“Timmy Guler had the best game of his career Wednesday night,” said his Coach Eli Beachy. “He executed the offense perfectly and made huge plays all night. It was heartbreaking when he went down in the 3rd quarter with a torn ACL. Timmy is such a great competitor and special kid and athlete. He has been through a lot in his career from an injury standpoint. No young man deserves that but if there is anyone strong enough to handle it, it is Tim.”

Guler finished with 131 rushing yards on 12 carries, scoring a pair of TD’s on the ground, while completing 10-of-12 passes for 192 yards and 3 scores.  Carter Johnson had a huge rushing game with 172 yards on 11 attempts and two touchdowns.  Peyton Blakeway added 3 receptions for 122 yards and a TD, while rushing for 61 yards on 5 carries and scoring another touchdown.

Breckenridge took a 3-0 lead on a 38 yard field goal by Gusten Bergkvist Eriksson to start the night.  Blakeway then raced 80 yards for the first Pelican Rapids TD of the night and a 6-3 Vikings lead.  Johnson then went 53 yards to the end zone and Guler added a two-point conversion run for a 14-3 lead after one quarter.

Guler connected with Hunter Williams on a 33 yard pass for six more and a 20-3 advantage early in the second quarter.  A 60 yard TD run by the Cowboys Bailey Evans cut the lead to 20-10 after the PAT kick by Eriksson.  Guler then hooked up with Blakeway on an 80 yard bomb to make it 26-10, Vikings.  Another touchdown run by Evans and a follow-up two-point conversion run by Gavin Pederson brought the Cowboys to within eight at 26-18.  Guler increased the lead to 34-18 with a 73 yard TD run and a successful two-point pass to Jack Kapenga.  His 10 yard TD pass to Luke Sjolie and subsequent two-point run made the score 42-18 at the half.

The two teams swapped touchdowns in the third quarter with Guler scoring on a 3 yard run and the Cowboys adding a 1 yard TD run by Pederson and an Eriksson PAT as the quarter ended with Pelican Rapids holding a 48-25 lead.

Carter’s 77 yard TD run in the fourth quarter completed the scoring, leaving the final at 54-25.

“I am so proud of how this team played and executed Wednesday night to finish up our regular season,” said Coach Beachy.  “To win our first conference championship since 2008 means a lot to this program and these kids.  The work they’ve put in is showing.  The adversity we’ve dealt with to this point will help us keep pushing forward the rest of the way and I have the utmost confidence in this group to continue to defy the odds.  Peyton Blakeway, our leading pass catcher, will take over the quarterback duties in Timmy’s absence and I trust him fully to do a great job.  He is a phenomenal athlete and has stepped in and operated well in the 3 games he’s now had to step into.  Going into playoffs with such a big change, the focus will be on being better tacklers and honing in on the fundamentals as we look to keep pushing toward our goal at the beginning of the year.”

Defensive leaders for the Vikings were Kaden Holt (10 tackles), Jack Kapenga (10 tackles, 1 fumble recovery, 1 interception), Jack Paulson (13 tackles) and Carter Johnson (3.5 tackles, 1 sack, 1 interception).  Hunter Williams and Justin Jacobson had 6 and 6.5 tackles, respectively.

Pederson led Breckenridge with 133 rushing yards on 15 carries and Evans ran for 55 yards on 4 attempts.  The Cowboys finished with 350 yards on the ground and 18 first downs.

Pelican Rapids had 533 yards of offense (192 passing, 361 rushing) in the game.  The Vikings, seeded second in the Section 8AA playoffs, receive a first round bye and will host a Section semifinal contest on Saturday at 2:00pm against the winner of Tuesday’s game between third seeded Crookston and number six Warroad.

Breckenridge received the number 5 seed in Section 6A and will open post season play at Menahga on Tuesday night in a Section quarterfinal contest.