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Patriots wrap up perfect season with a section championship victory

Lead Summary
By
Brennen Rupp

If it weren’t for Covid-19, the Hills-Beaver Creek Patriots likely would have been celebrating a trip to the nine-man state tournament and possibly a state championship. But due to the pandemic, the Minnesota State High School League opted not to host state tournaments for fall sports.
Instead, the Patriots had to settle for a one-game section tournament.
Rather than celebrating a section championship at Southwest Minnesota State University, the Patriots enjoyed a Section Championship victory over Mountain Lake Area on their home turf.
The Patriots bested the Wolverines 52-7 on Friday, Nov. 20, in front of their home crowd.
“Mountain Lake beat us the last two years in the section championship,” H-BC head coach Rex Metzger said.
“The four losses we’ve suffered over the last two seasons were against them. It was nice to beat them twice within two weeks. Obviously, we would like to keep playing, but it was a great way to end the season.”
Just like they’ve done all season, the Patriots struck quickly and never looked back.
Tyson Bork took the first play from scrimmage to the house on a 95-yard rushing touchdown. The two-point conversion was no good, but the Patriots led 6-0.
“That set the tone right away,” Metzger said. “Tyson was able to break that off and we were able to jump on them early. That was pretty big. We’ve been in control of the game from the start in all of our games this season.”
While the offense gets all the headlines for the Patriots, their defense has been equally powerful. It’s a unit that had only given up 28 points through six games entering Friday’s matchup.
Following Bork’s rushing touchdown, it was the defense that made an impact once again.
Tryce Bennett picked off an MLA pass and set the Patriots up inside the 20-yard line.
A few plays later Bork scored on a two-yard rushing touchdown. Gavin Wysong converted the two-point conversion to put the Patriots up 14-0.
“Our defense has played so well all year,” Metzger said. “They play so physical and fast. It’s an experienced group and they play with a lot of confidence.”
He said the interception after Bork’s touchdown affected momentum.
“That kind of took the wind out of their sails,” Metzger said. “We were able to jump on them early.”
The Wolverines were able to respond by scoring on a seven-yard touchdown pass to trim H-BC’s lead to 14-7.
The Patriots wasted little time in answering back. Wysong scored on a 71-yard rushing touchdown to put the Patriots up 20-7. Wysong connected with Casey Kueter to extend the Patriots’ lead to 22-7.
Bork scored his third touchdown of the first quarter on a 23-yard scamper to put the Patriots up 28-7.
Wysong opened the scoring in the second quarter on a 27-yard rushing touchdown. Bork scored the two-point conversion to put the Patriots 36-7.
For the fourth time in the first half, Bork found paydirt. This time the senior running back scored on a five-yard rushing touchdown. Wysong hooked up with Zander Wysong on the two-point conversion to put the Patriots up 44-7.
The Patriots wrapped up the scoring when Wysong connected with Oliver Deelstra on a 30-yard passing touchdown. Wysong connected with Chase Bosch to put the Patriots up 52-7.
 
Senior influence
With the win, the Patriots finished the season with a perfect 7-0 record. A big reason for the team’s success was due to the nine seniors on the team.
It’s a group of seniors that had hopes of bringing home a state title this season. Due to Covid-19 that group of seniors never got the opportunity to chase after that dream.
“Your heart hurts for them,” Metzger said. “You know how much time they put into this program. That stuff was all taken away from them. This is a group of guys that had the talent to go to state and win a state championship.”
It’s a group that

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