Barnum keeps rolling along

A year ago, Barnum football coach Rob Minkkinen had a feeling his Bombers would be a good football team. This year? Minkkinen knew they had some unproven talent, but after four games even he is surprised by the 4-0 squad.

"We lost a big and talented group of players last year," Minkkinen said. "The group this year has waited for their chance to play and they've spent a ton of time in the weight room and in practice. They are ready to show what they can do."

After picking up a close win in their first game of the season over rival Moose Lake/Willow River, the Bombers have had blowout wins over Chisholm, Deer River and Braham, which they beat 34-8 last Friday.

Barnum dominated in the battle of the Bombers. With 6:06 to play in the first quarter, Barnum went up 7-0 on a Bryce Ferguson five-yard pass to Spencer Strohm and kicker Eoghan Heaslip's extra point boot. Ferguson was 12-of-17 passing, good for 92 yards and a pair of touchdown passes.

"Bryce (Ferguson) is one of those kids who waited for his turn to play and has stepped in at quarterback with a lot of poise," Minkkinen said.

Braham bounced back with a 27-yard touchdown pass of their own. A two-point conversion gave them an 8-7 lead after one quarter, but from there on out, it was all Barnum.

"The defense has started to gel for us," Minkkinen said. "Two games in a row, they've created turnovers that we ended up turning into points."

Julian Beckstrand scored on back-to-back runs of seven and two yards as Barnum went ahead 20-8 at halftime. Beckstrom ran 184 yards and three touchdowns in 28 carries.

"Julian is a talented kid who also had to bide his time because last year we had so many kids who could run the ball," Minkkinen said. "He's tough to take down and he can do it all from out of the backfield."

Just 1:02 into the third quarter, Ferguson hooked up with Landon Oetterer for a 14-yard touchdown strike, pushing the lead to 27-9 after the extra-point boot.

Barnum ended the scoring at 4:42 of the fourth quarter on a 14-yard touchdown scamper by Beckstrand, making it 34-8 after the extra point kick.

On defense, the Bombers had a number of big performances including nine tackles from Ryder Haggard, eight from Brock Hurst and four from Andrew Goodwin, who had a tackle for loss and a sack.

"I told the team that this group is capable of doing a lot of good things and the floor is much higher than I originally thought," Minkkinen said. "Every game has been a complete team effort with someone else leading the team in tackles each game."

The Bombers recorded three interceptions in the game with Ferguson, with Strohm and Eli Gilbertson all coming up big with picks.

The Bombers were scheduled to play at East Central Thursday against the 1-3 Eagles.