It’s just getting the jitters out and getting a few games under his belt to just settle in.”
Despite being new to the starting role, Demester has had a fair amount of experience. Because the Rockets often led by such wide margins over the last two years, Demester got more play than a typical backup quarterback. This allowed him to get comfortable against varsity competition.
“A lot of our games, us JV guys were in there at the second half,” Demester said. “Getting those reps against those varsity guys and those bigger guys helped a lot coming into this year, and getting that experience, for sure.”
For a team like NR-S/M, a player being a “backup” often says more about how good the guy in front of him is, rather than any shortcoming of the player in the secondary role. That was apparent for the two championship teams. Several key wide receivers and the starting running back graduated after 2024, and the Rockets had very little issue filling those spots with players who were on the 2024 team but hardly played. Thomas Allmaras and Jackson Schumacher were perfect examples of that.
And it appears Demester may fit into that category, too.
“We knew what he can do,” Belquist said of Demester, who’s now a junior. “I mean, he can do a lot of what we’ve done for the last three years. He’s got a big arm. We’ve got to find plays that we can get over the top with him. … He was ready to go in last year against Hankinson when Easton was a little dinged up. And we felt 100% confident in him there.”
Meanwhile Schumacher, after a lone memorable year as the starting running back, has already graduated. So the Rockets have their third running back in the last three years.
And for the third straight year, it’s a senior.
This time, it’s Layton Jacobson, who moved from being a lineman. The 6-foot-1, 205-pound Jacobson had 81 rushing yards, unofficially, in his debut at his new position on Friday.
While Jacobson is a new face, the Rockets are going to employ the same strategy they did with Schumacher and Carter Engebretson.
“He’s gonna run straight. He’s gonna try to run you over,” Belquist said. “He’s got to learn maybe to not take on so much contact and maybe get his pad level down a little bit. But this is, other than team camp in the summer, this is his first time ever playing running back in a real game. He’s like Jax. He just needs some games and some experience.”
The Rockets also have three seniors on the offensive line. It’s an experienced trio they can feel comfortable with: center Aaden Benson in between guards Chaztin Wobbema and Malaki Kukowski.
At receiver, it’s safe to say the Rockets are confident in Allmaras, who opened with a five-touchdown performance after an all-state first-team season in 2025. They also have junior Koy Zieman, who’s in his second year as a starter. Zieman wasn’t utilized as much as Allmaras on Friday, but he had a knack for big plays: three catches for 117 yards. One of his receptions was a 58-yard touchdown.
The other two receiver slots carry less experience. Aiden Rodriguez is a speedy senior taking on a more central role; he was limited to two catches for 11 yards on Friday. Sophomore Jaxon Simon, Easton’s little brother, is now a first-year starter. He showed some promise, catching five passes for 47 yards. He also had several tackles on defense.
“Jaxon made some nice plays. We had trouble getting downfield on [Cavalier], and they had good coverage,” Belquist said. “We’ve got to get Aiden Rodriguez a little more involved.”
Belquist acknowledged that Cavalier’s defense took the outside guys away a bit.
Still, 50 points and six touchdown passes was a more-than-respectable start for this new-look Rockets squad.
With one more consecutive win, the Rockets would tie the 2013-15 Cavalier teams for the second-longest win streak (27) since the start of North Dakota nine-man football in 1975. The longest belongs to New England/Regent, which won 47 in a row from 1995-98.
NR-S/M (1-0) travels to play St. John (0-1) at 7 p.m. Friday. The Rockets are 5-1 all-time against St. John, including a 70-6 victory in 2025 and 69-0 in 2024.