On a very cold but calm Friday night in Browerville, the B-B-E Jaguars football team earned their oats and then some by winning their sixth straight game over the Tigers. Final score: B-B-E 36, Browerville 20. Once the game concluded, the temperature in Browerville was 35 degrees. This is B-B-E's third straight win over Browerville after they lost all meetings in 2018, 2019 and 2020. (They met twice in 2020.) Never mind that the Jaguars posted 36 points...the name of this game was once again defense just as it was last week! B-B-E's defense held Browerville to punts on their first four possessions. The Tigers gained just two first downs in the game's first 22 minutes. Browerville's fifth drive of the first half ended with an interception just as they neared the red zone. Their first five possessions yielded just 81 net yards, their offensive total at halftime. They would not score until their seventh possession of the game.
The Jaguars (6-1) now have a head of steam as they prepare for the short week, Week Eight, which will be a home game next Wednesday against No. 1-ranked BOLD. The Warriors will be stinging from their first loss of the season, as state-ranked (No. 7 in Class 2A) Kimball Area won 24-14 at the Warriors self-described "Dog Pound" in Olivia. The Cubs led 16-8 at halftime.
Browerville falls to 2-5 overall with their third straight loss, but I expect them to win at Maple Lake next week and hover in that No. 4 or No. 5 playoff seed. We'll see how the QRF rankings shake out after Week Eight!
The dog fight that I predicted this game would be played out for much of the first half. Neither team could find the endzone in the first quarter. B-B-E posted two touchdowns in the second quarter and led 14-0 at halftime. Braeden Michels scored on a one-yard run with 4:11 left, and Toby Cebulla later caught a 20-yard pass for the second touchdown with 1:24 left.
*Here's video featuring a catch by Owen Paulson on B-B-E's first scoring drive in the 2nd quarter, courtesy of the Browerville school YouTube page:
**Here's a video featuring Toby Cebulla's touchdown late in the 2nd quarter:
By the middle of the third quarter, the Jaguars held a 22-6 lead after Luke Dingmann scored a touchdown. Browerville had previously scored on a 55-yard quarterback run by sophomore Ryan Reidel on a one-play, nine-second drive to make it a 14-6 score with 7:34 left in the third quarter.
Game statistics...the Jaguars piled up a whopping 462 yards of offense compared to 278 yards for the Tigers. B-B-E ran a season-high 72 plays from scrimmage while earning 22 first downs. Michels was the leading ball carrier with 110 yards on 20 totes. Dingmann ran for 55 yards on 15 carries with two touchdowns, and Cebulla had six runs for 26 yards. Dingmann's quarterback line was 14-28-271 with one touchdown (a catch by Cebulla in the second quarter).
Cebulla and Harley Weber each had three solo tackles to lead the defense.
Hurting Browerville tonight were two turnovers: one lost fumble and one interception. The Jaguars continued their string of games without a turnover. I'll have to look and see exactly how long that streak is!
Week seven MidState District, Sub-District III football scores on October 14:
Upsala/Swanville Area 23, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 8 (afternoon game at Upsala)
Kimball Area 24, BOLD 14 (Cubs win at Olivia)
Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 29, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 6 (at Grove City)
Benson 44, Maple Lake 6 (at Maple Lake)
Parkers Prairie, most recently the No. 4-ranked team in Section 4A, lost 32-18 tonight at state-ranked New York Mills. The Panthers (2-5) host a very good Ottertail Central Bulldogs team next week to close out the regular season.
More to come after 10 p.m. Lots to digest!! I've got some game video, but that won't be posted here until Saturday morning.
