Friday Night Lights I: a terrific start for Jaguar football (VIDEOS**)

This blog post won't be fully updated until later in the day on Saturday. The past week has been quite the stretch with plenty of excitement along the way! A few game stats were added late Saturday morning. Two additional videos were added on Saturday night.

To start off the new season for the B-B-E Jaguars football team, one of the overarching goals of the night was to finish the game without major dings or injuries. It's great to say that coaches can make that checkmark on the list of accomplished goals. Beyond that, the Jaguars can soak up a satisfying 38-20 win over Bagley as they get ready to prepare for the start of Mid-State District play.

Here's a postgame interview recorded next to the high school with head coach Chris Moscho (added Saturday night):


At halftime, the Jaguars built a 30-0 lead after they led 22-0 through the first quarter. The Jaguars punched in two touchdowns in the game's first five minutes of play. Late in the half, with 26 seconds on the clock, Brett DeRoo caught a 22-yard reception from Luke Illies for a touchdown. Hunter Laage ran in the two-point conversion to make it 30-0.

Here's a video from the first quarter of tonight's game:


Here's a video featuring action in the final minute of the second quarter:


To start the third quarter, the Jaguars put together a 65-yard drive that utilized 8 plays to get into the end zone. Jack Lundberg's two-yard plunge with 9:30 left plus Laage's 2-point conversion run gave the Jaguars a 38-0 lead with 9:30 on the clock.

*Here's a video featuring that final touchdown scored by the Jaguars...


The Flyers found life as the third quarter wore on and B-B-E began to sub down to second and third-string players. One bystander told me they only had 24 players to work with. B-B-E's roster is not overly deep, but it's solid for Class 1A standards with 34 players in grades 9-12. The 15 seniors played central roles in the game, but I was impressed by seeing numerous freshman and juniors also gaining significant playing time. This is important to spread the workload and help minimize the chances of injuries.

NEXT: the Jaguars will host a very tough West Central Area Knights team next Friday, September 6 for the district opener. The Knights are also 1-0 after they beat Polk County West 38-12 last night at Climax high school.

Game statistics summary...
Through the air, the Jaguars were 10-for-22 for 141 yards and three touchdowns. Luke Illies connected with his receivers for 9 catches on 20 pass attempts. Aiden Mueller was 1-for-2 with the reception good for 31 yards. Junior Kameron Hiltner was the leading receiver with three catches for 43 yards and two touchdowns.

Jack Lundberg led the ground game with 138 yards on 18 carries, and Brett DeRoo had 6 carries for 62 yards.

Earning fumble recoveries were Carson Glienke, Carson Savage and Noah Kampsen. Brett DeRoo had one interception, and Harley Weber had two quarterback sacks. Ethan Mueller led the defense with 10 solo tackles and four assists.

Area football scores in Week One on August 30:
Hancock 52, Norman County East/Ulen-Hitterdal 0
BOLD 56, Windom Area 14
Upsala/Swanville Area 41, Pine River-Backus 6
Rockford Area 19, Royalton 6
Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 54, Red Lake 0
Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 38, Wadena-Deer Creek 7
Paynesville Area 46, Montevideo 21

Area football scores in Week One on August 29:
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 46, Minnewaska Area 27 Holdingford 42, Sauk Centre 8
Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 30, Maple Lake 6
Albany 14, New London-Spicer 7