Friday Night Lights VIII: Jaguars bring home ugly win, now wait on QRF! (VIDEOS)

They just about blew it, but in the end, the B-B-E Jaguars football team made the necessary plays to squeeze out a huge road win tonight at Brandon high school. They displayed a tremendous level of heart on the game's final play to thwart a potential game-tying conversion attempt and preserve the lead.

After posting a 18-0 halftime lead, the Jaguars held on for a 30-28 win against Ashby/Brandon-Evansville to close out the regular season. They take a 5-3 record into the Section 5A playoffs, which starts next Tuesday with the quarterfinals that will include action between the No. 3, No. 4, No. 5 and No. 6-seeded teams. The top two seeds earn quarterfinal-round byes. It goes without saying that Upsala/Swanville Area (7-1) is the No. 1 seed. They completed the Mid-Northwest Gold District schedule with a 7-0 record for sole possession of the title.

This is rather remarkable. The Jaguars have finished in a five-way tie for second place with a 4-3 district record. I'll write more about the standings tomorrow.

Quick strikes by A/B-E in the final minute, sparked by a successful onside kick with 45 seconds left, helped the Bolts score 12 points to narrow a 30-16 deficit to 30-28. They scored on a 66-yard pass play with 3 seconds to go. On the two-point conversion play, Noah Kampsen earned a hurry on quarterback Evan Dingwall, whose pass fell just in front of a receiver in the endzone. The ball hit the sod, and all the Jaguars had left to accomplish was recovering the final onside kick (which they did).

The Jaguars piled up 224 rushing yards and held a commanding lead in time of possession tonight. Quarterback Aiden Mueller was 10-of-16 for 94 yards with one touchdown. He also had 6 carries for 27 rushing yards.

A/B-E's Evan Dingwall was 10-of-22 for 153 yards with 2 touchdowns and no interceptions. He was 9-of-21 for 87 yards until the final touchdown pass with 3 seconds to go. The Bolts take a 4-4 record into the playoffs. They are looking at a likely No. 3 or No. 4 seed. Honestly, I don't know who would be a tougher opponent for the section semifinals: Benson or A/B-E. Yes, Benson throttled the Bolts in Week 3 at Benson. That was a long time ago. The way things have been going lately, I'd ignore most of the scores from the first half of the season.

Video is uploading. I currently can't tally up the final district standings, because the Minnesota-Scores.net website has incorrect scores posted. As of 11:14 p.m., they show that Benson lost 6-0 at Long Prairie tonight, which can't be right. Benson, A/B-E and B-B-E should all finish in a tie for third place in the district standings with 4-3 records.

Here's the last video I recorded during the game, with A/B-E's final conversion play shown:


Here's a video from early in the first quarter tonight:


How the first half of the game played out...
The Bolts had a tough time out of the gate and had a net gain of no yards on their first 2 plays. A questionable facemask penalty gave them a first down, but their next 3 plays earned a net loss of 3 yards. With 7:57 left, they punted on 4th-and-13 from B-B-E's 49-yard line.

The Jaguars started their first drive on their own 33. Lance Radermacher's 10-yard catch was followed by a 48-yard run by Jesse Niklaus. That long burst gave the Jaguars first down on the A/B-E 11. Three plays later, Niklaus scored on an 8-yard touchdown run. With 4:38 left, the Jaguars had a 6-0 lead.

A/B-E's Dingwall converted one first down for the Bolts on their second series, but the drive quickly fell apart and ended with a punt with 37 seconds left in the 1st quarter. Ultimately, A/B-E ran 6 plays, had one 5-yard penalty all for a net gain of just 2 yards from scrimmage. B-B-E's second series started on their own 48-yard line. They ran 3 plays to close out the first quarter. Kaden Kollman caught a 27-yard pass on the first play of the second quarter. Radermacher ran a 2-yard touchdown with 11:49 left for a 12-0 lead.

The Jaguars scored their third touchdown on their third drive. Austin Berge's 8-yard touchdown catch with 2:55 to go gave the Jaguars an 18-0 lead.

You can watch Berge's touchdown reception take place in this video:


In the second half...
On their second possession of the second half and sixth of the game, A/B-E scored on a 5-yard touchdown with 3:09 left in the third quarter. A conversion pass made it an 18-8 score.

The Jaguars answered on their next possession, which covered 59 yards and started with a 15-yard catch by Kameron Hiltner. Four plays later, the Jaguars scored on Aiden Mueller's 5-yard quarterback run with 1:22 left; the lead was 24-8. Early in the 4th quarter, the Bolts scored with 8:22 left in the game. On the conversion, Dingwall ran it in himself to cut B-B-E's lead down to 24-16. The Jaguars scored with 1:45 left in the game on Noah Kampsen's 3-yard run. Now the Jaguars held a 30-16 lead before the Bolts scored on two short possessions in the game's final minute.

Tyler Myers and Noah Kampsen anchored the defense with 5 solo tackles each; Kampsen also had 6 assists, and Myers had a quarterback sack.

This is all I can post for now. I have to help prepare family members for youth deer hunting tomorrow!

A win is a win! This was huge. The Jaguars will end up anywhere from the No. 2 to the No. 4 seed. We won't know until mid-morning tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Mid-Northwest Gopher District scores in Week 8 on October 15:
Browerville 12, Maple Lake 6 (a rather interesting upset win by the Tigers)
Benson 56, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 6

Area football scores in Week 8 on October 15:
Minnewaska Area 61, Royalton 0
Breckenridge 46, Menagha 8
Little Falls 9, St. Cloud Apollo 8
Dassel-Cokato 38, Litchfield 8
Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 42, Montevideo 6
Osakis 30, Melrose Area 12
Eden Valley-Watkins 30, Paynesville Area 0
Pierz 62, Milaca 6
Russell-Tyler-Ruthton 62, Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 0
Holdingford 57, Sauk Centre 0

Willmar 49, Big Lake 16
Kimball Area 44, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 0