Caledonoia wins its 67th in a row, returns to Prep Bowl Class 2A final

The Caledonia football program is so well-established, with 10 state championships, that coach Carl Fruechte doesn't bother with foundation-prepping that often preoccupies coaches. At this point, the Warriors are well past that.

Showing a sophistication on offense that would rival many college teams, Caledonia endured a slow start and routed Barnesville 43-12 on Thursday in a rematch of the 2018 Class 2A championship game.

After failing to complete his first seven passes, quarterback Noah King finished 13-for-25 passing for 277 yards and three touchdowns.

"We work a lot on it in the summer. We go to some passing tournaments, we're working on it right away," Fruechte said. "We're not running gassers and wasting our time doing that. We're doing football stuff."

Fruechte acknowledged that Caledonia has been fortunate to have had some elite-level passers to build around. Noah King, in his second season as a starter, is following older brother Owen, who posted a 41-0 record before graduating in 2018. Together, the King brothers have quarterbacked Caledonia to 67 consecutive victories, the longest active winning streak in the nation.

Color Barnesville coach Bryan Strand impressed when what he saw from Noah King.

"He's a playmaker," Strand said. "He's absolutely fantastic. He throws as well as any quarterback I've seen."

Using its spread offense, which often splits five receivers out wide and gives King the options to sift through open receivers, Caledonia took control of the game with 22 points in the second quarter.

King ran for a 3-yard score, answered by Barnesville with a 78-yard run by quarterback Adam Tonsfeldt. Then Caledonia got touchdown receptions from Tucker Ginther and Cole Kronebusch, taking a 22-6 halftime lead.

The Warriors added three third-quarter TDs, making it 43-6.

"We don't see that throughout the year," said Tonsfeldt, who led Barnesville with 173 yards rushing. "Most teams we play run 75 to 80 percent of the time. And we come in here and face a team with incredible athletes, just makes it that much harder."