Friday Night Lights III: Jaguars WIN

The Jaguars gather on the north end of Kimball's field after earning their first win of the season, while Coach Gossen talks about the game. Both Gossen and Coach Moscho stressed to the team that as great as it was to win, they had a lot of work to do if they want to continue improving this season.

Down 6-0 at halftime, the Jaguars football team knew they had to turn it on in the second half or go home with an 0-3 record. And turn it on they did while scoring the last 14 points of the game in a 14-6 win. The Jaguars ran for 239 yards on the ground.

With 6:05 left in the first quarter, the Cubs scored on a 32-yard pass reception by Jarred Merchant. Their PAT kick sailed wide left to make it 6-0 Kimball. The Jaguars had numerous drives going in the first half but continually shot themselves in the foot, mostly due to three lost fumbles before halftime. They were 0-for-5 on third-down conversions in the first half.

B-B-E tied it up on a spectacular 66-yard touchdown run by Tanner Heinsius with 3:24 left in the third quarter. The PAT kick was short, making it 6-6 as the fourth quarter approached. It wasn't much later in the game when Tommy Cebulla busted loose while following great blocking and scoring on a 49-yard touchdown run with 9:28 left in the fourth quarter. Heinsius ran wide left for the two-point conversion, lowering his helmet against a Cubs tackler at the goal line to make it 14-6.

The Jaguars made countless great plays in the second half. One that stood out in my mind was on one of the game's last plays while the Cubs had a last-ditch effort with the clock winding down. Their star wide receiver, Merchant, caught a pass near the sideline on a second-down play with nine yards to go and under two minutes left. He appeared to try to get out of bounds, but B-B-E's Josey Tensen ran up and had a spectacular "takedown" move on the much larger Merchant to keep him in bounds and the clock running. Hey, Josey, Coach Vos would be proud of that move!!! Great job.

Next is a home game with Holdingford, who lost 26-7 to sixth-ranked (Class 3A) Pierz tonight to fall to 1-2 overall. The Cubs are 0-3 heading into their game at Rockford Area in week four. Eden Valley-Watkins and Pierz are tied for first in the CMC at 2-0 each. The Jaguars are in a four-way tie for third place in the CMC with HL-W-W, Maple Lake and Holdingford all having 1-1 league records with B-B-E. Rockford and Kimball Area are both 0-2 in the CMC and tied for seventh place.

The season started with five CMC teams ranked in the state polls. After two games, four held state rankings: Pierz, Eden Valley-Watkins (sixth, Class 2A), HL-W-W and Maple Lake. The Lakers were 11th and Irish were 12th in the latest Class 2A poll.

Here's a short video clip from the first quarter at Kimball. The Jaguars were driving down on their second possession of the game and were knocking on the door of taking an early 6-0 lead...that didn't materialize.


Central Minnesota Conference football week three scores:
Maple Lake 51, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 6
Eden Valley-Watkins 19, Rockford Area 14
Maple Lake 26, Holdingford 7

Area week three football scores on September 12:
Blooming Prairie 41, #6-ranked Lester Prairie/Holy Trinity 6 (Awesome Blossoms' quarterback threw for 275 yards on 13-of-16 passing marks with six touchdowns)
Upsala/Swanville Area 41, New York Mills 12
Browerville 29, West Central Area 0 (Tigers head coach Wayne Petermeier gets his 100th career win)
Ottertail Central 48, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 6
Osakis 33, Prairie Valley 7
Albany Area 21, St. Cloud Cathedral 14
Norwood-Young America 28, Mayer Lutheran 7 (Raiders are 3-0, winning as many games as they did last year when they finished 3-8)
Paynesville Area 44, Melrose Area 0 (ouch!)
Minnewaska Area 44, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 8
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 53, Yellow Medicine East 14
Montevideo 21, Sauk Centre 14
BOLD 44, Benson 0
Hutchinson 47, Glencoe-Silver Lake 0
Holy Family Catholic 26, New London-Spicer 16
Canby 27, MACCRAY 12
Dawson-Boyd 61, Murray County Central 13
Royalton 48, Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 6
Sartell 49, Willmar 14
Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart 29, Cedar Mountain/Comfrey 22
Minneapolis North 41, Minneapolis Washburn 0 (Wow! Washburn is a Class 5A team that went 8-2 last year and was 2-0 heading into tonight's game)
Ortonville 20, Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley 14 (Trojans get first-ever win over neighboring CGB)


More to follow later.