Caledonia routs Eden Valley-Watkins for 2A football title

Caledonia players and coaches treated Owen King's performance in the same nonchalant way their junior quarterback dissected the Eden Valley-Watkins defense.

King tossed five touchdown passes before halftime as the Warriors rolled to a 61-12 victory in the Class 2A Prep Bowl. Defending champion Caledonia (14-0) won its eighth state title.

"It's what I expect — humbly, that's what he's been doing," Warriors coach Carl Fruechte said of King, who threw for 48 touchdowns this fall.

Football is not King's future. The 6-2 guard verbally committed to play basketball at South Dakota State.

"I really believe all his basketball helps him to read the zones and man-to-man coverages," Fruechte said.

Coach Jon Thielen of Eden Valley-Watkins (11-2) agreed.

"In all my years, I don't know if I saw a quarterback who could pick you apart like that," Thielen said. "He was on right away. He was dang good today."

King was slinging arrows like the ones the color of Vegas gold on either side of the Warriors' black game pants. Caledonia scored on its first three drives, with King firing two touchdown passes to Jordan Burg and one to Andrew Goergen.

"It was a blast," said King, who turned 17 on Friday. "We wanted to come out aggressive and take our shot when they were there. I felt we did that, and then things got rolling. I was able to make throws I expect myself to make."