This blog post has received a second update at 8 a.m. on Saturday...another coming in the afternoon! Lots to digest!! And on Saturday night, a new blog post has finally been added.
The Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa Jaguars football team is FINAL FOUR bound!! They are heading to U.S. Bank Stadium for the Class 1A state semifinals! Facing Mayer Lutheran in the state quarterfinals tonight, the Jaguars led 22-0 at halftime on their way to a history-making 28-6 win. They are now 11-0 overall with a No. 5 ranking in the A.P. poll and No. 2 by QRF. Mayer Lutheran finishes 8-3; they were No. 3 in the latest QRF rankings and No. 11 in the A.P. poll after climbing as high as No. 7 in the October 9 poll.
This historic wins sends the Jaguars to the school's 10th Final Four overall across all sports. The previous nine seasons when a B-B-E team won a state quarterfinal game were in 2008 (volleyball), 2011 (boys' basketball), 2012 (boys' basketball), 2013 (boys' basketball), 2018 (volleyball), 2021 (girls' basketball), 2022 (boys' basketball) and 2023 (wrestling and girls' basketball).
NEXT: the Jaguars face Minneota (12-0) on Saturday, November 18 at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis with an 11:30 a.m. kickoff. The Vikings are averaging 50 points a game, while their defense is giving up 7.8 points per game. In the postseason, the Vikings are averaging 44.5 points per game. Minneota is currently 12-0 overall and the No. 1-ranked team in Class 1A. Last season they went 12-2 and won the Class 1A state title with a 38-21 win over Springfield in the Prep Bowl.
A video featuring Luke Dingmann's postgame interview outside Michie Field in St. Cloud is being uploaded. This was far and away one of the most incredible football games I have witnessed that featured just about everything. B-B-E had the ball 16 times, and Mayer Lutheran had the ball 17 times. B-B-E's 16th series featured the victory formation as they closed out the final minute of the game.
And here's QB1 talking at the St. Cloud Apollo football stadium tonight:
The Jaguars started clicking on their second drive of the game as Luke Dingmann converted a third down play with a 12-yard gain in the middle of the first quarter. That drive stalled out on the B-B-E 46, though, and the Jaguars punted with 4:27 left.
Mayer Lutheran was then held on their second drive of the game to a three-and-out and punted with 2:35 left. The Jaguars started their third series on the Mayer Lutheran 45-yard line. A holding penalty on the Crusaders moved the chains to the 35, and Jack Lundberg then ran for 7 yards. On the drive's third play, Lundberg scampered into the end zone on a 27-yard carry. Owen Paulson's two-point carry gave the Jaguars an 8-0 lead with 2:02 left in the first quarter.
*Here's a video featuring that first touchdown carry and more...
Ryan Jensen then came up with a interception three plays later, but the Jaguars had a lost fumble on the next play that gave the Crusaders posession at the 50-yard line with just over 8 minutes left.
B-B-E's defense held Mayer Lutheran again to a punt on a series that had a net loss of two yards. B-B-E was pinned back to their own 10-yard line on the next series with 6:29 left. Dingmann took it to the house on a 91-yard touchdown run and scored with 6:14 left. The two-point run by Braeden Michels gave the Jaguars a 16-0 lead.
Mayer Lutheran's sixth series of the game had a difficult start when Harley Weber got a quarterback sack with a 13-yard loss on the first play. The Crusaders punted on 4th-and-19 with 5 minutes to go. The Jaguars got the ball on their 46. Hayden Sobiech's 31-yard reception was the first of just plays needed to find the end zone. The second play featured an offsides penalty, and Dingmann ran for 3 yards on the third play. Luke Illies leaped above a Crusaders defender with 3:25 left in the left corner of the end zone for a touchdown catch from Dingmann. The two-point was stopped just short to leave the score at 22-0.
Mayer Lutheran got something going on their seventh series that started on their 33, but by midfield they ran into trouble. Owen Paulson and Carson Gilbert's assisted tackle brought a 10-yard loss, and the second-and-20 play had an incomplete pass. Gilbert blocked a pass on third down, and the Crusaders punted from their 37 after the series gained 4 net yards.
Brett DeRoo's 10-yard punt return got the Jaguars to their 45 on their 8th series of the first half with 1:25 left. Two run plays and an incomplete pass brought a punt, and the Crusaders had just 23 seconds left before halftime to work with. An 8-yard pass was followed by two incomplete passes to close out the second quarter.
Second half...
The second half featured outstanding defense on both sides of the ball. Mayer Lutheran went through their 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th series without scoring in the third quarter. In the opening stage of the fourth quarter, the Crusaders started their 13th overall series on their 33-yard line after recovering a lost fumble with 11:45 left. Mayer Lutheran's quarterback had two big runs to spark his offense. Isaiah Ingram then caught an 18-yard pass with 10:29 left to break up the shutout. The 67-yard touchdown drive needed just 1 minute, 16 seconds. Carson Glienke's quarterback sack stopped the two-point conversion.
The Jaguars answered in a huge way with a monster 76-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Jack Lundberg that essentially nullified the previous touchdown.
Altogether, the Crusaders had 17 possessions in the game. They punted on just about every one of them. I have them for two turnovers-on-downs in the second half. They lost possession on a fumble on their third possession of the third quarter. Their fourth possession of the third quarter ended with a blocked punt.
*Here's the video from the end of the game...
B-B-E's student section and fans were terrific! They were outstanding!!! They were the 12th man on the field and had a big impact on the game.
While the 28-6 final score may give the appearance of a big win, the game felt much closer than that throughout the night. Mayer Lutheran challenged the Jaguars from start to finish. Once the stats were tallied, B-B-E had 232 yards of offense. This compares to 229 yards of offense by Mayer Lutheran. On the ground, the Jaguars had 168 yards of rushing compared to 74 for the Crusaders. The final stat sheet also showed B-B-E ran 54 plays, while the Crusaders ran 77 plays.
Class 1A state football quarterfinal results across the state...
Minneota destroyed Braham 55-0 in their state quarterfinal game tonight. The Vikings are ranked No. 4 by QRF.
At Jordan, the Springfield Tigers won their seventh straight game by defeating Fillmore Central 22-12 to advance to the state semifinals. Fillmore Central was the No. 1-ranked team by QRF, while Springfield was ranked No. 6.
At Brainerd, Mahnomen/Waubun won their 11th straight game to remain undefeated with an 18-0 win against Parkers Prairie.
In other news...
Congratulations to the Northland Community and Technical College women's basketball team, which defeated St. Cloud Technical and Community College 55-33 in their 2023-2024 season opener tonight at the Anoka-Ramsey tournament. On the Pioneers roster of nine, Tiyana Schwinghammer is one of three freshmen on the team. The Pioneers face host and No. 5-ranked Anoka-Ramsey at 10 a.m. tomorrow in the second game. The host Rams placed fifth in the NJCAA National Tournament last season and finished 23-10 overall.
A few Saturday afternoon notes...
I've spent most of the day watching Northland Pioneers women's basketball and now the University of Minnesota-Morris Cougars football. The Pioneers were led by Tiyana Schwinghammer's 22 points!!! Schwinghammer was playing in just her second ever college game and scored 10 points in the fourth quarter. Unfortunately, the Pioneers were stone cold in the second quarter and scored just 7 points before going into halftime trailing by a wide margin of 37-18. A late comeback fell short. Schwinghammer's off-balance shot on the left block brought her team within four points, trailing 57-53, with just 46 seconds to go. Anoka-Ramsey, ranked No. 5 in the latest NJCAA polls, won 61-56 to improve to 3-0. Northland's team's home opener is Tuesday night in Thief River Falls. Ice-cold three-point shooting led to Northland's demise, as they made just 1 of 24 three-point attempts. Schwinghammer had her team's lone three-pointer.
The UMM Cougars trailed 21-7 in the first quarter to the University of Northwestern-St. Paul after the visiting Eagles piled up 10 first downs with three touchdowns. The Cougars fought back by earning a safety and a touchdown with a PAT kick to trail 21-16 at halftime. UMM's defense came alive and limited U-NW to just one first down in the second quarter. I really wished I could have made the drive west to Morris, as it's only about 45 minutes one way to UMM's Big Cat Stadium. In the end, I couldn't devote those resources to that drive, and I have to spend part of my afternoon in the office. Such is the life of a small business owner, which creates work 8 days every week. At halftime, UMM has 251 yards of offense, while U-NW has 236 yards of offense. What has hampered the UMM Cougars were two costly lost fumbles.
Also!! B-B-E Class of 2022 graduate Kailey Fischer is part of a dynamite small college volleyball team...the Alexandria Legends women's volleyball team has blazed their way to the third-place match of the NJCAA National Tournament at Cedar Rapids, IA. They lost a tough match in the national semifinals to the No. 1-ranked team in the country, the Dallas College-Eastfield Harvester Bees, who is 34-0 going into the national title match. Fischer had 26 set assists and two ace serves in the 3-1 loss. The Legends, the tournament's No. 12 seed, began the national tournament on Thursday with a 3-0 win over No. 5-seeded Fulton-Montgomery. In the national quarterfinals, the Legends beat No. 4-seeded Monroe College-Bronx by a 3-1 margin. Alexandria (20-7 overall) now faces Owens Community College today at 4 p.m. in the NJCAA D-III third-place match. Fischer, a sophomore hitter and setter, was named Region 13B MVP on Saturday, October 28. Her squad is in just their second season ever after the program was established in 2021 to field its first team during Fischer's freshmen season (2022).
