Friday Night Lights Part IX - this is awesome! Jaguars win 41-6 and advance to the section final for only the second time in B-B-E history!

Patrick Rooney is brought down after a big run in the first half for the Jaguars. He punched in the first touchdown of the game on a 22-yard run only three minutes into the first quarter. Photo courtesy of Aaron Schultz, Howard Lake Herald Journal.

What a game tonight! The Jaguars football team had a simply incredible performance in Lester Prairie carry them to an overwhelming 41-6 win in the Section 4A semi-finals. After leading 21-6 at halftime, the #3-seeded Jaguars put the hammer down to shut out the Bulldogs in the second half.

The only other time a B-B-E football team won a section semi-final game was in 1997, when the #2 seeded Jaguars hosted #6 seed MACCRAY and beat the Wolverines 29-14. In the Section 5AA final that year (on Halloween Night), the Jaguars lost 14-12 in a truly heartbreaking game at Eden Valley.

One other noteworthy point, the game tonight was put into "running time" in favor of the Jaguars for the first time ever since the mercy rule was implemented.

Get a load of this final score: Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 69, St.Agnes 0. The Falcons (5-4 overall) led 37-0 after one quarter of play and 55-0 at halftime.

Up next for the Jaguars: a short trip to Grove City next Friday night, November 6, for the Section 4A championship against #1 seed A-C-GC. Kickoff is at 7pm at Falcons Field, which is set behind the A-C-GC High School with a nice backdrop of a Meeker County cornfield.

Stay tuned, more will follow on Sunday morning. Below are quite a few playoff results from tonight's action around rural Minnesota...this is very cool: even though Holdingford and Pierz lost tonight, the Central Minnesota Conference will still have three teams in section finals this year. This is the second year in a row that the CMC has three teams in section final games. Last year, it was Maple Lake, Pierz, and Eden Valley-Watkins.

Pierz had no business losing tonight to Ottertail Central (17-6 final score)...while Holdingford almost beat Breckenridge 12-7. So it's not that far of a stretch to consider that the CMC almost had five teams in section final games this year!

Section 5AA semi-finals:
BOLD defeated Morris Area 35-24 in a pretty big upset!
Eden Valley-Watkins 48, Yellow Medicine East 6 (YME scored the first 6 points of the game, EVW scored the last 48)

Section 4AA semi-finals:
Mayer Lutheran 22, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 14
Maple Lake 50, St.Paul Humboldt 14 (a big win for the Irish football program)

Section 6AA
Breckenridge 12, Holdingford 7 (Lumley was a nightmare tonight for Breckenridge, but the Cowboys prevailed)
Ottertail Central 17, Pierz 6 (a pretty big upset in my opinion)

Section 6AAA semi-finals:
New London-Spicer 43, Annandale 25
Albany 33, Litchfield 12

Section 3, nine-man:
Wheaton 28, Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley 12
Edgerton/Ellsworth 20, Hills-Beaver Creek 14

Section 5A semi-finals:
Dawson-Boyd 46, Maccray 6 (Blackjacks are on a mission)
Minneota 48, Canby 0

Section 2A semi-finals:
Springfield 32, Cedar Mountain/Comfrey 6 (Springfield is the #1 ranked team in Class A)
New Ulm Cathedral 49, Le Centre 17

Section 6A semi-finals:
Browerville 21, Upsala/Swanville Area 15
Barnesville 42, Royalton 0 (a rough ending to the Royals' season)

Section 8AAAA semi-finals:
Alexandria 34, Detroit Lakes 13

A note from the HLWW vs. Mayer Lutheran game...Aaron Schultz, who has provided me a handful of outstanding photos from tonight's game in Lester Prairie, gave me the following little tidbit about the Lakers' loss at Mayer this afternoon (a 2pm game), saying, "HLWW should have won that game. The Lakers were down 16-14 with just a few minutes left, and were driving when they were down 22-14. After a nice run that brought it inside Mayer's 30, the Laker runner fumbled, ending their chances. A rough way to end the season."

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