Second half struggle

Shown is the Maple Lake offense driving down field in the 4th quarter. Notice the time on the clock (8:13) and then consider that it took almost 2 more minutes of game time to go the last 14 yards and score to tie the game 13-13. It was that type of grind-it-out, smash mouth football.

First off, in reviewing more notes, I saw that Maple Lake attempted a field goal from the 24-yard line with 22 seconds left in the 2nd quarter. That attempt fell about 10 yards short of the goal post and left the score at 13-6 at halftime.

The second half was a struggle for all 24 minutes. The B-B-E first-team defense gave up a second-half touchdown for the first time since Week One against LP/HT. It was an incredibly impressive streak they had going through the previous four games.

(Kimball scored in the second half, but it was against our second-team defensive unit.) Holdingford, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted and Rockford Area all scored a combined zero points against the Jaguars in the second half of those games.

The Jaguars and Irish went back-and-forth for most of the second half fighting between the 10s...the Jaguars had a great drive underway in the 3rd quarter and got inside the 20. They stalled out with a lost fumble, though, losing possession at the Maple Lake 15-yard line with 7:17 on the clock.

Finally Maple Lake broke through with a touchdown with 6:22 on the clock in the 4th quarter. The touchdown was on 4th down from 3 yards out.

The Jaguars responded with a sustained drive that stalled out in the final minutes. Maple Lake took over from the Jaguars' 49-yard line with 3:54 on the clock. The outlook was bleak.

Fortunately, the Jaguar defense bent but didn't break, and they forced the Irish to settle for a field-goal attempt on 3rd down with 2 seconds on the clock at the 5-yard line. That ensuing kick was blocked by Billy Borgerding with no time left!! Overtime!!!

Coach Gossen gives David Rodgers the final play of the game...the Jaguars had 3rd down and only two chances left to score a touchdown. What followed was an incredible 5-yard touchdown run by Tommy Cebulla that tied the game at 19-19 in overtime. Cebulla almost got caught about 2 yards out but blasted through a handful of Maple Lake tacklers to find the end zone and save the day.

Interesting facts: Maple Lake has had some solid seasons in football recently. In 2009 they went 4-4 in the regular season before making a run to the Section 4AA championship and finishing 6-5. In 2010 they went 6-2 in the regular season before winning the Section 4AA championship and losing to Triton 26-21 in the Class AA state quarterfinals. In 2011 they repeated as section champions after going 4-4 in the regular season and lost in the state quarterfinals to eventual state champion Caledonia. Last year, the Irish started the season 5-0 before falling to a fired up B-B-E Jaguars team in Week 6 by a 14-7 score. They went on to lose their next two games to take a 5-3 record into the playoffs. They finished 7-4 overall and as Section 4AA runners-up. That's 29 wins in the last 4 seasons. Not too shabby! (They're 2-2 against B-B-E since 2010, in case you're keeping track too.)

Overall, the Jaguars have only beaten Maple Lake 4 times in football. (2002, 2005, 2012, 2013)

Here's a couple more scores that I didn't see last night:
Browerville 44, Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 7
Minneapolis North 26, Minneapolis Edison 0