Note: additional videos were posted here on Saturday morning, and be sure to take in my sports show that's shown further down on this blog post. It was recorded on Saturday morning. I'll be offline for most of the rest of today. A volleyball post with Alexandria updates won't be added until after 2 p.m. today***.
One of the largest Homecoming football wins in school history was delivered tonight by our B-B-E Jaguars! And what a win it was! This was an especially cold night compared to the previous five football game nights we've had. By the time the game was over, frost had started to form on objects and on the grass in the stadium. Brr!! Fall has arrived. As the cold settled in, the Jaguars electrified the stadium and operated at full steam all night long in a 48-12 win. Without closely looking, I believe you'd have to go all the way back to when it all began, in 1988, to find this huge of a Homecoming football win. It was in the fall of 1988, when the B-B-E Jaguars fielded their first-ever team, when they defeated Brandon/Evansville 68-12 at the *Brooten high school Homecoming in Brooten.
Against a tough, fleet-footed Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City team, the Jaguars methodically took apart the Falcons piece by piece as they racked up a 36-0 halftime lead. Through the first half, the Jaguars held A-C-GC off of the scoreboard for six straight possessions. In the first quarter, the Jaguars piled on a 22-0 lead with touchdowns by Jamison Reed, Toby Cebulla and Luke Dingmann.
In the opening minute of the second quarter, A-C-GC's defense held inside the red zone with a turnover on downs. The Falcons proceeded to convert one first down before punting from their own 28-yard line with 8:25 left. The Jaguars then mounted a 63-yard scoring drive that got a huge boost by Dingmann's 26-yard run down the left sideline on the second play. Reed later had an 18-yard catch to gain goal-to-go at the A-C-GC two-yard line. Reed hauled in a running catch in the end zone for his team's fourth touchdown of the game with 2:46 to go. The two-point pass was deflected to make it a 28-0 lead.
A blocked punt by Harley Weber on A-C-GC's fifth series of the game led to a quick touchdown as halftime approached. The Falcons were trying to punt from their 16-yard line. The Jaguars had goal-to-go on their first play of the series on the A-C-GC 10-yard line. Reed caught another pass in the end zone to make it 34-0 with just 60 seconds on the clock. Braeden Michels ran in the two-point conversion to make it 36-0.
*Here's a video featuring the second touchdown of the game tonight:
The halftime statistics were jaw-dropping: the Jaguars had limited the Falcons to just 30 net yards in the first half on 19 plays. One of those 19 plays resulted in a 12-yard run, and, well, you can do the math on the other 18 plays. On offense, B-B-E racked up 255 yards on 34 plays for an average of 7.5 yards per play by halftime. Crazy.
*Here's a video from late in the first quarter:
*I've got more video, but they won't be added until late Saturday night, and that will come in a new blog post. Most of my Saturday will be spent with a Miss Brooten Royalty trip to Xcel Energy Center for Sparkle Night with the Minnesota Wild.
To start the third quarter, the Falcons came out with new life and earned 18 yards on their first three plays from scrimmage. Their drive that started on their own 36-yard line ended on a failed fourth-and-six conversion attempt, as A-C-GC turned possession over to the Jaguars at the B-B-E 43-yard line with 8:09 on the clock. What followed was a nine-play touchdown drive culmating with a three-yard touchdown carry by Braeden Michels. The two-point conversion try was stopped just short of the goal line, and with 3:54 left in the third quarter, the Jaguars held a 42-0 lead.
On A-C-GC's eighth drive of the game, they started on their own 43-yard line and converted two first downs before they stalled out in Jaguar territory. On fourth-and-six, the Falcons were stopped with a five-yard gain at the B-B-E 24-yard line with just 18 seconds left in the third quarter.
B-B-E history was made on the next play, when the Jaguars started their eighth drive of the game on their 24-yard line with 18 seconds remaining in the third quarter. Jamison Reed caught a bullet shot from Dingmann in the right flats with tight coverage on him for a 16-yard gain. This reception pushed Reed's career total past 1,346 yards. That was the career total set by 2009 graduate Shane Weller. Reed finished the game with 168 receiving yards on 11 catches with three touchdowns. WOW! His record-setting catch was the first of a three-play touchdown drive that included a 41-yard run by Toby Cebulla and then a 19-yard touchdown catch by Cebulla. With 11:07 left in the game, the Jaguars expanded their lead to 48-0.
While the Jaguars were piling up 48 points across the first three quarters and change, the Falcons had accumulated just 86 yards on their first eight possessions with a goose egg on their side of the scoreboard.
A-C-GC started their ninth drive of the game facing B-B-E's JV defense. With a handful of first string offensive players on the field plus a new quarterback (eighth grader Brody Straumann), the Falcons started at their 46-yard line and used four plays to score on a 16-yard run with 7:14 left in the game. B-B-E's Andrew Spanier intercepted a two-point conversion pass.
A-C-GC's final score came with 1:44 left in the game when they attempted to convert a fourth-and-eight possession while earning a 31-yard touchdown run. Their JV quarter back ran around the right side and snuck just inside the right pylon ahead of B-B-E defenders for the touchdown. B-B-E's Louie Tensen provided tight coverage on an A-C-GC receiver to prevent a catch on the two-point conversion attempt.
Final score: B-B-E 48, A-C-GC 12. The Falcons fall to 2-4 overall, while the Jaguars improve to 5-1. A-C-GC's roster includes just 31 players, which is noteworthy considering that they are a Class 2A school. B-B-E totaled 450 yards of offense with 277 in the air on Luke Dingmann's 18-of-26 passing marks. The Jaguars rushed for 173 yards while accumulating 16 first downs on the night. A-C-GC totaled 185 yards of offense (99 on their final two drives in the fourth quarter) with 178 of those yards coming on the ground.
**Here it is! My sixth sports show ever...let's talk Friday Night Lights VI!
I've got a back log of quite a few football videos that I'd like to get posted before we get into playoffs. Below is a video from the Long Prairie-Grey Eagle game featuring the singing of the National Anthem and then the player introductions.
VIDEO from September 30:
Week six Mid-State, Sub-District III football scores on October 7:
Kimball Area 12, Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 6 (at Murdock, the Fighting Saints nearly pull off a big upset)
Upsala/Swanville Area 15, Browerville 14 (U/SA picks up a key Section 4A win at Browerville)
Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 16, Maple Lake 14 (Thunder win on Homecoming night for first victory of the season)
BOLD 46, Benson 0
Also, fellow Section 4A member Parkers Prairie earned their second win of the season by defeating Underwood tonight 50-22.
Area football scores in Week VI on October 7:
Paynesville Area 24, Holdingford 21
Breckenridge 45, West Central Area/Ashby 36
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 28, Minnewaska Area 14
Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 29, Sauk Centre 27
More to come. I'm writing up notes for a sports show, but I bet you'll be asleep
