Two in a row! TWO in a row! And it's TWO IN A ROW in a BIG WAY!
Update after I recorded my sports show: I'm over three hours past the end of the game, and I'm still jacked up on adrenaline because I had an absolute blast trying to keep up with all the incredibly great things happening on the football field tonight!!! (Sports show video added below)
The B-B-E Jaguars football team played four quarters of hard-nosed, smash mouth football with offense coming in waves as they completely dismantled the Benson Braves tonight by a final score of 52-6. With 6:04 left in the first quarter, the Jaguars had already built a 14-0 lead. The anticipation of what was coming continued building throughout the rest of the first half, and after the first 24 minutes of action, the Jaguars expanded the lead to 28-0.
*Here's a video from the first quarter on B-B-E's first offensive series of the game:
Just how thorough was the first-half whipping? B-B-E had 284 yards of offense by halftime, while Benson managed just 69 yards. B-B-E had averaged 11.4 yards per play in that first half! Dingmann's quarterback numbers were 7-of-11 for 161 yards. B-B-E's rushing stats were equally impressive: 115 rushing yards with 8.2 yards per carry.
The third quarter brought more of the same. As Benson tried valiantly to turn the game in their favor, the outlook got bleaker and bleaker. By the time the fourth quarter was approaching, the Jaguars were up 34-0 after quarterback Luke Dingmann scored from just a few inches out on first-and-goal with 1:40 left. That play was set up by a 24-yard catch by Talen Kampsen on the first play of the series. B-B-E's defense had just held Benson on fourth-and-two from the Benson 27-yard line to set up the short field. After Dingmann's quarterback sneak, Wyatt Lewis ran in the two-point conversion to make it 36-0.
B-B-E's lead grew to 44-0 with just 16 seconds remaining in the third quarter after the Jaguars scored on an 11-second touchdown drive from 51 yards out. Owen Paulson ran the drive's lone play off right tackle for the touchdown, and Jamison Reed caught the two-point conversion pass on a pitch-and-pass play from Toby Cebulla. Read that again: by the time the fourth quarter started, B-B-E led 44-0. That's right!
The Jaguars immediately began subbing down after they took that 44-0 lead. Their JV squad got knocked around a couple times by Benson, but they dug in and more than held their own in the fourth quarter. When the dust settled on the final 12 minutes, they had outscored the Braves by an 8-6 margin.
FINAL: B-B-E 52, Benson 6. That's right! This was a win to savor, and it helps erase the bad memory of last year's 40-12 hammering they endured at Benson in Week Three.
Mid-State, Sub-District III football scores on September 16:
No. 3-ranked BOLD 30, Browerville 8 (at Browerville)
No. 9 K-M-S 14, Upsala/Swanville Area 8
Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 28, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 8
For the game, B-B-E tallied a whopping 480 yards of offense, including 247 rushing yards. Luke Dingmann was 11-of-16 at quarterback for 233 yards and four touchdowns. They had 15 first downs compared to nine for Benson. One of the most important defensive stats of the game was 0-for-4...that represents Benson's fourth-down conversion rate. That was a huge storyline in this big win!
The Braves fall to 1-2 overall, and they host Browerville next Friday after being on the road for Week Two and Week Three.
Next for B-B-E: the Jaguars have a huge, HUGE test ahead of them for Week Four as they travel to Upsala/Swanville Area next Friday, September 23. The game will be played in Swanville. Let's start planning NOW to make the big road trip to that game! UPDATE: the Upsala/Swanville Area Patriots lost 14-8 tonight at Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg in Murdock in what was K-M-S's Homecoming game. The Fighting Saints scored on their first two possessions of the game and held on for the win to improve to 3-0. You have to go all the way back to 2008 to see the last time K-M-S won their first three games of the regular season. They started 4-0 that year and ultimately went 12-2 overall while winning the Class 1A state title.
**Here's my third-ever recorded sports show! It recaps Friday Night Lights III!
Looking back the past three years for B-B-E: during Week Two of the COVID season in 2020, the Jaguars were dismantled by the Braves and then-sophomore Thomas Dineen. The final score on October 16, 2020 in Belgrade was 48-12. Benson led 42-12 at halftime in that game where they essentially named the score. Going back to Week Seven of the 2019 season, the Jaguars traveled to Benson seeking their first win of the year...in a snowstorm no less. The Braves pulled off a 33-0 shut out for their second straight win, while the Jaguars were on their way to a winless season. Benson went 3-7 that year with a 1-1 showing in the Section 4A playoffs. The sum total of all of this if you're tracking it is that Benson has beaten the Jaguars by a cumulative score of 121-24 in the past three seasons. They put the gauntlet down tonight, though, in what was a huge, huge statement win.
More to come. Video is uploading, and I'm putting together notes for a mini sports show!
