**This blog post was updated on Thursday morning with additional game details and playoff seedings.
The B-B-E Jaguars football team just wrapped up the school's first undefeated season on the gridiron. In the 35th edition of B-B-E football, the Jaguars overcame an inspired performance by Class 2A Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg after riding a 14-0 lead into halftime. B-B-E's defense played at an incredible level all night, and the offense punched through an insurance touchdown on their 10th and final series of the game. With 3:17 left in the fourth quarter, Harley Weber bulldozed into the end zone on a one-yard carry to give the Jaguars a 20-7 lead.
Final score: #5 B-B-E 20, K-M-S 7.
The previous school record for regular season wins stood at 7 games, and the previous record for most wins in a row was also 7 wins (earned in 2013 and in 2017). The 1988, 2013 and 2017 squads were the only B-B-E football teams to go 7-1. The 2022 squad went 6-2, but the other 30 seasons of B-B-E football all yielded records of 5-3 or worse going into the postseason.
Simply put: this season has been very, very special, and we're not done! Not remotely close.
Here's another sports show! Just recorded tonight a little before midnight in our recording studio:
The Jaguars built a head of steam in the first quarter with two early touchdown drives. After the game's opening kickoff, they had to first come up with a stop against a fleet-footed K-M-S ground game that had Jett Olson carry the ball three straight times for a total of 18 yards to get to midfield. Three plays later on fourth down, Toby Cebulla came up with a huge knock down to force a turnover on downs at the B-B-E 45-yard line with 7:42 to go.
The familiarity between the teams was on full display after the Fighting Saints held B-B-E to a net loss of one yard on the first two plays. On 3rd-and-11, Luke Illies found a big opening over the middle and caught a 17-yard pass. K-M-S again stymied B-B-E on two straight plays, but the Jaguars got a 13-yard catch by Jack Lundberg on third and long. Illies recovered a loose ball on the next play after a long run by Dingmann, which gave the Jaguars goal-to-go at the nine. Dingmann ran for 4 yards, and Ryan Jensen's 4-yard catch put the Jaguars inches from the goal line. Dingmann scored on a quarterback sneak that gave the Jaguars a 6-0 lead with 3:07 left in the first quarter.
K-M-S had a 9-yard run on the first play of their second series from Olson, but the Jaguars then got a big stop on 3rd down before the Fighting Saints had a false start on fourth down.
Brett DeRoo's 21-yard punt return set the Jaguars at the K-M-S 39-yard line with 1:50 left in the opening quarter. A five-play scoring drive followed that included a 13-yard catch by Illies, an 11-yard run by Ryan Jensen and then an 18-yard carry by Jack Lundberg into the end zone. Owen Paulson's two-point conversion run made it a 14-0 lead with 11:24 left in the second quarter.
Both defenses drilled down on the teams' offense for multiple series stretching across the second and third quarters.
Here's a second quarter video with B-B-E's defense facing K-M-S's offense for the fourth time of the game:
To start the third quarter, the Jaguars began their sixth series of the game on their own 16. They later moved inside K-M-S territory on Dingmann's 12-yard run. Hayden Sobiech's 11-yard catch got them to the K-M-S 25, but the Jaguars lost 8 yards on the next 4 plays to turn the ball over on downs with 6:45 left.
Later on their 9th series, the Jaguars drove from the K-M-S 18-yard line to the goal line, where an interception by Taytan Nielsen ended the drive.
The Fighting Saints broke up B-B-E's shutout bid with an 86-yard scoring drive coming after they intercepted that pass at the goal line with 7:17 left in the game. The scoring drive used 12 plays and was capped by Jett Olson's 10-yard run with 4:28 to go. A successful PAT made the score 14-7.
B-B-E then righted the ship with a 49-yard scoring drive after recovering an onside kick. They used 6 plays to cover the distance, with Lundberg getting a crucial 13-yard run to gain goal-to-go at the K-M-S seven. Back-to-back carries by Harley Weber finished the drive off with 3:17 left. Luke Dingmann earned a huge touchback on the following kickoff to further dim K-M-S's hopes for a comeback. With 2:10 left in the game, Carson Gilbert earned a pass knock down on fourth down to essentially end the game at the K-M-S 47-yard line.
Post-game statistics:
On offense, the Jaguars totaled 260 yards with 155 coming on the ground on 35 carries. Luke Dingmann connected on 13 of his 18 pass attempts for a total of 105 yards. K-M-S struggled most of the night at moving the ball and got a large share of their 199 total yards on their lone scoring drive, good for 86 yards as mentioned above. Of their 199 yards, 112 were through the air on 9 pass completions by quarterback Jared Cortez.
By virtue of their undefeated regular season, the Jaguars earned the No. 1 seed in Section 4A and have a first-round bye. They will be spectators for the quarterfinals, which are on October 24 at the higher seeds. With K-M-S moving to Class 2A and Class 1A having no other teams to move into our section, the top two seeds earn first-round byes. As it stands, No. 9-ranked Upsala/Swanville Area (7-1) will be the No. 2 seed and also will not play on the 24th.
K-M-S takes a 5-3 record into the Section 5AA playoffs. After a 5-0 start that put them in the Top 10 rankings in Class 2A, they take a three-game losing skid into the playoffs. They lost the three games by a total of 23 points. In their section, K-M-S appears to be a lock for the No. 4 seed and would then host No. 5-seeded Royalton (2-6) in their playoff opener. Eden Valley-Watkins (8-0) and Kimball Area (6-2) are the top two teams in Section 5AA.
NEXT: the Jaguars (8-0) host the section semifinals on Saturday, October 28 at 2 p.m. in Belgrade. Spread the word and make sure to mark your calendars! B-B-E will face the winner of the No. 4 vs. No. 5 quarterfinal game. That's all I know at this point. UPDATE: I saw that Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City did what I predicted they would do after we beat them in Week Four: they ran the table heading into playoffs. A-C-GC buried Benson 57-13 tonight to finish with a 5-3 regular season record. They take a four-game winning streak into the Section 4A quarterfinals.
THURSDAY morning update: the Section 4A seedings have gone final, and the Jaguars are indeed the No. 1 seed with a first-round bye.
2023 Section 4A football seedings:
1. B-B-E
2. Upsala/Swanville Area
3. Browerville
4. Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City
5. Benson
6. Long Prairie-Grey Eagle
The Jaguars were also No. 1 seeds for the playoffs in 2013 and 2017.
*Here's a post-game interview with Coach Moscho:
Sidebar: it has been truly special to have a front-row seat to teams coached by Coach Moscho. Across his 14 seasons as head coach, I have missed somewhere between 10 and 15 games. I remember being unable to go to the team's season openers in 2011, 2019 and 2020. I've missed a trip or two to towns such as Parkers Prairie or Browerville. I haven't missed much, though, and so far this season I have watched every single down of football played by this team. It has been so worth it!!!
Mid-Northwest, Gopher Gold District scores on October 18:
Upsala/Swanville Area 40, West Central Area 12 (at Swanville)
Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 57, Benson 13 (Uff! Falcons build a head of steam going into playoffs and rack up 417 yards of offense in Grove City)
Browerville 43, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 16
Area football scores on October 18:
MACCRAY 7, Yellow Medicine East 6
#4 BOLD 40, Canby 6
#1 Minneota 50, Dawson-Boyd 6
Minnewaska Area 28, Melrose Area 6
Albany 43, Montevideo 42 (Huskies score 22 fourth quarter points to secure the win)
B-B-E then righted the ship with a 49-yard scoring drive after recovering an onside kick. They used 6 plays to cover the distance, with Lundberg getting a crucial 13-yard run to gain goal-to-go at the K-M-S seven. Back-to-back carries by Harley Weber finished the drive off with 3:17 left. Luke Dingmann earned a huge touchback on the following kickoff to further dim K-M-S's hopes for a comeback. With 2:10 left in the game, Carson Gilbert earned a pass knock down on fourth down to essentially end the game at the K-M-S 47-yard line.
Post-game statistics:
On offense, the Jaguars totaled 260 yards with 155 coming on the ground on 35 carries. Luke Dingmann connected on 13 of his 18 pass attempts for a total of 105 yards. K-M-S struggled most of the night at moving the ball and got a large share of their 199 total yards on their lone scoring drive, good for 86 yards as mentioned above. Of their 199 yards, 112 were through the air on 9 pass completions by quarterback Jared Cortez.
By virtue of their undefeated regular season, the Jaguars earned the No. 1 seed in Section 4A and have a first-round bye. They will be spectators for the quarterfinals, which are on October 24 at the higher seeds. With K-M-S moving to Class 2A and Class 1A having no other teams to move into our section, the top two seeds earn first-round byes. As it stands, No. 9-ranked Upsala/Swanville Area (7-1) will be the No. 2 seed and also will not play on the 24th.
K-M-S takes a 5-3 record into the Section 5AA playoffs. After a 5-0 start that put them in the Top 10 rankings in Class 2A, they take a three-game losing skid into the playoffs. They lost the three games by a total of 23 points. In their section, K-M-S appears to be a lock for the No. 4 seed and would then host No. 5-seeded Royalton (2-6) in their playoff opener. Eden Valley-Watkins (8-0) and Kimball Area (6-2) are the top two teams in Section 5AA.
NEXT: the Jaguars (8-0) host the section semifinals on Saturday, October 28 at 2 p.m. in Belgrade. Spread the word and make sure to mark your calendars! B-B-E will face the winner of the No. 4 vs. No. 5 quarterfinal game. That's all I know at this point. UPDATE: I saw that Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City did what I predicted they would do after we beat them in Week Four: they ran the table heading into playoffs. A-C-GC buried Benson 57-13 tonight to finish with a 5-3 regular season record. They take a four-game winning streak into the Section 4A quarterfinals.
THURSDAY morning update: the Section 4A seedings have gone final, and the Jaguars are indeed the No. 1 seed with a first-round bye.
2023 Section 4A football seedings:
1. B-B-E
2. Upsala/Swanville Area
3. Browerville
4. Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City
5. Benson
6. Long Prairie-Grey Eagle
The Jaguars were also No. 1 seeds for the playoffs in 2013 and 2017.
*Here's a post-game interview with Coach Moscho:
Sidebar: it has been truly special to have a front-row seat to teams coached by Coach Moscho. Across his 14 seasons as head coach, I have missed somewhere between 10 and 15 games. I remember being unable to go to the team's season openers in 2011, 2019 and 2020. I've missed a trip or two to towns such as Parkers Prairie or Browerville. I haven't missed much, though, and so far this season I have watched every single down of football played by this team. It has been so worth it!!!
Mid-Northwest, Gopher Gold District scores on October 18:
Upsala/Swanville Area 40, West Central Area 12 (at Swanville)
Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 57, Benson 13 (Uff! Falcons build a head of steam going into playoffs and rack up 417 yards of offense in Grove City)
Browerville 43, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 16
Area football scores on October 18:
MACCRAY 7, Yellow Medicine East 6
#4 BOLD 40, Canby 6
#1 Minneota 50, Dawson-Boyd 6
Minnewaska Area 28, Melrose Area 6
Albany 43, Montevideo 42 (Huskies score 22 fourth quarter points to secure the win)
