Friday Night Lights IV is coming! Tonight!

We have a BIG, big night ahead of us! It's time for Friday Night Lights IV! This will be a tough, tough game.

The B-B-E Jaguars football team travels to Swanville tonight to face Upsala/Swanville Area. The U/SA Patriots are perhaps one of the toughest 1-2 teams in the state right now, as their two losses are at the hands of Top 10 teams: No. 3 BOLD and No. 9 Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg. The K-M-S Fighting Saints won their Homecoming game last week against U/SA by a 14-8 score. K-M-S scored on their first two touchdown drives and then hung on for the close win.

Against K-M-S, U/SA gave up 255 total yards, including 163 rushing yards. The Patriots defense forced one fumble and earned one interception. Offensively, U/SA struggled to gain yards beyond what Tyson Leners earned (127 yards, one TD on 27 carries). The other main ball carrier was Nick Kedrowski (4 carries for 18 yards). Quarterback Jack Primus had one successful pass for 15 yards.

Additional information on U/SA's football team was published in this week's Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper. If you haven't subscribed, you really should do that! More to come after kickoff!! *This blog post will include game updates.

Update: the Patriots scored on their first possession after the Jaguars went three and out on the first series of the game. U/SA scored on an 84 yard touchdown drive capped by a 32-yard run for six points by Tyson Leners. With 7:41 on the clock in the first quarter, the Patriots were ahead 6-0 while the Jaguars had just 7 yards of net offense to that point.

The first half finally broke in the Jaguars' favor when they scored on a 37-yard touchdown drive on their fourth series of the game. Luke Dingmann scored on a quarterback keeper with 7:23 left in the half. Jamison Reed''s two-point conversion catch put the Jaguars ahead 8-6.

Halftime: B-B-E 8, U/SA 6. We have had a steady rain throughout most of the first half. This will be a very memorable night.

With under 4 minutes to go in the game, the Jaguars are ahead 16 to 6. More to come, including the final score, in a new blog post.

Football scrimmage tomorrow (VIDEOS)

The B-B-E Jaguars football team travels to Kimball tomorrow morning for a five-team scrimmage. Both the varsity and JV squads will be in action. They are gearing up for the 2021 season opener on Friday, September 3, when they host Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg for a highly-anticipated border battle (7 p.m. kickoff).

Below is video from the end of practice one week ago, Friday, August 20, at the high school athletic complex:


Here's a video from defensive linemen drills at Monday's practice earlier this week:


Assistant varsity coach Alex Schumann is featured in that video. He is a Class of 2014 graduate who was the starting center on the 2013 Section 5A runner-up squad that went 6-1 in the Central Minnesota Conference. The Jaguars went 9-2 to set a school record for the most wins in a season that fall.

On Saturday, the Jaguars compete in their first scrimmage at 9 a.m. at Clemens Stadium in Collegeville.

Fascinating topic: immunity debt. This is a topic I've been heavily researching in the past two weeks. It's worth learning about. Here's one summary of what immunity debt is (link) https://www.jagranjosh.com/general-knowledge/immunity-debt-1626440012-1.

Updates!

Updates will be posted tonight.

Here's video from last night!


Go Jaguars!!!!

Updates: at halftime, the Browerville Tigers have a 22-0 lead over our B-B-E Jaguars football team.

Bring on Upsala/Swanville Area!

It goes without saying that the B-B-E Jaguars football team will have their hands full on Wednesday night when Upsala/Swanville Area comes to town for the Week Eight match up. The USA Patriots are stinging from two straight defeats after starting the season 5-0 with eyes set on a district title.

Kickoff at home (B-B-E high school) is at 7 p.m., so be sure to bring your family and neighbors to come cheer on the Jaguars!

Additional scouting information will be posted on Wednesday.

**Players to watch on USA's team:
1. Senior running back Simon Bryce - Bryce is a terrific running back and can catch the ball in clutch situations. He is a very similar playmaker as our Adam Jaeger. Bryce ran in the first two touchdowns of USA's 24-14 win over K-M-S in Week Three on his way to a total of 153 rushing yards on 31 carries.
2. Junior quarterback Jorgan Kiley - Kiley passed for 153 yards against Kimball in their 31-16 loss during Week Six. Kiley scored the game's final touchdown on a one-yard run in Week Three when USA beat K-M-S in Swanville. Against K-M-S, Kiley connected with his receivers four times on 10 attempts for a total of 40 passing yards.
3. Senior running back Dalton Louden - he had 11 carries for 74 yards against Kimball; against K-M-S, Louden had 54 yards on 15 carries.
4. Junior wide receiver Alex Theischafer - he had nine catches for 98 yards against Kimball.
USA has the potential to be a great defensive team. They held K-M-S's Dylan Rudningen to just 37 yards on six carries in their 24-14 win over the Fighting Saints in Week Three. USA rushed for 243 yards that night in Swanville, and they were also aided by two fumble recoveries and one interception (Louden).
5. Senior running back Lawrence Mettler - with USA down 18-8 heading into the fourth quarter, Mettler scored on a 22-yard touchdown, which was followed by a Kiley pass to Bryce for two points to make it 18-16.

The following question has been asked dozens of times in the last couple of weeks: how did Kimball beat USA? Well, for starters, Kimball Area has a new head coach, John Benson, and he is a dreamer and a believer. He has his guys truly fired up this season, and beating USA has been one of the benefits. The monkey of four years of winless seasons has been tossed to the curb.
The Cubs scored twice in the first quarter to go up 12-0. Then ahead 12-8, Kimball truck again before halftime to lead 18-8 at the half.
USA scored a 22-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter with a two-point conversion to make it 18-16, but the Cubs answered right back with a touchdown to go up 24-16. USA's Kiley then threw an interception on their next series, and it was returned for a touchdown with 2:27 left in the game to salt the historic win that snapped a 40+ game losing streak dating back to October 2012.

(HD video) Halftime of Homecoming football

Here's halftime at Homecoming last night, with the Homecoming Royal Court introduced:


We could not have asked for a better night to play football and make some Homecoming memories! The week started out with coronation, which you can see here at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper's website: http://www.bonanzavalleyvoice.com/story/2017/09/07/bbe/29th-belgrade-brooten-elrosa-homecoming-court/519.html.

Here's a sad, sad story, horribly tragic news out of Swift County. I have since learned that all three people involved in this accident have died: http://www.swiftcountymonitor.com/articles/2017/09/30/one-dies-two-critically-injured-early-morning-accident-south-benson.

Friday Night Lights VII: Patriots rule second half

The Jaguars and Patriots clashed on this play, typical of the night where both teams tried to stop the other from running the ball. In the end, USA had much better success in the second half, which they won 20-7.

In a game where mistakes and missed opportunities were too numerous to overcome, the B-B-E Jaguars football team lost a tough battle with state-ranked Upsala/Swanville Area 33-17 tonight in a Mid-State District football game.

Upsala/Swanville Area got out to a 13-0 lead early in the second quarter. The Jaguars scored a safety and then a touchdown with a two-point conversion to make it 13-10 at halftime. After falling behind 27-10 early in the fourth quarter, the Jaguars scored to make it 27-17. The Patriots (6-1) scored one more touchdown to bring the final score.

USA's star senior running back, Kyle Lang, ruled the night with 329 rushing yards. He had around 120 rushing yards in the first quarter but was held to just 22 yards rushing in the second. B-B-E gained 239 total yards of offense compared to USA's 375 yards. The rushing yards were heavily tilted in USA's favor: 362 rushing yards to 169 for B-B-E.

For the last game of the regular season, the Jaguars have winless Kimball (0-7) on the docket for Homecoming night next Friday. The Cubs lost 30-0 tonight in their second straight shut out, with West Central Area/Ashby winning on Kimball's field. Last week Browerville/Eagle Valley beat the Cubs 42-0.

On Monday I will have a pretty good idea of how the seeding outlook shakes out. Lester Prairie/Holy Trinity beat Norwood-Young America 22-21 tonight after sitting in a 14-14 tie at halftime. The Bulldogs are 3-4 overall with the same record as B-B-E. Both the Jaguars and Bulldogs will play winless teams in Week Eight, although LP/HT's opponent is a Class 2A team (Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop).

It will be interesting to see how much room B-B-E will have above LP/HT in the QRF rankings on Monday now that both teams are 3-4. I still think the Jaguars will be ranked higher than LP/HT, but we'll see.

The team sitting in second place in Section 4A, Mayer Lutheran, lost to Maple River 23-21. Maple River is 6-1 overall, as both teams entered tonight's game with 5-1 records.

Mid-State District, Sub-District 3 scores in Week Seven, Oct. 2:
West Central Area/Ashby 30, Kimball Area 0
Browerville/Eagle Valley 39, Parkers Prairie 13

Other games around the area had these final scores:
Sauk Centre 41, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 19
Lester Prairie/Holy Trinity 22, Norwood-Young America 21
New London-Spicer 34, Foley 22
Holdingford 41, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 40
Paynesville Area 40, Maple Lake 32
Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley 48, MACCRAY 32
Montevideo 42, Yellow Medicine East 0
United North Central 22, Osakis 8
Brandon/Evansville 40, Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 8
BOLD 22, Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 12
Frazee 22, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 13
Minnewaska Area 47, Benson 6
Pierz 47, Rockford Area 0
Melrose Area 26, Eden Valley-Watkins 12 (Eagles lose their fourth straight game)

Friday Night Lights X: B-B-E Jaguars are section-final bound!!!

Although they stalled out and punted near midfield with under 2 minutes to go, the Jaguars managed to burn an incredible amount of clock with the game in the balance with a handful of first downs to limit ACGC's chances in the 4th quarter. I have to double-check my notes, but I believe the Jaguars started their final offensive series from their own 12-yard line with just over 7 minutes remaining. They burned over 5 minutes off of the clock by grounding-and-pounding the ball to get to where they are shown in the above photo.

The whole game was on the line in the final minute, when A-C-GC took over after a punt and had a fair distance left to go (60+ yards) in order to overcome the Jaguars. Fortunately, they did not!!!!

EVERY Jaguar who stepped on the field tonight played their hearts out. (The JV was great too cheering on the sidelines!) Shown are two Jaguars who were outstanding tonight. Jared Steffensen had a monster quarterback sack on the game's final play. Tommy Cebulla had some incredible rushes for key yardage throughout the game and especially in the 4th quarter. What a win!!! I am so proud of this team.

The 6th-ranked Jaguars football team had the biggest second-half of play for the entire season and came up with an incredible 26-22 win over 12th-ranked Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City tonight. They faced the toughest front-line of the entire season. The Falcons (7-3) were so completely dominant on the line of scrimmage that they out-gained B-B-E in rushing yards by a 278 to 67 margin in the first half. Who was ahead at the end of the game, though? (Us!) One thing that has me grinning ear to ear about is the thought posted quite a bit at Minnesota-Scores.net that "B-B-E doesn't have much offense after Kollman"...Oh really! That is precious! I hope that folks keep thinking that. It is fine by me. I've been monitoring the chatter at that website's online football forum, and the naysayers are silent. Go figure.

If you want to get an idea of what damage the Jaguars can do, go to their next game.

Now 9-1 overall, the Jaguars will play in a section championship in the sport of football for just the 4th time in school history (1997, 2010, 2012, 2013)...that's four section final games in 26 seasons. That is absolutely mind-boggling considering that from 1989 to 2009, the Jaguars won only six playoff games. Six playoff wins in 21 seasons!! Not only that, but in 8 of those 21 seasons, they had such poor records they failed to make it to the playoffs. For the 13 seasons where they did make it to the playoffs from 1989 to 2009, the Jaguars went 6-13.

From 2010 to 2013, the Jaguars are 6-3 in the playoffs. In 1988, the first year of B-B-E Jaguar football, they went 1-1 in the Section 4B playoffs (13-8 win over Atwater-Grove City in Belgrade and then a 40-8 loss to Morris Area in Morris). Do the quick math and see this: the first 22 Jaguar football teams went 7-14 in playoff games. Now they have a shot at the program's 14th playoff win next Friday night.

That playoff history should give you an idea of why I have been hollering and yelling on this blog about tonight being a huge, huge game. It really means a lot to see the hard work of both the players and coaches result in them becoming a very good football team. It is immensely rewarding to see their hard work pay off with regular season and playoff wins. Only time will tell how good they are and how deep they can stretch out this playoff run.

With a new school record for wins under their belt, the Jaguars face Lester Prairie/Holy Trinity for the Section 4A championship. That HUGE HUGE game is next Friday at O'Gara Field in Sauk Centre (on the turf!). Kickoff is at 7:00pm, Friday, November 1. The Bulldogs are 7-3 overall and are playing lights-out football. Read further below on this blog to learn about their game earlier today at Minneapolis North.

I will be up for HOURS tonight writing about this game. This is incredible for our school, community and our team!!! The game ended a half hour ago and the adrenaline is STILL banging away. Our Jaguars just defeated a stacked, loaded and fabulously talented football team. It's amazing.

One quick note: the Jaguars had a KEY stop in the middle of the 4th quarter. The Falcons got as far as the 12-yard line after they turned over the ball on downs. Also, the fact that it was a home game wouldn't have been possible if our high school field wasn't in the great condition it is. It is a very well-built football field. Other schools (Minnewaska) haven't been as lucky during the wet, cold October we've endured.

Random: A-C-GC scored first on a 31-yard field goal attempt with 6:11 left in the first quarter. They stopped the Jaguars on the game's opening drive with 10:09 on the clock.

These parts of the first half were fun: Trey Heinsius had an 82-yard touchdown reception with 3:04 left in the 2nd quarter. B-B-E was trailing 9-6 at that point, but his TD and the following PAT kick put the Jaguars ahead 13-9. B-B-E scored earlier in the 2nd quarter (9:50 left) on a running play by Tommy Cebulla. So after A-C-GC went up 9-0, the Jaguars scored 13 unanswered points. The Falcons regained the lead at 16-13, but the Jaguars scored one more time in the 2nd quarter on a 52-yard catch by Trey Heinsius to go up 19-16 at halftime.

**Here's a short video clip from that sequence...7:25 left in the game, the Falcons had 4th down and 8 to go on the B-B-E 12-yard line...here's what happened:


What a day for the Central Minnesota Conference! Pierz came up with a HUGE upset win by taking down host Foley 23-12 tonight. The Falcons were the #1 seed. Holdingford won 48-18 against an over-matched Pelican Rapids team in Section 6AA; they led 28-10 at halftime. As I posted this afternoon, both Maple Lake and Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted won Section 4AA semifinals. Those two teams will meet for the section championship. That is incredible!!!

Paynesville Area ripped Sauk Centre 46-8 on their home field to advance to the Section 5AA championship game. I knew the Mainstreeters were underdogs, but I honestly did not see that coming since Sauk Centre played incredibly well in their playoff opener. Melrose Area lost 42-26 to favored Annandale, but the Dutchmen had their best football season since 2004. Back in 2004, the Dutchmen went 7-3 overall and 1-1 in the Section 6AAA playoffs. Going 2005 to 2012 without a playoff win has been tough on their program, but they are definitely on the rebound.

I'll be getting video posted starting at 10:15...photos and other game notes to follow after 11:00. I am a little
buzzed on adrenaline even an hour and 20 minutes after the game was over. The final horn went off at 21:12.

Here's the Sauk Centre Herald photo album from last night's volleyball win with 105 photos:
http://saukherald.smugmug.com/2013SPORTS/B-B-E-fall-varsity-sports/Step-I-BBE-volleyball-3-EVW-0

While I'm still on my "looking back" kick, I added up the number of wins and losses B-B-E football teams have had since the Jaguar athletic program was formed in August 1988. That cumulative record is 69-171. (Tonight was the 69th football win at B-B-E.) Their playoff record is 13-17, while they've missed making the playoffs in 8 of the school's 26 seasons.

The big game is almost here

The temperature is 43 degrees with very calm conditions and 45 minutes to go before kickoff tonight. With the sun about to set, I expect the temp to drop off a few more degrees. It will be a cold, frigid night. At least it's not windy and it's not snowing!

I will try my best to post a halftime score and then a third-quarter score. The nerves are starting to kick in. This game is HUGE! It will easily rate in the Top-Five for all B-B-E football games I've watched. I can hardly contain my excitement for this one, and I sincerely hope you are able to watch it firsthand.

Here are some fantastic scores to report from Section 4AA today:
Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 23, St. Agnes 20 (#4 seed clips #1!)
Maple Lake 27, Concordia Academy 21 (#3 seed beats #2!)

Holdingford (6AA) and Pierz (5AAA) have 7:00 kickoffs tonight. Stay tuned!

First half struggle

After scoring with a short field on their 1st possession, the Jaguars have failed to find the end zone a second time and hold a tiny 8-7 lead at halftime of Rockford's Homecoming game. The Jaguars have been in the red zone multiple times but were turned away.

At the half of Holdingford's Homecoming game,  the Huskers have a tiny 13-12 lead over HLWW. The Lakers passing game is causing Holdingford fits.

At the Rockford school website the game is being webcast!!!

Jaguars up 22 to 7!!!!!

Friday Night Lights Part IV: BBE wins on Homecoming night!

What an incredible crowd tonight! They were flat-out fantastic. (The cheerleaders were great too.)

It was a fairly wild game from start to finish, and the Jaguars football team committed more than their fair share of penalties...but in the end they beat Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 27-14 on the school's 26th Homecoming night. It's their 3rd straight win on Homecoming night.

Woot!

After the Lakers punched the Jaguars in the throat with a touchdown on their first possession (the first possession of the game), they responded by scoring on their second drive of the game on a one-yard run by quarterback Brian Goodwin with 2:06 left in the 1st quarter. The PAT kick failed, though, leaving the Lakers with a 7-6 lead.

With 1:48 left before halftime, Tommy Cebulla caught a 21-yard touchdown catch from Brian Goodwin to put the Jaguars in front 12-7. The 2-point conversion was successful for a 14-7 score.

All the momentum was on B-B-E's side when they successfully converted an onside kick into another possession. With 1:47 left, they had the ball with a short field to go. They got it down to a 3rd-and-5 play with 17 seconds left, but disaster struck when they lost the ball on a 4th-down play with the clock expiring...the Lakers ran back about an 80-yard fumble return with a PAT kick to tie it up 14-14.

B-B-E is now 3-1 overall for only the 2nd time in school history (2-1 Central MN Conf.)...HL-W-W is 2-2 overall and 1-2 in the CMC. The last time the Jaguars won 3 of their first 4 games, it was 1988, and Dennis Weimerskirch/Julius Evenson were at the helm of the program. They finished 7-1 before playoffs, won the Prairie Lakes Conference and went 1-1 in the Section 4B playoffs. Their 8-2 final record stands to this day as the best football record ever at B-B-E.

B-B-E Choir and football team member Kayle Benesh, a freshmen, sang the National Anthem flawlessly prior to kickoff tonight in the football pressbox.  *Video of that coming tomorrow.

Additional photos, etc. will be posted on Saturday morning.

Post-game notes:
Austin Kollman blew up the old single-game rushing record (288 yards by Austin Kampsen in 2007) when he bulled, ran and bolted his way to 351 yards on the ground. In a very classy move, Kollman refused to take the spotlight after the game and deflected all praise to his offensive line. He insisted that his linemen be interviewed on the radio after the game...and Alex Schumann and Jared Steffensen, two more extremely humble, classy guys, pinch hit for him on a very awesome Smooth Magic 107 FM interview with D-Mac up in the pressbox.

Up next: a tough, tough road game at Rockford, who beat Maple Lake 14-7 tonight on their home turf. The Rockets are 2-2 overall and 2-1 in the Central Minnesota Conference. Kickoff on their brand-new artificial turf is next Friday night at 7 p.m.

Icing on the cake! A-C-GC lost at Paynesville Area tonight by a 32-27 score (thanks, Bulldogs!). They're now 2-2 on the season. Mayer Lutheran won their game to keep pace with the Jaguars in the chase for the number one seed in Section 4A.

Soaking up the win! ...and Kollman refusing to take all the credit for his 351 yards in a radio interview request:



Central Minn. Conference scores on Sept. 20:
Pierz 41, Kimball Area 19
Holdingford 47, Eden Valley-Watkins 7
Rockford Area 14, Maple Lake 7

Area football scores on September 20:
BOLD 41, #8-ranked Sauk Centre 0
Paynesville Area 32, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 27!!!
Mayer Lutheran 37, Norwood-Young America 7
Upsala-Swanville Area 48, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 16
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 41, Benson 15
Royalton 49, West Central Area 21 (WCA's Homecoming)
New York Mills 40, Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 0
Glencoe-Silver Lake 42, New London-Spicer 25
Adrian 28, MACCRAY 20
Milaca 14, Albany 13
Martin County West 35, Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart 13
Dawson-Boyd 68, LQPV 6
Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley 34, Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 14
Lester Prairie/Holy Trinity 21, New Richland-H-E-G 14
Litchfield 21, Redwood Valley 15
Minneota/Lincoln HI 53, Canby 12
Montevideo 33, Yellow Medicine East 20
Osakis 20, Wadena-Deer Creek 12
Ortonville 41, Brandon/Evansville 13
Ottertail Central 43, Browerville 0Melrose Area 21, Minnewaska Area 6

WIN!

Homecoming final score: BBE 27, HLWW 14. The Lakers tied the game 14-14 with no time on the clock before halftime.

Here's one of the 2nd-half touchdowns coming for B-B-E:

Other scores coming soon.

Friday Night Lights Part III: Jaguars win 2nd half in battle of CMC giants

Brian Goodwin rolls out from the pocket during the first half tonight. After the Jaguars struggled to get even to 25 yards of offense before halftime, they rallied in the second half and made it a game.

Final: Holdingford 27, B-B-E 18. The Jaguars scored with under a minute remaining in the game, but the 2-point conversion attempt failed to leave it at a two-score deficit. That was one of the most incredible second halves of football I've ever seen. To go from being flat-out embarrassed to getting your "chin up", dusting yourself off and getting back in the driver's seat after you crashed and burned was truly incredible to witness.

The Huskers scored first with 1:37 left in the first quarter on a 12-yard touchdown catch. They went up 14-0 with 7:48 left in the second quarter on a 9-yard touchdown catch by Jordan Gombos. The Jaguars played "pretty well" defensively in the first quarter before absolutely falling apart in the second. For example, while they generated only four yards of offense on their first drive, the Huskers got only 11. They wilted in the second, though, before getting fired up by a 17-yard interception return by defensive end Brendon Loch in the third quarter.

The Jaguars mounted an incredible goal-line stand mid-way into the 4th quarter, holding off Holdingford from scoring with 1st down on the BBE 8-yard line. With 5:40 left in the game, the Jaguars got the ball back on their own 3-yard line. They proceeded to drive the length of the field in about 5 minutes of game time and put up the game's final touchdown.

**Posted at 11:40pm...the last 6 or so minutes of the game. Good stuff! The Jaguars clearly were outplaying the Huskers in the 4th quarter, they were one touchdown too many behind, though:


Now it's time for Homecoming and the Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted Lakers! They are surprisingly 2-1 on the season after winning a huge upset in Howard Lake tonight by a 28-14 score over Pierz. The Lakers haven't beaten Pierz in a long, long time.

More to follow later...time to head home and dodge the corn choppers and other farm machinery out on northern Stearns County roads tonight.

Get a load of this! D-Mac reported to me that Minnewaska Area was ahead of Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City by a 21-7 score at halftime tonight. Then heading into the 4th, the Falcons made a comeback to trail 24-22. WOW!! **FINAL: Minnewaska Area 24, A-C-GC 22...unreal, I almost don't believe it! I have to see it from another source before I believe that.

**D-Mac confirmed that there was no scoring in the 4th quarter of the game, and indeed #3-ranked A-C-GC is now 2-1 on the season after losing at Minnewaska.

**Also, a big score to report: Tri-City United 28, Mayer Lutheran 7. The #9-ranked AAA Tri-City United Buccaneers lost to the Class AAA state champions in the Section 3AAA championship last year to finish 8-3 overall in the team's first year of existence. I really believed Mayer Lutheran was hands down the best team in Section 4A coming into this season. Now with A-C-GC losing, it's all up in the air. The #1 seed is truly up for grabs in Section 4A. It's exciting. It also places more emphasis on beating HL-W-W next Friday on Homecoming night!

**And! To top it off, Lester Prairie/Holy Trinity lost to the Awesome Blossoms of Blooming Prairie by a 30-15 score tonight in Lester Prairie no less. The Bulldogs are 1-2.

The #1 seed is up in the air right now in Section 4A.

VIDEO from the third quarter tonight...Youtube is acting up and it's not letting me remove some of the "shake" like usual...I apologize:


CMC scores for Week 3:
HL-W-W 28, Pierz 14 (hard to believe! but true! Joe Aalid had 3 TDs to lead the Lakers)
Maple Lake 31, Eden Valley-Watkins 21
Rockford Area 30, Kimball Area 23

Area football scores on Sept. 13, Week 3:
Sauk Centre 36, Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 35 (OT!)
Melrose Area 27, YME 6
Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart 27, Cedar Mountain/Comfrey 15
Barnesville 46, LP-GE 6
Blooming Prairie 30, Lester Prairie/Holy Trinity 15
Minnewaska Area 24, A-C-GC 22
Upsala/Swanville Area 34, #4-ranked Osakis 8 (Ouch)
Browerville 36, West Central Area 14
MACCRAY 26, Canby 6
Montevideo 34, Benson 13
Tri-City United 28, Mayer Lutheran 7
Royalton 63, Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 14
Paynesville Area 20, BOLD 18 (Paynesville is 3-0)

Friday Night Lights Part I: Jaguars win season opener!!!!

That was fun!!

The Jaguars had plenty to smile about after tonight's game, a rare season-opening win. They know what they have to work on next week if they want a chance at beating Kimball in Week 2.

It was a great start to the season for the Jaguars football team after they defeated a very good Lester Prairie/Holy Trinity Bulldogs team by a 42-29 score tonight on the home field. It's the program's first season-opening win since 2010, when the Jaguars beat West Central Area in Barrett 13-0. What a difference 2 years makes...back in the 2011 season opener at B-B-E, the Bulldogs pulled out a narrow 8-0 win with sophomore quarterbacks leading both teams. I haven't looked at tonight's offensive totals but I am expecting some huge numbers by both teams.

Here's the other years that the Jaguars won season openers...it's not a long list either: 1988, 1990, 1997, 2000, 2006, 2007, 2010 and now 2013.

Read a bit farther below to see more on the first half of the game.

The Jaguars took a knee as the final 15 seconds of the game ticked off the clock...start to finish it lasted 2 hours and 44 minutes!



Coming up is a home game against Kimball Area for a Week 2 battle in the Central Minnesota Conference opener. The Cubs are 0-1 after getting hammered by Class AAA Jordan by a 47-14 score tonight.

A wild, action-packed second half...
The Bulldogs drew first blood after halftime when they pulled in front 15-14 with about 5:35 left in the third quarter. LP/HT had a short field to work with on that touchdown drive when Tesch returned an interception 28 yards to the B-B-E 29 with 9:12 on the clock.

James Kuefler stepped up when his team needed him and took advantage of some good blocking by his kickoff return team and brought the ball back 19 yards to set up the Jaguars with a 63-yard field. Two plays later they were in Bulldogs territory, and on second and long Tommy Cebulla had a 12-yard catch for a nice gain. With 33 yards to go, the Jaguars used four plays to score, including a 27-yard scamper by Austin Kollman to set up first-and-goal at the LP/HT three-yard line. Kollman scored from three yards out to put his team back in the driver's seat with 2:17 left in the third quarter. Kuefler grabbed the two-point conversion pass to make it 22-15.

Billy Borgerding (14) and Brendon Loch (78) teamed up to take down LP/HT's talented junior running back Nate Tesch during action in the fourth quarter tonight.

Later in the game...
A six-yard touchdown catch by Tommy Cebulla put the Jaguars up 42-22 with 4:14 left in the fourth quarter. The Bulldogs started with a 60-yard field on their next drive and worked the ball down field to score what I believe is the most meaningless first-team touchdown I've ever seen in a high school game with 15 seconds to go.

I am quite proud of the way the guys handled a poor ending in the first half and a poor start to the second half. They allowed the Bulldogs to score 15 unanswered points to swipe the lead away at the mid-way point of the third quarter, but over the last 17 minutes of the game it was all Jaguars. They hung together and rallied when they needed to. Oh, can't forget to also mention, great job on the turnout tonight! I don't think it was 1,000 fans like I asked for but it was certainly in the 600 to 700 range. Let's turn it up another notch for Week 2, sound good???

To top it off, senior fullback Austin Kollman rushed for a whopping 242 yards! After the game, the coaches gave heavy praise to the blocking and the hard work of the offensive linemen. Even with those lofty numbers by Kollman, the Jaguars developed important offensive diversity throughout the game and showed signs of great things to come this year.


Area football scores in Week 1, Friday night:
A-C-GC 41, BOLD 16 (Falcons make a statement tonight against the Class AA Warriors, who were a state semifinalist last year)
Sauk Centre 35, Yellow Medicine East 12 (Mainstreeters snap a 7-game losing streak dating back to September of last year)
NL-S 56, Mound Westonka 0
Melrose Area 14, Benson 12
Minnewaska Area 31, Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 14
Jordan 47, Kimball Area 14
Benilde-St. Margaret's 47, Albany Area 8
Wadena-Deer Creek 39, West Central Area 22
Paynesville Area 54, Montevideo 34 (wow!)

Goal-line stand video clip from the section championship game

Action with 5 minutes left in the third quarter, with A-C-GC threatening to score while pushing deep into the B-B-E red zone...
 

Check out that awesome B-B-E student section cheering their hearts out! Wonderful.

Winning the big one

For years, winning the "big game" eluded volleyball and boys' basketball teams at B-B-E. We know what's happened since 2005 for those squads, with the volleyball team earning four state trips and the basketball team two.

Now it's the football team's turn. The last "big game" the B-B-E Jaguars football team won was in the middle of October in 1988. The Jaguars traveled to Grey Eagle to face the Swanville-Grey Eagle Patriots. The Jaguars were vying to win the Prairie Lakes Conference title outright.

In an afternoon game that day in Grey Eagle, the Jaguars battled through a game very evenly matched at the line of scrimmage and earned a 14-7 win for the school's only football conference title. Off the top of my head, a few noteworthy players on that squad were Monte Zilmer (center), Joe Zenner (back), Aaron Bayer (QB), Jason Kotz (back), Joe Schramel (lineman), Chad Bauer (WR) and James Duevel (WR). All of those players were seniors that year, with Zenner and Kotz both being two of the top running backs in the area. Zenner finished with over 1,000 rushing yards that season, with Kotz finishing with over 900 rushing yards. Bayer later was an assistant varsity football coach at B-B-E in the mid- to late-1990s.

Fun fact: the Jaguars have played in only two "afternoon" games since that 1988 season, that being in the early 2000s at Winsted (vs. HL-W-W) and then on October 25, 2008 at Minneota in the section semis.

B-B-E went 7-1 in the regular season of 1988 and were seeded number three in Section 4B. They beat Atwater-Grove City 13-8 in the first round of playoffs in Belgrade before losing at Morris to the state-ranked Morris Area Tigers 40-8 in the semifinals. The Jaguars were seeded #2 in the 1997 playoffs, making 1988, 1997 and 2012 the only years of B-B-E Jaguar football where the team has earned a playoff seed higher than number four.

With a combined Brooten and Belgrade/Elrosa enrollment of over 1,000 students that year, the Jaguars were a Class B team. They were also in Class B in 1989 and 1990. They dropped to Class C and qualified for the playoffs in 1992 and 1993. Then in 1994 they went back to Class B where they remained until 1996.

The 1995-1996 school year was the first year B-B-E's enrollment dipped below 1,000 students (it went to 993 that year).

In 1997, the Minnesota football classes were revamped to what we are familiar with today. The Jaguars were in Class AA from 1997 to 2000, missing the playoffs two of those four years (1998, 1999). In 2000, the Jaguars finished 2-5 in the Central Minnesota Conference (2-6 overall) heading into the playoffs, where they lost to Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City by a 42-14 score in the opening round as the #8 seed. The following season in 2001, A-C-GC went to state and finished 14-0 as the Class AA state champions.

Every year since 2001, the Jaguars have been in Class A.

A-C-GC and B-B-E did not meet again on the gridiron until 2010, when the Falcons won 15-6 in the Section 4A championship.

There's your history lesson on B-B-E football!

Stay tuned for more.

A thousand fans

The forecast for Tuesday is sunshine and a high in the low 60s.

So how about this, Jaguar Nation...let's have a thousand fans show up to cheer on the B-B-E football team on Tuesday night. Kickoff against MACCRAY is at 7:00pm at the B-B-E High School for the Section 4A quarterfinals.

Sound like a plan?

And more scenes from the football team's win at Howard Lake

By the middle of this clip, the HL-W-W first-string defense is shown competing against the B-B-E JV offense. Fortunately for the Lakers, none of their starting varsity players got hurt. Less than 3 minutes remained in the game.
 

Members of the Jaguars JV football team take the field in the fourth quarter against HL-W-W on Friday.

The JV defense late in the fourth quarter, facing HL-W-W's first-string varsity offense.

Coach Gossen and Coach Moscho gave the post-game talk to the squad and gave heavy praise throughout for the strong performance showed at Howard Lake.

Up next: Homecoming! They will be in for a battle in an attempt to get their second win of the season. Rockford Area comes to town next Friday night.

(Herald video) Jaguars mount a touchdown drive on their first series at Lester Prairie...plus another clip

(bel0w) Sam Scoblic hauled in a long bomb from Alex Heigl in the closing minutes of the first half. Heigl was getting knocked to the ground by B-B-E's lineman as he made the throw to Scoblic, who was in double coverage. You can't fault the B-B-E secondary; Scoblic just made an incredible catch.

...and a quick side note about the Tuesday night volleyball playoff match at the B-B-E High School...the match against Upsala will be aired on Smooth Magic 107.1 FM out of Glenwood. Visit their website to listen online via their streaming station at http://www.kmgk1071.com

Noteworthy...

Noteworthy: if the talent-laden Minnesota Vikings had one ounce of the character, stamina and mental toughness of our Jaguars football team, they'd be 8-0.

A little looking back:
The 1988 B-B-E Jaguars football team that finished 8-2 had one 26-0 regular season loss at state-ranked Browerville in week two and a playoff second-round 40-8 Section 4B loss at Morris.
The 1993 squad that finished 5-5 had a 35-0 loss at St. Cloud Cathedral plus three other closer regular season losses to go with a 28-20 Section 5C second-round loss at Osakis. The 1997 team finishing 7-4 had two losses by 8 and 9 points to go with a 40-18 loss on Homecoming to state-ranked Morris Area in the regular season and a 14-12 Section 5AA final loss at EV-W. The 2008 team finishing 5-5 lost five games by a combined 165 points, including a 55-6 loss in the Section 5A semifinals at Minneota.

The 2011 Jaguars finished 4-6, with their six losses coming by a combined 31 points; that bests the 1997 team's total margin of losses of 41 points.

B-B-E's first-year quarterback shines this season

A handful of Jaguars watch as their defense makes plays in the first half against the Bulldogs last night...
Sophomore quarterback Brian Goodwin (#5) finished the season with a 107-of-178 passing mark (60.1%) for 1,061 yards with four touchdowns and four interceptions. He also rushed 72 times for 184 yards, fourth best on the team.

As a team, the Jaguars rushed for 1,755 yards on 404 carries, good for a solid 4.34-yards-per carry.

**Below, the Jaguars score their first touchdown against LP/HT on Saturday night on a one-yard (one foot actually) option carry by Goodwin with 7:03 left in the first quarter.