ALEXANDRIA — By capitalizing on a solid defense and converting turnovers, the Hanson Beavers defeated the Mt. Vernon Mustangs 34-6 to claim the Region 2 championship in a Class 9A football game Monday in Alexandria.

Hanson will take on Sully Buttes (9-1) Saturday in Alexandria for the right to go to the Dakotadome.

The first of five fumbles for the Mustangs came on their opening drive. After forcing a Beaver punt, the Mustangs faced a third-and-three when Hanson recovered a Mount Vernon fumble at the Beaver 35-yard line.

On the strength of a 37-yard run by quarterback Andrew Gross, the Beavers traversed the 65 yards in eight plays, capped by a 9-yard run by Pierce Smith to give Hanson the early 6-0 advantage.

The next drive for Mount Vernon stalled at their own 32-yard line, and a bad snap on the ensuing punt gave the ball to the Beavers on the Mustang 15-yard line.

Four plays later, Hanson upped its lead to 14-0 on a 1-yard plunge by Smith and the 2-point conversion by Trevor Doyle.

After an exchange of interceptions, Mount Vernon looked to get back into the contest with the ball at the Hanson 31, but another fumble gave the ball back to Hanson at the Beaver 28.

For the third time, Hanson took advantage of the Mustang miscue and the Beavers went on a 14-play drive that took seven minutes off the clock. With 2:12 left until intermission on fourth-and-15 and the ball on the Mount Vernon 18-yard line, Gross hit Austin Letcher on a scoring strike and the Beavers had a 20-0 lead.

The Mustangs finally got a break. After Hanson forced a Mount Vernon punt, the Beavers tried to get more, but Mustang senior Robbie Kazi intercepted a Gross pass and returned the ball to the Hanson 13-yard line with 46 seconds left until halftime.

With ball at the Beaver 3-yard line, Mustang quarterback Brian Kluth hit Jon Nebelsick on a touchdown pass and the Mustangs grabbed the momentum going into intermission.

That advantage was quickly nullified when, on the opening kickoff, the Mustangs misplayed the play the ball and Hanson’s Cole Wenande recovered the football at the Mustang 15-yard line.

Four plays later, Hanson increased its lead to 26-6 on a 1-yard dive by Smith.

“When (Mount Vernon) scored right before half, they had the momentum,” Hanson coach Jim Haskamp said. “It was a huge play on the kickoff when we recovered the ball and then took it in and scored. We grabbed the momentum back again.”

After getting ball back on downs, the Beavers ended the scoring on a 1-yard run by Tyson Tuttle.

“We didn’t really change anything (from the last time Hanson played the Mustangs),” Haskamp said. “We were a little bit more familiar with what they were doing and what our keys were. There were a lot of times we were only rushing three and we still got pressure on their quarterback.

“We just stressed being disciplined and getting your responsibilities, and that’s what I think we did.”

The Beavers (7-3) rushed the ball 50 times for 144 yards and were 3-of-7 for 23 yards through the air for 167 total yards. Letcher led Hanson on the ground with 15 carries for 91 yards.

Defensively, Doyle led the Beavers with nine tackles and five sacks, Tuttle had 11 tackles and Wenande added nine tackles, two fumble recoveries and an interception.

“In a big game like this, you take five or six turnovers and it’s tough to come out on top,” Mount Vernon coach Ryan Kristensen said. “The bottom line is we didn’t show up to play. They did, and they won.”

The Mustangs (7-3) had 28 carries for 22 yards on the ground and were 14-of-26 for 175 yards in passing for 197 total yards.

Kyle Gerlach led the Mount Vernon defense with 13 tackles, Derek Grace added 11 tackles and Kazi had two interceptions.