Friday Night Lights IX: Jaguars earn 8th section final trip! (VIDEOS**)

After 22:00 tonight...more updates being added to this blog post. This was SUCH AN EXCITING game!

In the postgame huddle today, Coach Moscho leads a round of applause for the performance of his linemen in the section semifinal win.

For the 8th time in program history, the B-B-E Jaguars football team will play in a state-qualifying game. Each time has been special, and this one may rate as one of the best out of them all. It has been a tough season full of mental and emotional challenges. I am proud to say with great confidence that the Jaguars have persevered! It's been 28 years since the Jaguars advanced past a section semifinal game for the first time ever. That season, the Jaguars played Eden Valley-Watkins in the Section 5AA championship game and lost a heartbreaker 14-12.

In today's Section 5A semifinal game, the Jaguars won 6-0 against Ashby/Brandon-Evansville. The final score was also the halftime score, and their overall record improves to 6-3. This brings the Jaguars to the section championship game for the third straight year and the fourth time in the past 5 seasons.

Ashby/Brandon-Evansville sees their season finish with a record of 5-5. The Bolts will endure huge graduation losses with Zach Crane, Royce Aasness, Justin Thoennes and Colton Breitkreutz as key playmakers in their senior class, which has 12 football players. However, in spite of those losses, I expect them to come back next year and remain a factor in the district and section title races.

B-B-E's other section championship trips have all been in Section 4A. Those seasons were in 2010, 2012, 2013, 2021, 2023 and 2024.

Here's a video recorded before the game today:


Game statistics are being reviewed!

SPREAD THE WORD! the Jaguars now make a repeat trip to the FargoDome! They head to Fargo on Halloween morning, Friday, October 31. Kickoff at the FargoDome is at 10 a.m. The opponent will be top-seeded and defending section champion Upsala/Swanville Area. The Patriots improved to 8-1 overall with a 42-0 against Browerville in the other Section 5A semifinal this afternoon. That game was played in Swanville.

Here's a video from the 1st quarter today as A/B-E was driving into B-B-E territory:


How the first half played out today...
The Bolts earned an interception on B-B-E's first possession with a big return. That set them up with 1st down on the B-B-E 18 yard line with just over 10 minutes on the clock. Fortunately for the Jaguars, the Bolts committed a holding penalty on their first play from scrimmage. This made it 1st-and-21. Three plays later, the Bolts turned the ball over on downs after the series lost a net 14 yards. Tyler Myers and Eli Wold earned assisted tackles with an 8-yard loss on 4th-and-16. This gave B-B-E the ball again with 8:05 left from their own 32-yard line.

Both teams traded possessions throughout the rest of the first quarter. Early in the second quarter, with 9:44 on the clock, the Jaguars forced a punt with A/B-E at midfield with 4th-and-15. This punt pushed the Jaguars back to their own 10-yard line. They dug in and went to work, grinding away and moving the chains. After 7 plays, they were in Bolts territory with 1st down on the A/B-E 48. Helped by a Bolts offsides penalty, the Jaguars later gained 1st down at the 25. Another Bolts offsides penalty helped the Jaguars gain 1st down at the 12. Three plays later, the Jaguars had 1st-and-goal at the one. A/B-E committed their third offsides penalty of the drive, and the Jaguars punched through with Aiden Mueller's quarterback sneak. The conversion was stopped one yard short, and the Jaguars led 6-0 with 2:16 left before halftime.

And the epic dog fight that was the second half...
The Jaguars knew what was coming.

Ashby/Brandon-Evansville started the third quarter with the wind in their favor. The Jaguars had "good" kickoff return coverage, and the Bolts began what was their 6th overall possession of the game at their 30. What followed were two rushes for 2 yards and zero yards. On 3rd-and-8, Eli Wold earned a solo tackle...for no gain! With 9:40 left, the Bolts punted. This set B-B-E up at their own 33. The Jaguars hurt themselves with an illegal-man-downfield penalty. The Jaguars got a 9-yard catch by Noah DeRoo on 2nd-and-13, but they later punted on 4th-and-4.

A/B-E started their 2nd series of the 3rd quarter (7th overall) at their 34. Seth Thoennes ran a reverse carry and picked up 6 yards. He ran again for 2 yards, and Royce Aasness converted third down to the B-B-E 49. The Bolts were later held to 4th-and-3, but Zach Dingwall connected for a 9-yard reception to give them first down at B-B-E's 27. Austin Berge had a pass breakup on 2nd-and-9, and the Bolts then had a false start penalty. Dingwall ran for 3 yards on a broken play to get 4th-and-11. After A/B-E's second timeout of the series, they had their biggest offensive play of the game when Thoennes caught a pass over the middle for a 21-yard gain. With goal-to-go at the B-B-E 7 and the clock under 1 minute in the third quarter, Dingwall made a sharp pass to the endzone. Kameron Hiltner caught an interception to end the threat, and he immediately took a knee right under the goal post. This gave the Jaguars first down at their 20-yard line with 31 seconds left.

On the last play of the 3rd quarter, Jesse Niklaus ran for 11 yards. The Jaguars just survived another A/B-E scoring threat while holding onto their slim 6-0 lead. The drive stalled out, however, with B-B-E punting from their 38 with 10:07 left.

The Bolts started their 8th overall series of the game from their 21. The Jaguars held them to three-and-out, and the Jaguars started their 8th overall series of the game from the A/B-E 47 with 7:38 left. The Jaguars had a holding penalty on this series, though, and they punted on 4th-and-5 with 5:04 left. The punt rolled into the endzone for a touchback. The Bolts once again were held to three-and-out, but they hurt themselves on this series with a false start penalty. They punted at 4th-and-18, and the Jaguars were set up on A/B-E's 38 with just over 4 minutes left.

On this series, which was B-B-E's 9th of the game, they got key gains on the ground and converted 3rd-and-1 and keep the clock running. They gained 1st down at A/B-E's 17-yard line with 1:40 left. Clock management took over at this point, and the Jaguars got an 8-yard run by Lance Radermacher to get the clock under a minute to go. Mueller was able to take a knee to close out the game.

Here's a video from the middle of the 4th quarter while the game's outcome was still in the balance:


I'm heading to Padua shortly for the Bonanza Valley Royal Strutters' big event, their fall Gun Blast fundraiser.

Light game statistics from today:
B-B-E had 198 total yards on 56 plays compared to A/B-E's 104 yards on 46 plays. B-B-E out-rushed the Bolts 156 to 79. B-B-E's Aiden Mueller's passing numbers were 5-of-12 for 42 yards, while A/B-E's Zach Dingwall was 3-of-14 for 25 yards. Each quarterback threw one interception. B-B-E had 11 first downs, while A/B-E had 6.

Area football playoff semifinals on October 25:
Thief River Falls 28, Minnewaska Area 21
Border West 16, Hancock 8
Osakis 30, Pillager 22
Holdingford 41, Staples-Motley 0
Litchfield 56, Melrose Area 35
Parkers Prairie 52, Walker-Hackensack-Akeley 0
Albany 41, New London-Spicer 0
Rocori 17, Willmar 15
Minneota 62, MACCRAY 0
Dawson-Boyd 49, Lakeview 14
Springfield 43, Sleepy Eye 0
Marshall Area 35, Hutchinson 7