Friday Night Lights, Part I - Jaguars Football Falls in Heartbreaking 27-20 Loss, Shane Weller Hauls in School-Record 224 Receiving Yards

The Jaguars football team gave nothing short of a valiant, leave-it-all-on-the-field effort in their 2008 season opener. Just when one counted them out, down 27-6 in the middle of the 4th quarter, the Jaguars came roaring back against a good West Central Area Knights team. A win and the much-needed Section 5A playoff points that would come with it were not in the cards, though, as time ran out on the late would-be comeback.

I hope to get a small capsule from both the WCA coach as well as Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted's coach... The Jaguars travel to HL-W-W next Friday for the 2nd game of the year. I'm almost certain that the game will be at the Lakers' new high school south of Howard Lake. (This would be a big step up from their current field, which has hosted numerous "mud bowls" over the years.) I don't have a full update on the progress of the athletic fields for their new 9th-12th grade facility.

Scores from the area from Friday night's action on the gridiron:
Montevideo 12, St.Cloud Cathedral 6
Albany 55, Yellow Medicine East 0 (OUCH!... 16 Huskies combined for 527 rushing yards on 62 carries...Whew!)
Benson 16, Sauk Centre 14 (Did not see that coming...Benson was 0-9 in 2007)
NL-S 48, Paynesville 0 (another OUCH!)
Eden Valley-Watkins 33, Pipestone 0
Kimball Area 35, St.John's Prep 0
Foley 34, Lac qui Parle Valley 0 (LQPV had a 100+ mile trip home after this loss...!)
Milaca 30, Minnewaska Area 14
Pierz 27, Rice Lake, Wisconsin 20 (the Pioneers scored with 19 seconds left for the win)
Becker 40, St.Michael-Albertville 39 (Becker stopped a conversion attempt late in the game to preserve the win)
AC-G-C 49, Morris Area 22
Hancock 54, Bertha-Hewitt 42 (Defense? who needs that)
Jordan 50, Rockford 19

The Jaguars girls tennis team battled at the Moorhead Quadrangular on Friday, a meet that went from 10am to 5pm. Below is a photo taken once the meet was completed. No, they're not in a serious pose here either!


This Jaguars sports update brought to you by: