B-B-E Jaguar Sports extended coverage: Friday Night Lights II: Jaguars by one point!!! (VIDEOS!!)

Believe it!!!

Final score: B-B-E 20, Maple Lake 19. The B-B-E Jaguars football team is 2-0! This is awesome!!!!! This is just the fourth time in B-B-E school history that the Jaguars have started the year 2-0. Besides 2021, they won their first two games of the season in 1997, 2006 and 2013. In 1997 they finished as Section 5AA runners-up, while in 2006 they lost six straight going into playoffs in a disappointing 2-7 season. In 2013, the Jaguars started 2-0 in a 7-1 regular season before finishing as Section 4A runners-up.

*Click on the following short link to read an extensive recap of Friday Night Lights II back in the 2013 season. That was eight long years ago, although I can still remember that game. (link) https://bit.ly/3hlwPpA. While beating Kimball to move to 2-0 overall that night, the Jaguars ran for 364 rushing yards! Wow! Fun fact: that was current assistant football coach Alex Schumann's senior season; he was the starting center on that team.

**Here's video from late in the fourth quarter at Irish Stadium! This video clip ends with just 107 seconds remaining in the game.

After Maple Lake turned the ball over on downs in that video, the Jaguars went crazy with energy and excitement! Almost too much, as there was a sense of premature celebrating while there was still game left to be played. I was raving like a mad man by that point, my voice almost gone, as I knew the win was within reach! "Don't quote me" but ...I believe this is only the third time in school history that a B-B-E football team has won in the Maple Lake stadium. The one win I vividly recall was back in 2005, when the Jaguars scored 18 second-half points in Friday Night Lights II. The Jaguars evened their record that on September 9, 2005 at 1-1 with a 27-24 come-from-behind win. Jordan Weller, Andy Hadley and Tyler Rath were three of many talented seniors on that team. Josh Roelike was the sophomore starting quarterback, and Austin Kampsen was a super talented junior running back.

**Here's another video clip that was recorded just before that first clip I added here (above)...this video starts with just over 2 minutes remaining in the game. The Irish had third-and-18 to go on their side of the football field. Ethan Spanier (No. 54) and Ryan Jensen (5) teamed up for a great tackle in this clip. Easton Hagen (2) also helped the defensive cause, as he helped alter the quarterback's route.

Back to the start of the game...
The Jaguars received the game's opening kickoff and started the first drive on their own 20-yard line. A key play early in the drive was a 10-yard catch on third-and-nine by Tyler Jensen to move the chains. Two plays later on second down, quarterback Luke Dingmann had a 25-yard run to get the Jaguars into Maple Lake territory. The Jaguars were in great shape after the next play as Braeden Michels had a seven-yard run on first down to the Irish 36-yard line. The drive stalled out, however, with back-to-back run plays that gained no yardage. On fourth-and-three, the Jaguars lost three yards to turn the ball over on downs with 6:54 left in the first quarter.

Maple Lake started on their 39-yard line and had nice gains on three straight running plays to get to the B-B-E 45-yard line. Then on third down, cornerback Easton Hagen had a "pick six" interception return for a touchdown that covered about 60 yards of the field. With 4:50 left in the first quarter, the Jaguars were in business with a 6-0 lead.

The Jaguars struggled on offense for most of the first half. Their second drive ended quickly when Maple Lake earned an interception at midfield on first down. The Irish set up their offense at the B-B-E 37-yard line with 68 seconds left in the first quarter. Using nine plays on the drive, the Irish scored with 7:57 left in the second quarter on a 12-yard reception. The PAT kick was good for a 7-6 Maple Lake lead.

Maple Lake later scored a second touchdown in the second quarter on a six-yard run with 32 seconds on the clock. The PAT kick was blocked to make the score 13-6 in favor of the Irish. In the first half, I have the Jaguars for 82 yards of total offense on four drives. One of the four drives ended right away on an interception, while the last of the four ended on fourth down near midfield in the waning seconds of the second quarter.

Maple Lake expanded the lead to 19-6 after they mounted a 58-yard scoring drive to open the third quarter. They scored on a three-yard run with 5:49 on the clock on third-and-goal. The PAT kick was blocked (HOW BIG WAS THAT!)

~~I hope to get more written here in the morning.~~ It's almost 1 a.m. and I need to call it a day! **Any more writing will be added to a new blog post.

**Here's some final notes that I wrote on this post right after getting home tonight:

Trailing 19-6 in the third quarter, the Jaguars scored with four minutes and 10 seconds left and then got a two-point conversion to cut the deficit to five. The touchdown came on a fumble recovery returned to the end zone by Johnny-On-The-Spot Easton Hagen. It was his second touchdown of the night, as he scored on a "pick 6" interception in the opening quarter.

The defense bent but did not break in the fourth quarter, and a 55-yard touchdown run by Blaine Fischer with 3:44 left in the game gave the Jaguars the lead. Fischer's scamper was just the second play of the drive that covered 62 yards.

Overall, my notes show that the Jaguars gained an unofficial total of 177 yards on offense tonight. However, that does not account for any yards they may have lost on their final drive as they were trying to burn off the final seconds on the clock in the fourth quarter.

The Jaguars played through a ton of adversity tonight. I am so proud of them. They need a great week of practice next week to prepare for a tough Benson team at their house for Friday Night Lights III. In their second game of the season, Benson (1-1) kicked the pants off of visiting Long Prairie-Grey Eagle by a 42-14 score at Brock Field. Junior fullback Thomas Dineen carried 40 times for a whopping 279 yards and five touchdowns. The Thunder managed just 35 yards of rushing.

*Volleyball update: at the Southwest Minnesota Invitational in Marshall tonight, the B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team defeated Andover by a 2-1 set score before losing to Wayzata in straight sets (25-15, 25-15).

Update: at Murdock tonight, the K-M-S Fighting Saints lost 47-12 to a very tough Browerville Tigers team. The Fighting Saints tallied 50 yards of rushing, and quarterback Alex Call was 15-of-23 through the air for 223 yards with no interceptions.

At Swanville, BOLD won 49-38 over Upsala/Swanville Area to improve to 2-0.

In the final game involving teams the Jaguars play this season, Kimball Area thrashed Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City by a 34-6 score at A-C-GC high school. The Falcons fall to 0-2, while the Cubs are 2-0.

Area football scores for Week Two:

#3 Minneota 43, Yellow Medicine East 6

Rockford Area 36, Melrose Area 13

Lac qui Parle Valley 33, MACCRAY 22

Hancock 58, Hillcrest Lutheran Academy 26

Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 30, Montevideo 14

Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 46, Brandon-Evansville 0

Paynesville Area 62, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 34

Osakis 22, Hawley 12

Milaca 30, Albany 28

Watertown-Mayer 24, New London-Spicer 21

#2 Pierz 41, Minnewaska Area 0