Friday Night Lights III: disastrous second half spells doom for Jaguars

At halftime tonight in Swanville, the B-B-E Jaguars football team had to feel solid about their chances. They played a strong enough game in the first half to be well within striking distance of the Upsala/Swanville Area Patriots in an early season battle of Mid-Northwest Gold District powers. At halftime, the Patriots held a 14-6 lead.

After scoring with 3:26 left in the first quarter, the Jaguar offense spent the rest of the game unable to get into the U/SA red zone.

Countless mistakes and miscues in the second half fueled what was an unmitigated disaster for the Jaguars, however, as they suffered a blowout 53-6 loss to fall to 2-1 overall.

After falling behind 8-0 when U/SA scored on the game's first series, the Jaguars got on the scoreboard with a touchdown by Jesse Niklaus from 5 yards out with 3:26 left in the first quarter. The touchdown was set up by an interception by Kaden Kollman that was returned to the U/SA 11-yard line with 5:21 on the clock. This gave B-B-E first down at the U/SA 11-yard line. Niklaus scored his touchdown on a 4th-and-3 play. The Patriots stopped the 2-point conversion about a yard short of the endzone as they held onto an 8-6 lead.

With 11:48 left in the game, the Patriots scored on a one play, 8-second long touchdown drive of 46 yards. A successful PAT kick gave U/SA a 37-6 lead at that point. Their final touchdown was scored on an interception return from 22 yards out with 53 seconds left in the game. A successful two-point conversion carry lifted U/SA to 53 total points.

U/SA, who won the Section 4A title last November with a heart-stopping 19-12 win over the Jaguars at the FargoDome, appears unstoppable in the district. They sent Benson packing early last week in a 45-8 win over the Braves in Swanville.

The Jaguars can't lick their wounds for too long, though, as they have another tough game ahead with Browerville coming to our house for Week Four. The Jaguars and Tigers kick off at B-B-E high school at 7 p.m. on Friday, September 19. Tonight, Browerville handled West Central Area in Barrett in a 36-14 win to improve to 2-0 in the Mid-Northwest Gold District. WCA is now winless in three games.

Mid-Northwest Gold District scores in Week Three on September 12:
Benson 44, Ashby/Brandon-Evansville 8

Area football Week Three scores on September 12:
Border West 20, Clearbrook-Gonvick 8
Dawson-Boyd 54, Lac qui Parle Valley 6
BOLD 29, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 22
Albany 43, Melrose Area 16
Redwood Valley 44, Paynesville Area 8
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 46, Sauk Centre 7
Springfield 68, Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 18
Pierz 30, Minnewaska Area 7
Marshall 41, Willmar 7
St. Cloud Cathedral 55, Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 8
New London-Spicer 22, Watertown-Mayer 0
Bertha-Hewitt 30, Verndale 6