Friday Night Lights III: on-field struggle vs. Royals

The going was tough in the third installment of Friday Night Lights this fall for our B-B-E Jaguars football team. In a road game at No. 10 state-ranked Royalton, the Jaguars trailed 8-0 after the first quarter and 24-0 in the second quarter. A 15-yard scoring strike from Jackson Peter to Dylan Meyer in the second quarter made it 24-8 at halftime.

B-B-E's defense held for the third quarter, as the Royals got just one touchdown in that period on an 81-yard punt return by Zach Gottwalt (6'5" wide receiver/safety). The Royals senior, three-year starting quarterback, Gavin Suska, made good on nine of his 16 pass attempts for 168 yards and three touchdowns. He had second-quarter scoring passes of 51 yards and 45 yards.

Final score: Royalton 32, B-B-E 8. The Royals (3-0) rolled up 376 yards of offense, with 208 yards coming on the ground. The bulk of their rushing yardage came from seven ball carriers who had 18 or more yards on the night. The Royals, second place in Sub-District III and a Section 7AA finalist last year, appear as strong as ever in spite of losing District Offensive Back of the Year Riley Smieja (1,351 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns in 2017) to graduation.

Next for the Jaguars: a home game on Friday, September 21 against Browerville (1-2).

Mid-State, Sub-District III football scores in Week III, Sept. 14:
@Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 28, Upsala/Swanville Area 14
@ Kimball Area 28, Parkers Prairie 20
New York Mills 10, @ Browerville 6 (this is NYM's first win in our sub-district since they joined in 2017)

*Note: the Cubs and Fighting Saints will clash next week in Murdock on K-M-S's Homecoming in an early clash of teams with eyes on Sub-District III hardware.

Area football scores in Week Three, September 14:
Willmar 47, Princeton 12
Renville County West 49, MACCRAY 12 (RCW's quarterback, Jack Howard made good on 14 of his 19 pass attempts for 378 yards and no interceptions)
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 20, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 13 (the Tigers out-rushed the Falcons 311 to 122)
New London-Spicer 49, Zimmerman 13 (Zimmerman entered the game ranked No. 7 in Class 4A; the Wildcats led 35-0 at one point in the second quarter!)
Dawson-Boyd 58, Lakeview 20
Osakis 56, Benson 8 (the Silverstreaks improved to 2-1 and had 438 rushing yards compared to Benson's 25 yards on the ground)
Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 28, Upsala/Swanville Area 14 (Dylan Rudningen ran roughshod over the Patriots defense with 34 carries for 303 yards and three touchdowns; the Fighting Saints tallied 436 rushing yards and 24 through the air)
Rothsay 44, Park Christian 13
Barnesville 38, West Central Area/Ashby 14
Bertha-Hewitt 30, Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley 22
Brainerd 36, Alexandria 7
Holdingford 25, Eden Valley-Watkins 0
Melrose Area 40, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 12
BOLD 84, Sauk Centre 13 (ouch, wow)
Minnewaska Area 43, Montevideo 0
Ortonville 21, Yellow Medicine East 7
Pierz 34, Maple Lake 7
Paynesville Area 48, Rockford Area 20
Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 34, Staples-Motley 28 (this was LP-GE's first sub-district win since September 3, 2015, when they beat Warroad 20-12)
Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 14, Brandon/Evansville 8 OT