The B-B-E Jaguars football team travels approximately 55 miles northwest up Highway 55 to West Central Area high school tonight. They face a 1-0 Knights team that won 14-8 last week in their season opener. This is WCA's second straight home game to start the season, while the Jaguars are on the road for two straight before their home opener comes next week against Benson.
In this video, the Jaguars are shown starting a drive later in the first quarter at Bagley last Friday:
In that video, the Jaguars earned a fumble recovery on a Bagley fourth down play late in the second quarter. The clock had 2:28 on it when the Jaguars started on their own 40-yard line. B-B-E ultimately was stopped on a fourth-and-two play with about 30 seconds left in the first half.
I'll get some light scouting information posted here on WCA later this afternoon. Stay tuned!
West Central Area has had back-to-back winning seasons the past two years after competing in Class 2A in the playoffs. They made it to the Prep Bowl in 2021 before suffering a heartbreaking 13-12 loss to state power Chatfield in that game. This year the Knights earned a win in the season opener last week by a 14-8 score over Polk County West in Barrett. The Polk County West Thunder football team is a cooperative team between the high schools of Fisher and Climax plus Sacred Heart of East Grand Forks; they had a 5-5 season last year. WCA's offense started strong with a 20-yard run on their first play from scrimmage, but things went south from there with a rash of holding calls, false starts, offside penalties and a face mask personal foul in the opening half. Neither team had scored by halftime. The Echo Press newspaper reported that Sam Hanson got his WCA team fired up at halftime, and whatever motivation he provided worked as the Knights defense forced a fumble and gave their offense the ball near midfield early in the third quarter. WCA utilized numerous short runs plus a reception by tight end Ben Bye to move the chains and score on a rushing touchdown. Adam Lohse caught a two-point conversion pass over the middle for an 8-0 lead.
Early in the fourth quarter, Polk County West recovered a blocked WCA punt at the WCA six-yard line and were able to score a touchdown. With 9:08 left, they trailed 8-6 after a failed extra-points play. On the next WCA drive, quarterback Brady Lindquist found Hanson on a wheel route that the fill-in running back took 54 yards to score the game's final touchdown with about 6 minutes left in the game. The Thunder threatened down the stretch on two drives, but WCA's defense ended both with interceptions. Overall, WCA's defense forced six turnovers. Needless to say: they are very good! This will be a tough test for our Jaguars...100x tougher than last week. WCA is recovering from the graduation of two highly talented skill players at running back and tight end, but they bring back a load of players from the past two seasons who want to keep WCA running at a high level in football. They have what I would rate as back-to-back tough road games on deck after this week when they travel to Long Prairie and K-M-S for Week 3 and Week 4. They want to hit that stretch with a 2-0 mark.
More to come. It's after 4 o'clock and I need to get ready for the trip up Highway 55! This is my second trip that way this week, as I was in WCA territory on Monday at the Rafter P Ranch by Kensington for the Farm Bureau Breakfast on the Farm event. Also, this is B-B-E's first trip to play WCA on the road since 2016, when the Knights won 33-27 in Week 5 against our Jaguars after an 0-4 start. I'll never forget that game...it was hard to swallow. WCA was paired with Ashby that season, a co-op pairing that ended this past winter.
GAME UPDATES to follow here if you can't make the trip to WCA...
After the first quarter, the Jaguars are ahead 24 to 0.
**In the middle of the 2nd quarter, the Knights scored on a Pick 6 with a 20-yard return.
With 3:01 left in the first half, Luke Illies caught a 35-yard touchdown. The extra point conversion was incomplete to make the score 30 to 6.
With 3:01 left in the first half, Luke Illies caught a 35-yard touchdown. The extra point conversion was incomplete to make the score 30 to 6.
HALFTIME: B-B-E 36, WCA 6. With a low battery on myself and I won't be posting in the second half.
Final: B-B-E 44, WCA 14. I'm heading home, and my Friday Night Lights II post will be added after 11:15 p.m. I feel like I could run a couple more track meets...because this is FUN!!!! I have trained all summer for this football season, and so far so good!!
