NEW ROCKFORD — The Rockets aren’t satisfied with being ranked No. 5.
In New Rockford-Sheyenne/Maddock’s home opener on Friday, the Rockets hosted North Prairie. The matchup brought together a pair of 2-0 teams, with the home Rockets ranked No. 5 in the latest poll while the Cougars stood at No. 2.
NR-S/M brought little doubt about which was the better team Friday night.
“I think they kind of screwed us in the rankings right away,” running back Carter Engebretson said.
North Prairie could never recover from an ugly first minute of the game, which included a touchdown and a turnover. The Rockets fueled their jets and soared to victory in a highly anticipated matchup that very quickly turned into a laugher. NR-S/M led 38-0 at halftime and won 60-14, all but assuring a massive jump in the polls next week.
“This is what you want. You want these big games,” Rockets head coach Elliott Belquist said. “Our kids, day in and day out, they’re hungry. They attack each week like it’s a new week. And they put in the time in the film room. They come to practice every day ready to work, and I’m just so proud of their effort tonight.”
It only took the Rockets until the second play of the game to get on the board. Running back Kage Wolford burst through the line and sprinted 55 yards downfield for an instant touchdown. Bennett Meier caught the two-point attempt, and NR-S/M led 8-0 before an entire minute had even gone down on the clock.
Following the quick score was an immediate turnover, as sophomore Malaki Kukowski recovered a fumble and got to the Cougars’ 30-yard line. It was a completely disastrous start for the No. 2-ranked team in nine-man football.
Carries from Easton Benz and Engebretson, along with a catch by Meier, got the Rockets inside the 10-yard line. Quarterback Easton Simon eventually found Benz open in the middle, putting the Rockets up two touchdowns. The two-point attempt was no good this time, so it was a 14-0 lead.
“That was huge. You couldn’t ask for anything better,” Belquist said. “When you’re playing a good team like that, to get a turnover early, and go up 14-0 in the first couple minutes, you can’t script for a better start. So that kind of set the tone right there.”
NR-S/M forced a stop, but then got intercepted on its next offensive drive. The Cougars took over the ball around midfield, then utilized back-to-back passing plays to get inside the 10.
A pass interference call helped get them to the six-yard line, but a brief fumble and a tackle by Wolford set them back to the 15. The Rockets took a timeout with just 24 seconds left in the half. The Cougars went for it on fourth down, but an incomplete pass forced them to turn it over on downs.
“[The Cougards] came out, and they drove the ball on us that first quarter,” Belquist said. “And then our defense did a heck of a job, bending but not breaking.”
On the next drive, which commenced over the final seconds of the first quarter and the first two minutes of the second, a series of handoffs to Engebretson got NR-S/M back into the end zone for its third touchdown of the game. Meier had a 38-yard run in the middle of the drive that got the Rockets to the 16.
Benz caught the two-point pass, and it was 22-0.
The Cougars picked up a fourth down with a quarterback keeper play on their next drive, but Kailar Jacobson intercepted the ball inside the 10.
After Engebretson ran for a gain of 11, Meier took the ball all the way down to the Cougars’ 15 for a 64-yard run. A pass to Benz got NR-S/M to the five, and Engebretson fell just short of the end zone on two consecutive plays before finally squeezing in on third-and-one.
“He’s a horse,” Belquist said of Engebretson. “That’s kind of our thing. I think maybe a lot of teams think we’re gonna go with him right away, but it depends what teams give ya. You get settled in, and then, with his 230-pound frame, we like to start pounding when they get a little fatigued.”
On the following drive, Brody Weisenburger intercepted the ball on North Prairie’s second down. The Rockets took over the ball at the 14 and quickly got it to Benz, who ran in for the touchdown with less than three minutes left in the half. They converted their fourth two-point conversion among their five touchdowns thus far, and held a whopping 38-0 lead at the halftime break.
North Prairie finally got on the board on its first drive of the second half. A 35-yard run put the Cougars at the eight-yard line. NR-S/M’s defense held strong, with three straight blocks from a host of Rockets contributing on the tackles. But on fourth and 13, North Prairie found an opening. The two-point attempt was no good, and it did nothing more than chip the Rockets’ lead with a toothpick down to 38-6.
So back to the Rockets it went. A holding penalty set them back on each of their first two series, but Wolford caught a 30-yard pass, and Benz caught a pass and broke a tackle for a gain of 18.
NR-S/M had first down at the 10-yard line. Wolford ran the first four yards, and Engebretson ran the remaining six. Benz caught the two-point pass to make it 46-6.
After a quick stop, a long run by Thaddison Wobbema led to another touchdown, as the Rockets just kept piling it on. One more successful two-point conversion later, it was 54-6 and the Cougars were playing with clearly deflated energy.
Thomas Allmaras went on a roughly 60-yard run with less than four minutes left. The two-point attempt was for naught this time, giving the Rockets their final point total of 60.
With under two minutes to go, the Cougars came up with their own long run, which came on the kickoff return. Their two-point attempt was successful, bringing it to 60-14 as the final seconds ticked down.
The Rockets’ players unleashed all their joy after going through the handshake line and gathering in the end zone for the postgame huddle. They cheered as they sprinted down the field, chanted together and made sure Belquist was greeted to a warm welcome.
This is only the second season where New-Rockford Sheyenne has co-opt with Maddock. But they’re gelling, and they might be even better than the team that went 10-1 and made it to the semifinals last year.
“We started a new co-op,” Engebretson said, “and we’ve already got chemistry.”
Now, region play awaits them. After three straight wins of 30 points or more, NR-S/M will take on the Nelson County Chargers next Friday in New Rockford.
“It’s a great confidence boost and all that,” Belquist said, “but we can’t get too high on ourselves. We’ve gotta keep these guys grounded. And we’ve gotta keep these guys doing what they’ve done up to this point, to try to get better and better.”
