ELKTON — The Elks made a statement on Friday night.

The top-ranked Elkton-Lake Benton shutout No. 3 Viborg-Hurley, 43-0, in a matchup of two-top rated teams in Class 9AA.

“The boys had the game circled coming into the year and we knew Viborg-Hurley was going to be pretty good,” said Elkton-Lake Benton coach Kaleb Haas. “I don’t know if we executed great but the scoreboard ended the way that we wanted it to, with a W, so that’s all we could ask for.”

The Elks scored 35 points in the first-half with the help of three key second-quarter turnovers resulting in short fields for the offense.

“It was a fun one,” senior quarterback Colt Beck said. “We came in here knowing they were a pretty good team, we just wanted to set the tone right away. That’s just been our mentality all year, we want to get out to a fast start.”

But it was the special teams that created a short field for ELB late in the first quarter. On a VH punt, senior running back Eliot Erickson returned the ball to the Cougar 19-yard line, setting up the first of four Beck touchdowns. Beck would follow the touchdown up with an impromptu 2-pt conversion after a bobbled snap on the PAT.

“He’s a heck of an athlete,” Haas said of Beck. “Whether it's offense or defense, he’s always flying around. He battled a couple nagging injuries but he’s a great guy to have on our side of the ball.”

After a turnover on downs from VH, the Elks picked up the pace on their next drive running a no-huddle offense highlighted by a 35-yard completion from Beck to Savion Stephens, before Beck punched in his second score on a 26-yard scramble.

With a 14-0 lead, the Elks were in control, all while limiting VH star quarterback Brady Schroedermeier and the Cougars high-powered offense.

“Keeping Schroedermeier in the pocket,” Haas said of the gameplan on Schroedermeier. “He’s a great athlete. He finds spaces to run and he creates a lot of trouble for defenses. We came in with that being our No. 1 focus defensively and we still couldn’t quite do it very well so that’s hats off to him and their gameplan getting him mobile and creating stress on our defense.”

The wheels came off for the Cougars on the next three possessions that all resulted in turnovers, and touchdowns for the Elks.

Joseph Nibbe jumped in front of a Schroedermeier pass for an interception, returning it to the VH 25-yard line. Erickson scampered up the right sideline for a 24-yard gain before Beck’s third rushing score of the game.

“The turnovers definitely helped just to keep our offense on the field, keep them from scoring points and keep the momentum on our side,” Haas said.

Brenner Gerdes stepped in at quarterback for the Cougars and was intercepted by Erickson on his first pass attempt, with Erickson finding paydirt just a few plays later.

With just a minute to go in the half, the Elks were sitting at a comfortable 28-0 lead, but weren’t done scoring just yet. Defensive lineman Myles Poindexter jarred the ball free on an Evan Campbell carry, recovering it at the Cougars 34-yard line.

The Elks went for the dagger late in the first-half three plays later with Beck connecting with Stephens on a 32-yard touchdown pass.

“He was hurt last week so coming into this week he was super amped up,” Beck said of Stephens. “He’s been working so hard this summer I wanted to get him that touchdown. Just going for the kill shot and setting the tone.”

A top-5 matchup in Class 9AA turned into a five-score lead in the blink of an eye, with the Elks scoring four times in the final eight minutes of the first half, but coach Haas wanted to make sure his squad stayed focused during the second half.

“We were preaching to the boys that it's a 0-0 ballgame,” Haas said. “We wanted to make sure they didn’t get a breath of life in that second half. They’re a great team that can come back in a hurry so we wanted to keep the pedal down.”

With a running clock in the second half the game was all but over for the Elks, but still managed to find the endzone in the fourth quarter with Erickson scoring at the goal line for the final points in the blowout win.

“It builds confidence,” Haas said of the victory. “It was kind of a sloppy win while still being a victory so we’re going to learn the lessons from playing a good team, see what we can clean up and get better for this stretch coming up.”

The top-ranked Elks’ schedule doesn’t ease up anytime soon, with a road trip to Freeman to take on No. 4 Freeman/Marion/Freeman Academy next week.

“We’re excited, we’re confident,” said Beck. “We’re trying to take things week-by-week and we know that there will be things to clean up this game. It wasn’t perfect but we’re excited, we’re amped up.”