Friday Night Lights VIII: Jaguars bring home ugly win, and SEEDS are IN!!! (VIDEOS)

BREAKING news the next morning: the Jaguars have earned the No. 2 seed for the second straight year in the playoffs! Read more on that below.

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-Evansville high school in Brandon. 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, aided by a successful onside kick in the last 10 seconds, helped the Bolts score 12 points to narrow a 30-16 deficit to 30-28. They scored last 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.

Here's a video featuring Lance Radermacher's touchdown:


You have GOT to respect what can play out in a 48-minute football game. In that juncture, when Radermacher scored on that two-yard plunge, A/B-E seemed flat-footed and out of sync. All that changed after halftime.

The Jaguars scored their third touchdown on their third drive of the game and the first half. 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. Defensively, A/B-E was stuffing the box, using as many as 9 players on the front line, to halt B-B-E's running game.

Quarterback Aiden Mueller went to the air to mix it up, and the Jaguars answered on their next possession. This drive covered 59 yards and started with a 15-yard catch by Kameron Hiltner. Four plays later, the Jaguars scored on 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 1:41 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.

With 1:40 left in the game, A/B-E enjoyed a 48-yard kickoff return to set up a short field. A/B-E then scored on a 29-yard pass to narrow the score to 30-22 with 10 second left. The Bolts then recovered an onside kick to get possession at the B-B-E 40-yard line. It was a low kick, and the ball rolled on the ground for about 15 yards before a Bolts player landed on it. They punched in the final touchdown on a 30-yard pass with just 3.3 seconds left on the clock.

After cutting the score to 30-28, the Bolts attempted a final onside kick, but Lance Radermacher curled around the ball to give B-B-E possession and the win.

Defensively speaking...
Tyler Myers and Noah Kampsen anchored the defense with 5 solo tackles each; Kampsen also had 6 assists, and Myers had a quarterback sack. Numerous Jaguars had 4 solos each: Nate Geer, Austin Berge, Taylor Pieper, Jesse Niklaus and Eli Wold.

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!

Breaking, breaking, breaking news!
The B-B-E Jaguars have earned the No. 2 playoff seed for the second straight year. This is absolutely incredible! They graduated 16 seniors from their 8-2 section finalist team of 2024, but they regrouped and forged a 5-3 record and grabbed the No. 2 seed once again. They've now been the No. 1 or No. 2 seed in the playoffs for five straight seasons. I got a lot to say about that! I think right now, the biggest message is: don't let it get to your head. They have a LOT of work to do between now and the playoff opener. The No. 2 seed does not matter if you are not prepared for the invasion that's coming in a section semifinal match up.

When is the playoff opener? That's a good question right now, as I'm seeing massively conflicting information about Long Prairie-Grey Eagle. The playoffs begin either on Tuesday, October 21 or on Saturday, October 25. Stay tuned. (I found their school's website posting that says they are forfeiting the rest of their season. This means that B-B-E gets a first-round bye in the playoffs.)

2025 Section 5A playoff seedings:
1. Upsala/Swanville Area
2. B-B-E
3. Ashby/Brandon-Evansville
4. Browerville
5. Benson
6. West Central Area
7. LP-GE


While nothing is official until it's on the MSHSL website, based on all my information, B-B-E will open the playoffs on Saturday, October 25 at 2 p.m. in Belgrade. They will play either Ashby/Brandon-Evansville or West Central Area. As of 11 a.m. on Thursday, this has gone official! B-B-E has a first-round quarterfinal bye in the Section 5A playoffs. Woo Hoo! While I love football games, this bye is important.

The game to scout is in Brandon on Tuesday, October 21, for the Section 5A quarterfinals between host Ashby/Brandon-Evansville and their neighbors to the west, the West Central Area Knights. Kickoff is at 6 p.m. The other quarterfinal game also starts at 6 p.m. that night, and that game is in Browerville with Benson as the opponent.

Mid-Northwest Gopher District scores in Week 8 on October 15:
Browerville 12, Maple Lake 6 (a rather interesting upset win by the Tigers! They scored with 20 seconds left to earn the incredible win)
Benson 56, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 6 (this was a game with JV players)
Upsala/Swanville Area 52, West Central Area 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
Lakeview 26, MACCRAY 6
Minneota 34, Dawson-Boyd 3