Football: Area natives finish successful college seasons

The 13th-ranked Bethel Royals had its deep NCAA DIII Playoff run end at the hands of Mary Hardin-Baylor on Saturday, Dec. 3, 41-28 in Belton, Texas.

Mary Hardin-Baylor, the defending national champions at the DIII level, advanced to the semifinals after outscoring Bethel 24-7 in the fourth quarter.

Senior Quarterback Jaran Roste, an Alexandria native, along with Parkers Prairie native Josh Helling, a sophomore starting offensive lineman, helped lead the Royals to 414 yards of total offense.

Roste combined for 304 yards of total offense, 266 through the air, and 38 on the ground. Roste threw three touchdown passes in the game which helped the Royals build a 28-17 lead heading into the final 14 minutes of the game.

The Mary Hardin-Baylor (12-1) defense created three turnovers in the game while the offense committed two. Mary Hardin-Baylor had 449 yards of total offense.

The Royals finished the season 10-3 and this season marked the third team in the last nine years that they have won at least 10 games.

Roste finished his senior season with 207 completions on 302 attempts, 2,639 passing yards, 23 touchdown passes, nine interceptions, 492 rushing yards and six rushing touchdowns.

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Roste finished his stellar career at Bethel with many new all-time program records. He set all-time school records in passing yards with 9,051, touchdown passes with 70, completions with 682, passing attempts with 1,043 and total offense with 11,509 yards, rushing touchdowns with 45. His total of 2,458 rushing yards sits as 10th best in program history.

Roste is once again a semifinalist for the Gagliardi Trophy, which honors the top Division III student-athlete in football, academics and community service.

He also won the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference offensive player of the year award. Roste is a four-time all-conference selection (two-time second team and two-time first team).

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Parkers Prairie native Preston Yohnke has now finished his freshman year at the North Dakota State College of Science, where he plays on the defensive line.

Yohnke and the Wildcats won the Minnesota College Athletic Conference title on Nov. 6 and played in the NJCAA DIII Championship Game on Saturday, Dec. 3 against College of DuPage.

College of DuPage (9-2) squeaked out a 14-12 win to earn its second-straight national title on its home turf in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. Yohnke had 7.5 tackles in the game (1.5 for loss).

Yohnke finished the season with 28 tackles, two sacks and one interception. He made the All-Region 13 team and the All-MCAC First Team. His interception came in NDSCS's 44-19 win over Minnesota West Technical and Community College on Sept. 3, 2022. He picked off a two-point conversion pass and ran it back 98 yards which gave NDSCS some more points.

Yohnke helped the Wildcat defense hold opponents to 15.6 points per game, 74.1 rushing yards per game and 113.7 passing yards per game. The Wildcats held their opponents to 20 points or less in 11 games this season. Their average of 176.1 yards allowed was the best at the NJCAA DIII level.

NDSCS finished the season with a 9-2 record.