Friday Night Lights III: Jaguars rack up huge win at Benson (VIDEOS)

They had their hands full at a few moments across the first half tonight, but ultimately, the B-B-E Jaguars football team handled the Benson Braves at will in a 54-20 Mid-Northwest Gopher Gold district road win. The No. 6-ranked Jaguars led 38-0 at halftime and then expanded that to 46-0 with just over 4 minutes gone in the third quarter.

B-B-E's defense was "lights out" to start the game. Three Benson plays yielded a net negative two yards, and the Braves punted on 4th-and-12. The snap was mishandled, and the punter tried to no avail to run wide right to gain the first down. He was tackled at the Benson 24-yard line, and with 10 minutes on the clock, the Jaguars had their first possession just 24 yards from the endzone. On first down, Jesse Niklaus had an 8-yard reception, and Aiden Mueller followed that with a 10-yard catch for goal-to-go at the six. Benson's defense got tough, and a costly penalty on fourth-and-goal nullified a touchdown reception and turned the ball over on downs. Benson gained 7 yards on three plays and punted with 5:50 on the clock. The Jaguars got a nice punt return by Brett DeRoo and had first down on the Benson 31. They needed just 4 plays to cover the distance, and Kameron Hiltner's 15-yard touchdown reception with 4:41 left broke open the scoring. Hunter Laage's two-point run gave the Jaguars an initial 8-0 lead.

Here's a video featuring B-B-E's second touchdown of the night:


On B-B-E's fifth series of the game, they started on Benson's 45-yard line with 4:50 left in the second quarter after a nice punt return by Brett DeRoo. Josh Walstrom's 23-yard catch set up the next play, which resulted in a 32-yard touchdown by Jack Lundberg down the left side. With 4:24 left, the Jaguars extended their lead to 22-0.

After Benson's fifth series, which resulted in a punt after they gained no yards on 3 plays, DeRoo had a marvelous 33-yard return to get the Jaguars a short field to work with of just 12 yards. Kameron Hiltner's 12-yard touchdown catch on second down made it 28-0 with 1:36 left. Harley Weber ran in the two-point carry to make it 30-0.

The first half ended in spectacular fashion as Brett DeRoo hauled in an acrobatic touchdown catch with no time on the clock while using the agility he's developed as a state-ranked wrestler. Harley Weber added the two-point conversion on a running play to cap the scoring at 38 points in the game's first 24 minutes. That touchdown will be a special play to watch again and again on Hudl!!

With 7:48 left in the third quarter, DeRoo caught a 33-yard touchdown catch from Illies, and DeRoo added a two-point conversion run to extend the lead to 46-0.

The Braves broke up the shutout with a 15-yard touchdown carry with 5:36 left in the third quarter to make it 46-6.

On B-B-E's next series, they started on Benson's 47-yard line and used four plays while overcoming a false start penalty on 3rd-and-8 to score again. Ethan Mueller's 24-yard catch brought first down at the 24. Lundberg took it from there with a 24-yard run to the endzone with 3:11 on the clock. Laage's two-point run made it a 54-6 lead.

Benson was held to 165 total yards, including 127 rushing yards.

Next: the Jaguars take their 3-0 record back on the road when they travel to Meeker County for another district game. The opponent will be a tough-as-nails Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City team at their house. I rate their 1-2 overall record as deceiving. Game time is at 7 p.m. on Friday, September 20. Be there!

Here's action from early in the first quarter tonight:


This is eye-popping: the No. 10-ranked Upsala/Swanville Area Patriots have outscored their first three opponents 139-14 to also earn a 3-0 start. Currently, our football district features three Top-10 teams: the Jaguars at No. 6, Browerville at No. 7 and U/SA at No. 10. For what it's worth, U/SA has played teams who have a cumulative record of 2-7. The three teams that Browerville has played have a combined record of 4-5. B-B-E's three opponents have a combined record of 3-6. The point being: we really won't know how good each of these three Top 10 teams are until they play one another.

I'll be calling it a night soon! I have a big trip to make tomorrow that I'll write about more on Saturday night.

Here's a post-game interview with senior Carson Savage at Brock Field tonight:


The Jaguars racked up 400 yards of offense, including 191 on the ground with a total of 19 first downs and no turnovers. Jack Lundberg had 13 carries for a season-high 147 yards with three touchdowns. Luke Illies was 13-for-19 for 148 yards and four touchdowns. Aiden Mueller had 7-of-8 passing marks for 61 yards. Defensively, Carson Gilbert and Brett DeRoo each had quarterback sacks, and Ethan Mueller was the team's leading tackler with 5 solos and 6 assisted. Louie Tensen had a fumble recovery, and DeRoo, Jack Lundberg, Gilbert and Ethan Mueller all earned tackles for losses.

Mid-State District Gopher Gold scores in Week Three on September 13:
Upsala/Swanville Area 51, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 8
Browerville 26, Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 19
West Central Area 50, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 7

Area football scores in Week Three on September 13:
Albany 53, Sauk Centre 20
Holdingford 36, St. Cloud Cathedral 0
Cedar Mountain 22, Renville County West 19
Hancock 60, Ortonville 6
Lac qui Parle Valley 48, Yellow Medicine East 6
Dawson-Boyd 32, Lakeview 0
Canby 28, MACCRAY 6
Litchfield 28, Foley 13
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 50, Little Falls 21
Pierz 26, Minnewaska Area 21
Kimball Area 36, Paynesville Area 6
Melrose Area 41, Montevideo 21
Princeton 28, Willmar 6
Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 14, Rockford Area 7