Photo courtesy of Beth Belquist.
Left to right: Jack Kuntz, Bo Belquist, Simon Romfo, Grant Romfo, Deng Deng.
The University of North Dakota football team scored the most points in Alerus Center history on Saturday. And numerous Lake Region representatives were a part of it.
It all started with Simon Romfo and Bo Belquist in the first half. The UND defense struggled early on, allowing touchdown runs of 58 and 65 yards, but Belquist came up with a pair of similarly long receptions. A 73-yard touchdown from Romfo to Belquist put UND up 10-7, and a 41-yard touchdown by Belquist — while dodging a defender in the corner after catching the long pass — gave the Fighting Hawks a 17-14 lead.
Belquist, who recently achieved the most receptions in UND’s Division I history, has been playing at an elite level. The fifth-year wide receiver from New Rockford already has 478 yards this year in five games. That’s an average of 95.6 per game, nearly 30 more than his career high of 67.6. He totaled 121 in Saturday’s game.
Romfo has settled in nicely amidst his first year as the starting quarterback. The junior from Calvin, who was a star for Langdon Area/Edmore/Munich, has passed for 940 yards this season and rushed for 146. He bolstered that total with 276 passing yards on Saturday.
As the game, which was a relatively close 24-14 at the end of the first quarter, spiraled into a rout, the Fighting Hawks began to rest some of their regulars. Romfo’s twin brother, Grant, got some action at running back and scored his second career touchdown. He collected 43 yards total — narrowly outdoing the 42 yards he had in three games last year.
Also seeing time on the offense in the fourth quarter was a name much more recently familiar to Lake Region fans: 2024 Four Winds graduate Deng Deng. The multi-sport star, who won Mr. Basketball, the Class B high jump title and Senior Athlete of the Year, officially got into a game for the first time on Saturday.
Deng’s action was limited, with no pass attempts to him during the short time he was in there. In the game’s final minutes, he was charged with a holding penalty.
Deng will likely end up redshirting this season, assuming he doesn’t appear in more than three games. He received encouraging reports preseason, and made the initial road trip to Iowa State despite not playing. His future at UND is very bright.
While the defense was on the field, Deng could be seen talking with Belquist — the fifth-year senior having to look up at the recent high school graduate.
Another important yet unheralded piece in the Fighting Hawks’ success was fifth-year offensive lineman Jack Kuntz. This is Kuntz’s second straight season being a consistent fixture on the offensive line. Romfo’s ability to pass successfully hinges largely on the blocking from Kuntz and the rest of the line.
To make matters sweeter, after completing the 72-35 drubbing of Murray State, the five Lake Region players gathered for a photo. The picture really illustrates how strong Kuntz is, along with how big Deng is for a freshman. S. Romfo, at only 5-foot-11, looks little compared to the rest. Romfo’s had to overcome evaluators’ doubts about whether he could succeed as a quarterback with his size.
But so far, so good for the kid from Calvin. It was a positive day not just for the UND team, but for all five Lake Region representatives individually.
The Fighting Hawks are now 4-1 and ranked No. 7 after winning four consecutive games. They’ll travel down to Fargo this Saturday to take on No. 2 North Dakota State.
