Friday Night Lights X: total, complete heartbreak at home

Ryan Illies scored on a one-yard touchdown on fourth down in this photo; the clock read 7:28 in the first quarter.

Total and complete heartbreak. That's all there is to say right now.

Final score in the Section 4A semifinals from our home field: No. 4-seeded Upsala/Swanville Area 20, No. 1-seeded and 10th-ranked B-B-E 14.

The B-B-E Jaguars took a 14-6 lead on the first play of the fourth quarter. Isaiah Gilbert plowed in for a three-yard touchdown on third down with 11:56 on the clock. Quarterback Ryan Illies scampered in the two-point conversion.

USA tied the game at 14-14 with 5:58 left in the game.

With the game tied, the Jaguars drove deep into USA territory in the final five minutes of the game They had first down around the USA 13-yard line. A couple plays later, the Patriots picked off a pass in the end zone with just 108 seconds left in the game (Jorgan Kiley interception...he is also USA's quarterback.) They proceeded to drive 80 yards and score to go up 20-14 with around 20 seconds left in the fourth quarter. I think it was 17.8 seconds...have to review game tape.

The touchdown was caught in double coverage in the right corner of the end zone (just inside the right pylon) by junior wide receiver Alex Thieschafer.

That was all she wrote.

*Watch the final minutes of the game here...the whole game changed completely at the 4:40 mark in this video:


So many thoughts right now. All the tough, heartbreaking losses in B-B-E football history are flooding through my mind. This one will rank near or at the top of that list. Right now it stands right below the toughest B-B-E football loss I've watched: the 14-12 Section 5AA championship game loss to No. 10-ranked Eden Valley-Watkins on Halloween night, 1997.

My sports department did everything it could to support this team and rally the community around it. If there was more I could have done, it would have happened.

It is cliche, and it is a very used phrase in many facets of life. It fits here: the state tournament for this team was not meant to be. I was fully convinced, every part of me believed it, that the Jaguars could get three section wins and land themselves in B-B-E's first state football tournament in 30 seasons of football dating back to the 1988 pairing.

I've had a front row seat to B-B-E football nearly every season since 1993. That dates back 25 years. I missed just a few seasons: 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002. So going from there, I've had a front row seat to 21 of the last 25 B-B-E Jaguars football teams. It makes today's loss very difficult to swallow - because they had legitimate hopes and dreams of a state tournament. I did not talk about it. I don't think anyone talked about it. You put it in the back of your mind and you hold onto that. One game at a time. Coming into today, Upsala/Swanville was all that mattered. That is the long and short of it.

Somehow, I have to get back to conquering my day. I have to put my best face on and plow through my evening - just as we all do.

It still hurts very, very much.

Regardless, nothing changes how much these guys and the seniors on this team mean to me. They will always be warriors in my mind. A band of brothers.

*Below, the National Anthem, sung by B-B-E junior Kaylee Torgerson:


Around the area...and I'll fill this out more on Sunday:
In the other Section 4A semifinal game today, No. 2-seeded Mayer Lutheran crushed No. 6-seeded Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg by a 42-7 score. I haven't decided what to think about that yet. To put it mildly, that score is an eye-opener. *The Crusaders led 21-7 at halftime.

In another afternoon game today, Minnewaska Area was defeated on the last play of the game in their home playoff contest against Holdingford. It was a No. 2 seed (Lakers) vs. No. 6 seed (Huskers) game. Final score: Holdingford 21, Minnewaska Area 18.

New London-Spicer, who has been knocked out of the last two years of Section 6AAA playoffs by Albany in the semifinals, earned some revenge on the No. 2-seeded Huskies by defeating them 28-20 in Albany. NL-S (7-3) is the No. 3 seed and now gets top-seeded and third-ranked Pierz in the section finals. Their section final is at 8 p.m. next Friday, Nov. 3 at SCSU. Congratulations to NL-S head coach Dan Essler and his team! Coach Essler is a 1981 graduate of Brooten high school. Side note: in Week Eight this season, Albany won 38-36 over NL-S in Albany.

##ConquerEveryDay