Friday Night Lights Part I: Jaguars win season opener!!!!

That was fun!!

The Jaguars had plenty to smile about after tonight's game, a rare season-opening win. They know what they have to work on next week if they want a chance at beating Kimball in Week 2.

It was a great start to the season for the Jaguars football team after they defeated a very good Lester Prairie/Holy Trinity Bulldogs team by a 42-29 score tonight on the home field. It's the program's first season-opening win since 2010, when the Jaguars beat West Central Area in Barrett 13-0. What a difference 2 years makes...back in the 2011 season opener at B-B-E, the Bulldogs pulled out a narrow 8-0 win with sophomore quarterbacks leading both teams. I haven't looked at tonight's offensive totals but I am expecting some huge numbers by both teams.

Here's the other years that the Jaguars won season openers...it's not a long list either: 1988, 1990, 1997, 2000, 2006, 2007, 2010 and now 2013.

Read a bit farther below to see more on the first half of the game.

The Jaguars took a knee as the final 15 seconds of the game ticked off the clock...start to finish it lasted 2 hours and 44 minutes!



Coming up is a home game against Kimball Area for a Week 2 battle in the Central Minnesota Conference opener. The Cubs are 0-1 after getting hammered by Class AAA Jordan by a 47-14 score tonight.

A wild, action-packed second half...
The Bulldogs drew first blood after halftime when they pulled in front 15-14 with about 5:35 left in the third quarter. LP/HT had a short field to work with on that touchdown drive when Tesch returned an interception 28 yards to the B-B-E 29 with 9:12 on the clock.

James Kuefler stepped up when his team needed him and took advantage of some good blocking by his kickoff return team and brought the ball back 19 yards to set up the Jaguars with a 63-yard field. Two plays later they were in Bulldogs territory, and on second and long Tommy Cebulla had a 12-yard catch for a nice gain. With 33 yards to go, the Jaguars used four plays to score, including a 27-yard scamper by Austin Kollman to set up first-and-goal at the LP/HT three-yard line. Kollman scored from three yards out to put his team back in the driver's seat with 2:17 left in the third quarter. Kuefler grabbed the two-point conversion pass to make it 22-15.

Billy Borgerding (14) and Brendon Loch (78) teamed up to take down LP/HT's talented junior running back Nate Tesch during action in the fourth quarter tonight.

Later in the game...
A six-yard touchdown catch by Tommy Cebulla put the Jaguars up 42-22 with 4:14 left in the fourth quarter. The Bulldogs started with a 60-yard field on their next drive and worked the ball down field to score what I believe is the most meaningless first-team touchdown I've ever seen in a high school game with 15 seconds to go.

I am quite proud of the way the guys handled a poor ending in the first half and a poor start to the second half. They allowed the Bulldogs to score 15 unanswered points to swipe the lead away at the mid-way point of the third quarter, but over the last 17 minutes of the game it was all Jaguars. They hung together and rallied when they needed to. Oh, can't forget to also mention, great job on the turnout tonight! I don't think it was 1,000 fans like I asked for but it was certainly in the 600 to 700 range. Let's turn it up another notch for Week 2, sound good???

To top it off, senior fullback Austin Kollman rushed for a whopping 242 yards! After the game, the coaches gave heavy praise to the blocking and the hard work of the offensive linemen. Even with those lofty numbers by Kollman, the Jaguars developed important offensive diversity throughout the game and showed signs of great things to come this year.


Area football scores in Week 1, Friday night:
A-C-GC 41, BOLD 16 (Falcons make a statement tonight against the Class AA Warriors, who were a state semifinalist last year)
Sauk Centre 35, Yellow Medicine East 12 (Mainstreeters snap a 7-game losing streak dating back to September of last year)
NL-S 56, Mound Westonka 0
Melrose Area 14, Benson 12
Minnewaska Area 31, Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 14
Jordan 47, Kimball Area 14
Benilde-St. Margaret's 47, Albany Area 8
Wadena-Deer Creek 39, West Central Area 22
Paynesville Area 54, Montevideo 34 (wow!)