Kayla Davis (dressed as the Jaguar Mascot) holds the "school flag" which has appeared at all home games this season for the Jaguar football team. We hope to see it displayed at K-M-S as well as we get behind our guys and cheer them towards a possible section championship.**Note- See the Thursday updates below for more scouting on K-M-S**
Let's show the K-M-S Fighting Saints that their school spirit comes in second place to ours, and give our guys an additional boost as they work to make history at B-B-E. We can do that in a positive fashion, displaying true sportsmanship, while at the same time putting a big ol' factor of intimidation into the mix at Saturday's football game in Murdock.
Imagine, the K-M-S players and fans getting on the field and seeing a sea of blue and silver on the visitor's side of the field. We can make this game a "home" game for our Jaguars. Bring to the game your neighbors, friends, anyone you can think of. For students with friends in Sauk Centre, Melrose, and Paynesville, tell them to go too! Football teams from those schools lost their playoff openers and will have Saturday afternoon free to come along. It will be worth giving up your Saturday afternoon and driving the short trip to Murdock.
Early scouting reports state that the football roster for K-M-S is made of mostly sophomores and juniors. They have three seniors who contribute heavily on both sides of the ball, led by a very talented 6'5" 225-pound Tight end/Defensive end Sam Kavanagh, nephew of highly successful former K-M-S head coach Chuck Kavanagh. Their signal-caller is first-year starter (sophomore) Kevin Steinhaus, who has been known to air the ball out quite frequently relative to K-M-S tradition which has always been, run, run, and then run some more. They deploy three different featured running backs, although one was recently injured and will not play during playoffs. Their starting center is a sophomore, and his backup is a freshmen.
**The latest - from Thursday night - I'll just give a few comments and bits of information I picked up while talking to a K-M-S coach and player.
-The K-M-S players are confident they will beat our Jaguars. They put part of their confidence simply into having the game on their home field (and that's a valid point on their part).
-They play 25 kids during the game as regulars, out of the 38 total on their 9th-12th grade roster. The two main seniors who will play are two-way players, Alex Baker and Sam Kavanagh.
-Besides that, K-M-S is able to employ heavy platooning, especially on their offensive line. This has enabled them to provide good protection for their young quarterback.
The player I talked to was quoted as saying "I want to take all eleven of their guys out when I'm on defense."
He's never had this sight in his life before, though...
If this is what the K-M-S defense sees during the game, they're in for alotta hurting!**Update on Thursday afternoon: A senior starting offensive lineman for K-M-S was tagged with an alcoholic minor on Tuesday night after their football game, so he will not be suiting up and playing on Saturday. It throws a wrench in the game preparation of K-M-S as they re-shuffle lineman to fill the gap.
Also, my sources say that one of the K-M-S players stated that numerous players did not "show up to play" (mentally) on Tuesday night against Upsala-Swanville, and they definitely were looking past the Patriots for their section quarterfinal matchup.
Their quarterback struggles against tall secondaries, and their running backs do not fare well against punishing hits. Because of a late-season injury (broken leg!) to senior Justin Johnson, they are down to two main running backs (Baumann/Skogstad) and a reserve back (Matt Rosemeier) and do not have a true fullback player. One of those backs, freshmen Joel Baumann, is lightning fast but also does not do a good job of protecting the ball while also running straight up, not putting his head down as a running back should do. In an open field, hardly anyone would catch Baumann. However, for him to get to open field on Saturday afternoon, he has to get across our Jaguars' defensive line and avoid our monster linebackers. (All I can say is, good luck.)
The key to this game will be the Jaguars' ability to lay good, solid hits on the K-M-S backfield early on, and to play with a high level of intensity for four straight quarters. An early lead would be helpful to snapping the confidence of the young K-M-S squad. It is their chance to step up and grab onto a wealth of respect and attention from central Minnesota football followers.
In 2005, playing mostly freshmen, sophomores, and juniors, K-M-S lost 10-8, running out of time as they drove downfield for a possible game-winning score, in the section semi-final at Ortonville. They finished 5-5 overall, then losing three seniors to graduation, including their starting quarterback.
In 2004, K-M-S took a 3-5 record into the playoffs where they won three in a row, taking the section title, then losing in a hard-fought battle in the State 1A quarterfinals against highly-ranked Ottertail Central of Battle Lake/Henning (who has since moved to Class 2A) to finish 6-6 overall.
In 2003, a senior-dominated K-M-S squad was 9-0 and seeded number one, ranked 4th in state, and hosted Dawson-Boyd in this same game, the semi-final, at Murdock. Dawson-Boyd pulled ahead in the game's final two minutes 27-22, and K-M-S ran out of time as they attempted to drive for a come-from-behind win.
In 2002 they finished 6-2 in the regular season, 5-1 in the Prairie Conference to tie for the championship. They lost 47-19 in the Section 5A final at the FargoDome to state-ranked Osakis and finished 8-3 overall.
So adding it up, since 2002 the Fighting Saints have gone 21-11 in the regular season, and 7-4 in Section 5A playoffs, for a composite record of 28-15. In that same span from 2002 to 2005, the Jaguars went 7-30 overall (6-26 in regular season play and 1-4 in Section 5A playoffs), winning their section quarterfinal over Osakis 20-13 in 2003 and going 0-1 to start playoffs the three other seasons.
K-M-S has history and tradition on their side. Our Jaguars have fate and good karma on theirs.