Friday Night Lights III: first 3-0 start ever for Jaguar football! (VIDEOS)

The B-B-E Jaguars football team is 3-0 for the first time ever.

Tonight against Benson, the Jaguars raced out to a commanding 42-10 halftime lead while they kept Benson's first team offense out of the end zone without a touchdown the entire night. Benson later scored against B-B-E's JV defense with 6:30 left in the fourth quarter. By that point, all the damage was done, and the Jaguars had a 58-17 lead which stood to the final horn.

B-B-E led 14-0 after the first quarter, with Toby Cebulla scoring with 4:54 on the clock on a four-yard carry for the 14-0 lead. The Jaguars scored their first touchdown on a 49-yard run by Luke Dingmann on what was a one play drive with 8:51 on the clock.

An interception by Josh Walstrom ended Benson's first drive of the game, which set up the Jaguars at midfield just prior to Dingmann's touchdown.

Here's a video from the first quarter tonight:


With 9:38 left in the second quarter, Benson got on the scoreboard with a 26-yard field goal to make the score 14-3. Below is a video showing the Jaguars holding Benson to the fourth-down play and field goal after the Braves mounted a sustained drive that started on their own 27-yard line.

Second quarter video:


B-B-E's third offensive series of the game was set up by a terrific 15-plus hard kickoff return by Ethan Mueller, who got the Jaguars to Benson's 42-yard line. Later on fourth down and two, Dingmann converted with a four-yard run up the middle. Owen Paulson then had a 12-yard carry, and Luke Illies caught a 17-yard pass two plays later to get goal to go. Paulson then finished the 8-play drive with a one-yard plunge for a touchdown with 6:43 left before halftime. Harley Weber's two-point carry made it 22-3.

At halftime, the Jaguars held a 42-10 lead after they outscored Benson 28-7 in the second quarter. Not exaggerating: that was one of the wildest quarters of football I've ever witnessed at the high school level. The last three touchdowns scored by B-B-E were through the air, the last coming on a 53-yard strike from Dingmann to Sobiech with 1:18 left. Paulson again ran the two-point conversion to make the score 42-10.

After they fell behind 34-3, the Braves scored their first touchdown of the season on an 85-yard kickoff return with about 90 seconds left in the second quarter.

B-B-E scored two touchdowns in the third quarter. The first was on a 9-yard carry by Dingmann, and the last was on a 10-yard carry by Jack Lundberg. On the last touchdown, Luke Illies caught a two-point conversion pass to give the Jaguars a 58-10 lead with 2:37 left in the third.

Benson capped the game's scoring with a one-yard touchdown run with 6:30 left. They had a successful PAT kick to make it 58-17.

I was impressed by Benson's fight that they showed all night. They are clearly struggling this season. It's a rebuilding year. We wish them the best. Benson is a team that will only get better game by game. They made some nice plays defensively that challenged the Jaguars. That is a good thing. The schedule just gets tougher from here.

For the game, the Jaguars piled up 389 yards of offense compared to 173 yards for Benson. Luke Dingmann had an outstanding night with 12-of-15 passing marks for 228 yards and three touchdowns. His leading receiver tonight was junior Hayden Sobiech, who is back from injury and caught 3 passes for 79 yards with one touchdown. Dingmann ran for 72 yards, with the one carry for 49 yards and a touchdown and three other carries for 23 yards.

NEXT: the Jaguars continue the two-game homestand next Friday, September 22 in Belgrade. The opponent will be a tough Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City Falcons squad. We need a big crowd next week! Tonight's was a TERRIFIC crowd, but let's make it even bigger and louder for Week Four!!! The Falcons are 1-2 overall after getting shut out by visiting Upsala/Swanville Area, who won 36-0 at Grove City to improve to 3-0.

More to come. Video is uploading, and game notes are being reviewed! I also have a pulled left hamstring to deal with. That honestly happened late in the fourth quarter or even after the game...I don't know for sure. I think it happened on my dash from the pep band to the team's postgame huddle...that 60-yard sprint did me in. Oh boy. I was unable to get any post-game interviews recorded. I had my hands full getting my equipment gathered and getting to the car without hurting my left leg even more. For the record: tonight's game was good for almost 6,000 steps! I had my watch firmly duct-taped to my wrist so it wouldn't fall off while I was sprinting around the stadium. Ice, compress, elevate! Thanks for the help, Trish!

I'm spending this extra time I have tonight laying on a couch icing my hamstring by sweeping around for college volleyball news. I am aware of numerous former B-B-E Jaguar volleyball players who have become part of very successful college programs. The two I am keenly aware of are 2019 graduate Emily Knight (a middle blocker at Colorado School of Mines) plus 2022 graduate Emily Kern (a libero at St. Cloud State University)...both are in outstanding Division II programs. I have to get some coverage on fall college sports in the newspaper. This is something I never got around to in the fall of 2022. I saw that Emily Knight was a starter for all 30 matches for her team a year ago as a junior, when she finished No. 1 on the team in blocks and No. 2 for kills with incredible 27.6 percent hitting. That's outstanding! Her team went 22-8 in 2022. The Orediggers earned an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, where they went 1-1 with a tough 3-2 loss to No. 9-ranked West Texas A and M. The ending of their season was brutal with a 15-13 loss in game five. Heartbreaking.

Emily Kern's SCSU Huskies are 8-2 after earning a 3-0 sweep tonight over Minot State in North Dakota.

Mid-Northwest Gopher Gold Sub-District Week III football scores on September 15:
Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 21, Browerville 6 (Fighting Saints rack up 238 yards on the ground while remaining undefeated with this win in Murdock)
Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 36, Upsala/Swanville Area 0
West Central Area 60, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 0

Area football scores in Week III on September 15:
Yellow Medicine East 24, Lac qui Parle Valley 13
Minneota 42, BOLD 28
Pierz 35, Minnewaska Area 0
Springfield 48, Russel-Tyler-Ruthton 22
Polk County West 39, Bagley 18
Kimball Area 34, Paynesville Area 0
Montevideo 33, Melrose Area 7
Canby 28, MACCRAY 20
Alexandria 37, St. Cloud Tech 14
Dawson-Boyd 33, Lakeview 0
Holdingford 46, St. Cloud Cathedral 7
Albany 66, Sauk Centre 20