File photo by Travis Rosenau Red Rock Central’s Carter Therkilsen (24) runs the ball while chased by New Ulm Cathedral’s Ike Kirschstein (50) during the Section 2, Nine-Player Football Tournament semifinals in Lamberton on Oct. 25.

MARSHALL — The word “doubt” hasn’t been a part of the Red Rock Central Falcons’ vocabulary during their undefeated 10-0 season.

No matter how many doubters they may have coming into Thursday’s state football opener against the top-seeded Hills-Beaver Creek Patriots, nothing is going to change that.

“There’s probably not many people outside of our community and in our locker room that feel like we even have a chance to stay close in the game,” RRC head coach Isaac Jenniges said. “And we’re going to put forth our best effort. We have won every game and have defeated every opponent that has stepped in front of us to this point and we’re going to try to put a game plan together to do the same thing on Thursday.”

Thursday’s state quarterfinals game will take place at 7 p.m. at Southwest Minnesota State University.

With the 10-0 Patriots being the No. 1-ranked team in Nine-Player football this season, seeing them come out of seedings this past weekend with the top spot in the south wasn’t a big surprise. They score points, and a lot of them.

Averaging 52.3 points per game and allowing just 8.6 ppg, the Patriots’ lowest point total this year came in the section finals against Edgerton when they cruised to a 40-14 victory. Other than that, they’ve utilized their athleticism to scorch defenses, scoring at least 50 points in seven different games this year behind 6-5 senior quarterback Jamin Metzger.

“They’re the No. 1 team in the state for a reason,” Jenniges said. “They are extremely athletic on the outside. Their quarterback is a phenomenal thrower of the football. Their offensive line is very good at blocking the scheme that they play in the running game.

“Defensively, they are fast to the football, they’re physical, they don’t make many mistakes. They force your hand in the passing game because they’ve got some guys that can really get downhill from the safety position. Their linebackers are solid, their defensive ends are good, solid football players. When you factor all those things in and you watch film on them, you go in with an open mind of they’re a very good football team and they’re not going to give you a whole lot of anything. You’re going to have to earn every yard.”

The Falcons can put up points also, however, and only trailed once this season when the Wabasso Rabbits had a lead over them in the Section 2, Nine-Player finals last Friday in Cottonwood. Other than that, they’ve averaged 41.2 ppg and allowed 15 ppg this season.

“One of the things we talked about before we left on Friday was to that point, going into Friday last week, we hasn’t been trailing in any games,” Jenniges said. “We had been winning since we went to New Ulm [to play Cathedral] in Week 1. We scored on the second play from scrimmage and we had been winning in every game to that point [Friday]. We were tied three times.

“As a result, we talked about how at some point in the next few weeks, if we continue to try to get to where we want to go, we’re going to be behind, somebody’s going to score first.”

Jenniges and the Falcons saw the Rabbits grab a 14-0 lead Friday heading into halftime thanks to two turnovers, the first being a fumble on the first play of the game that the Rabbits ended up turning into a touchdown run by Drew Kemp and the second coming just before the half on a Joe Rohlik pick-6.

Jenniges said it was gut-check time after that, and the Falcons responded with Carter Therkilsen midway through the third quarter to get on the board as he broke off a 68-yard TD scamper. He ended up finishing the game with all four RRC touchdowns on rushes, the last coming with 13 seconds to play to give them the 26-21 win.

“It’s very much a team effort,” Jenniges said. “Carter, we talk about him all the time, but nobody sees the little things that the offensive line is doing, no one looks at the three times Abe [Stavnes] scrambles out of the pocket on fourth-and-medium or fourth-and-long to move the chains and get a first down. Those are all huge plays over the course of the game.”

The Falcons finished 4-6 last season, the first sub-.500 finish the program has had since the shortened 2020 season when they went 2-3.

The Falcons graduated 14 seniors in 2023, including numerous integral parts of the Falcons’ previous state tournament run in 2022. Regardless of that, the Falcons had some work to do to get back to being a state-caliber team and it wasn’t an overnight process.

“The goals that we have set for ourselves and the fact that we are going to have to be willing to put the hard work in when no one’s watching,” Jenniges said. “Getting up early, showing up four days, five days a week to work out and take it to another level. Lifting casually on your own time, that’s fine, but to really get to where we needed to be, we had to commit.”

The Falcons bought in and are reaping the benefits of a perfect campaign so far.

Falcons senior running back Carter Therkilsen has a target on his back every time he takes the field and for good reason as he’s not amassed 2,528 yards and 30 TDs on the ground. Senior QB Abe Stavnes is now up to 936 yards and 10 TDs on the ground while completing 59% of his passes for 910 yards, 13 TDs and just the one interception against the Rabbits.

Junior Jordan Therkilsen leads the RRC pass catchers with 30 receptions for 449 yards and seven TDs, while tight end Jake Erickson added 11 catches for 234 yards and three TDs.

But the Falcons’ defense has been solid also, led by Erickson and Jonah Skarupa’s 83 tackles apiece. RRC’s top three offensive weapons have made an impact on defense also, with Jordan Therkilsen recording 61 tackles and Stavnes and Carter Therkilsen adding 60 apiece. Carter Therkilsen also had four interceptions on the year, including the game-sealing interception in the closing seconds against Wabasso last Friday. Finn Batalden adds three interceptions, while Stavnes has two.

Jenniges credited his defense for keeping the team in the game against Wabasso and preventing things from spiraling, citing “extraordinary” tackling on the edges and a strong push from the defensive line as key in the win. But Jenniges will not only expect more from his defense Thursday, he’ll need it.

“In order to win Thursday’s game, we’re going to have to have that same team effort on defense from the same guys,” Jenniges said. “We need to find a pass rush. We haven’t been great at rushing the passer and their quarterback is very good at making read and getting the ball quick out there. So we’re gonna have to be on our game defensively.

“All of the teams they have beaten so far this year, they have jumped out to an early lead and been able to put it into cruise control in the second half. Defensively, I think our goal is to force them to earn every possession and give ourselves a chance to be in the game as we get through halftime … and maybe flip it and put the pressure on them a little bit and see how they handle being in a tight game for the first time all season.”