Friday Night Lights VII: a historic win for the B-B-E football program!

Above, the Jaguars huddle up prior to lining up for the game's opening kickoff at the SkyDome in Murdock.

This installment of Friday Night Lights VII hung in the balance until the final minute!! Not until Parker Schwinghammer hauled in one of the most incredible interceptions I have seen in high school football was this in the bag. The Fighting Saints were driving into B-B-E territory from midfield, and they had a long-shot pass that had a solid trajectory on Schwinghammer's position. With three K-M-S receivers within reach, Schwinghammer leaped in the air, grabbed the pigskin and was promptly smothered by the offensive players-turned-defensive players. He did not relinquish possession of the ball on the way to the turf in Murdock, and once the whistles blew on the play, it sewed up the win!

Here's video of the epic interception!


It was a truly wild ride!! (More on that later)

The B-B-E Jaguars football team is District Champions! They last won a conference championship in 1988! Tonight at Murdock, the Jaguars defeated Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg in an epic battle by a 24-21 score to claim at least a share of the Midstate, Sub-District III title. B-B-E is 6-1 overall and 5-0 in the sub-district. No team at B-B-E has ever won their first five games in a conference or district schedule.

B-B-E is 6-1 in football for just the third time in school history, joining the 1988 and 2013 squads in that light. The 1988 squad was the very first edition of the B-B-E Jaguars. They won their season opener over Bertha-Hewitt, then lost to Browerville to fall to 1-1. They reeled off seven wins in a row, claiming the Prairie Lakes Conference championship with a 4-0 record! In the Section 4B playoffs, they beat the Atwater-Grove City Blazers 13-8 in Belgrade in the quarterfinals before falling in the semifinals at No. 2-seeded Morris Area. That 8-2 final record stood as the best football record at B-B-E until 2013, when the Jaguars finished 9-2 overall and Section 4A runners-up.

Back to last night's game...
K-M-S scored on their second drive to go up 6-0 with 23 seconds left in the first quarter. The Jaguars countered in the final 90 seconds of the second quarter with a 29-yard scoring strike from Ryan Illies to Parker Schwinghammer, and B-B-E went into halftime ahead 8-6.

With 8:36 left in the third quarter, K-M-S scored to go ahead 14-8. Two big scoring plays then decided the game, with Adam Jaeger hauling in a 44-yard touchdown strike from Ryan Illies to regain the lead (Illies running for two points) and then Isaiah Gilbert blasting the K-M-S defense on an incredible 86-yard touchdown run (Kyle Felling PAT kick) to make it 24-14 with 6:34 left in the game.

The Jaguars outgained the Fighting Saints 312 yards to 267 yards, with a big difference coming through passing yards: 122 from Ryan Illies to 45 yards by Caleb Collins.

K-M-S fell to 4-3 overall with their second straight loss; in the sub-district, they are 3-3 and sit in a tie for fourth place with Parkers Prairie.

In second place in the sub-district is Royalton at 5-1. The Royals are on a four-game winning streak since they lost to B-B-E in Week Three. That night, the Jaguars held a powerful Royals offense to just eight points in a 24-8 win. Since then, Royalton has averaged 39 points per game! They will be very difficult to beat in the Section 7AA playoffs.

Third place is now held by Upsala/Swanville Area at 4-2.

Next week WE MUST PACK THE HOUSE and cheer on our Jaguars when they host Upsala/Swanville Area! Kickoff is at 7 p.m.! USA is 5-2 overall and will be very, very tough to beat.

This is CRAZY! The stars are aligning for our B-B-E Jaguars! Tonight the top seed in Section 4A, No. 8-ranked (AP state rankings) and previously undefeated Mayer Lutheran, lost to a No. 8-ranked (QRF) Blooming Prairie squad 28-27. In addition to that! Lester Prairie/Holy Trinity, who was hot on B-B-E's trail in the Section 4A standings, lost at home to a .500 Bethlehem Academy team by a 27-26 score tonight. Those losses are HUGE! The Jaguars now have a real shot at the No. 1 playoff seed in Section 4A by winning next week against USA! Regardless, the playoff road is tough as nails with as many as five Section 4A teams all having a real shot at winning three playoff games and going to state.

This game did not start out well at all! Here's video from the final minute of the first quarter:



Here's a video starting in the opening minute of the second quarter...with the Jaguars trailing 6-0 tonight...later in the clip, after the nine-minute mark, Isaiah Gilbert busts through a number of tacklers and had a huge gain from midfield to the K-M-S seven-yard line. Unfortunately that drive stalled out due to two penalties:


And video from the third quarter when the Fighting Saints regained the lead:


More to follow on Saturday.

Results from games on October 13 (Week Seven) involving Section 4A teams:
Blooming Prairie 28, Mayer Lutheran 27
Browerville 35, Kimball Area 32
Parkers Prairie 35, New York Mills 6
Royalton 35, Upsala/Swanville 8

Area football scores in Week Seven on October 13:
West Central Area/Ashby 40, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 14
Hancock 20, Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley 14
New London-Spicer 41, Little Falls 6
Renville County West 14, Hills-Beaver Creek 8
BOLD 54, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 0
Sauk Centre 39, Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 8
Montevideo 35, Benson 12
Minnewaska Area 48, Osakis 13
MACCRAY 37, Fulda 36
Eden Valley-Watkins 39, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 6
Pierz 42, Paynesville Area 6
Ortonville 50, Lac qui Parle Valley 47
Melrose Area 28, Holdingford 19
Willmar 8, Becker 6