Football team's Week 2 game is tonight...bring on the Knights! (VIDEO)

The B-B-E Jaguars football team travels approximately 55 miles northwest up Highway 55 to West Central Area high school tonight. They face a 1-0 Knights team that won 14-8 last week in their season opener. This is WCA's second straight home game to start the season, while the Jaguars are on the road for two straight before their home opener comes next week against Benson.

In this video, the Jaguars are shown starting a drive later in the first quarter at Bagley last Friday:


In that video, the Jaguars earned a fumble recovery on a Bagley fourth down play late in the second quarter. The clock had 2:28 on it when the Jaguars started on their own 40-yard line. B-B-E ultimately was stopped on a fourth-and-two play with about 30 seconds left in the first half.

I'll get some light scouting information posted here on WCA later this afternoon. Stay tuned!

West Central Area has had back-to-back winning seasons the past two years after competing in Class 2A in the playoffs. They made it to the Prep Bowl in 2021 before suffering a heartbreaking 13-12 loss to state power Chatfield in that game. This year the Knights earned a win in the season opener last week by a 14-8 score over Polk County West in Barrett. The Polk County West Thunder football team is a cooperative team between the high schools of Fisher and Climax plus Sacred Heart of East Grand Forks; they had a 5-5 season last year. WCA's offense started strong with a 20-yard run on their first play from scrimmage, but things went south from there with a rash of holding calls, false starts, offside penalties and a face mask personal foul in the opening half. Neither team had scored by halftime. The Echo Press newspaper reported that Sam Hanson got his WCA team fired up at halftime, and whatever motivation he provided worked as the Knights defense forced a fumble and gave their offense the ball near midfield early in the third quarter. WCA utilized numerous short runs plus a reception by tight end Ben Bye to move the chains and score on a rushing touchdown. Adam Lohse caught a two-point conversion pass over the middle for an 8-0 lead.

Early in the fourth quarter, Polk County West recovered a blocked WCA punt at the WCA six-yard line and were able to score a touchdown. With 9:08 left, they trailed 8-6 after a failed extra-points play. On the next WCA drive, quarterback Brady Lindquist found Hanson on a wheel route that the fill-in running back took 54 yards to score the game's final touchdown with about 6 minutes left in the game. The Thunder threatened down the stretch on two drives, but WCA's defense ended both with interceptions. Overall, WCA's defense forced six turnovers. Needless to say: they are very good! This will be a tough test for our Jaguars...100x tougher than last week. WCA is recovering from the graduation of two highly talented skill players at running back and tight end, but they bring back a load of players from the past two seasons who want to keep WCA running at a high level in football. They have what I would rate as back-to-back tough road games on deck after this week when they travel to Long Prairie and K-M-S for Week 3 and Week 4. They want to hit that stretch with a 2-0 mark.

More to come. It's after 4 o'clock and I need to get ready for the trip up Highway 55! This is my second trip that way this week, as I was in WCA territory on Monday at the Rafter P Ranch by Kensington for the Farm Bureau Breakfast on the Farm event. Also, this is B-B-E's first trip to play WCA on the road since 2016, when the Knights won 33-27 in Week 5 against our Jaguars after an 0-4 start. I'll never forget that game...it was hard to swallow. WCA was paired with Ashby that season, a co-op pairing that ended this past winter.

GAME UPDATES to follow here if you can't make the trip to WCA...

After the first quarter, the Jaguars are ahead 24 to 0.

**In the middle of the 2nd quarter, the Knights scored on a Pick 6 with a 20-yard return.

With 3:01 left in the first half, Luke Illies caught a 35-yard touchdown. The extra point conversion was incomplete to make the score 30 to 6.

HALFTIME: B-B-E 36, WCA 6.  With a low battery on myself and I won't be posting in the second half.

Final: B-B-E 44, WCA 14.  I'm heading home, and my Friday Night Lights II post will be added after 11:15 p.m.  I feel like I could run a couple more track meets...because this is FUN!!!! I have trained all summer for this football season, and so far so good!!

(Video) National Anthem before B-B-E v. WCA/A football

Here's the combined choir of the West Central Area and Ashby high schools singing the National Anthem on Friday night. Veterans were given special recognition prior to the game.


Well done! This was the first time I've watched a high school choir perform the National Anthem before a football game. I was impressed. I also want to point out that the season has been emotionally difficult for WCA/A fans, coaches and players as they are coming to terms with the loss of Pat Anderson, "PA" to everyone in Grant County, who was the WCA high school Dean of Students and Activities Director. He was killed on July 30 in an accident northwest of Kensington. One of his two sons, Ross Anderson, is the junior starting quarterback for WCA/A.

Friday Night Lights V: a tough loss to swallow

After posting a 13-0 lead with over 11 minutes left in the second quarter, the B-B-E Jaguars football team couldn't keep West Central Area/Ashby from coming back to tie the game 13-13 before halftime in Week Five of the regular season. Final score: WCA/A 33, B-B-E 27.

Read a game story and see video and more photos at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper's website: http://www.bonanzavalleyvoice.com.

Next is Homecoming on Friday, October 7 against Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg.

Around the Mid-State District, Sub-District 3 for Week Five on September 30:
Upsala/Swanville Area beat Kimball Area in Swanville 17-7. Royalton crushed Browerville/Eagle Valley 30 to 8. And in Murdock, Parkers Prairie survived an upset bid by Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 14 to 12.

Area football scores on September 30:
Willmar 21, St. Cloud Apollo 7
Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 46, Renville County West 16
Hancock 26, MACCRAY 20 (OT)
Eden Valley-Watkins 26, Paynesville Area 12     
Minnewaska Area 20, Sauk Centre 16 (Minnewaska Area gets first win of the season)
Melrose Area 21, Maple Lake 14
Dawson-Boyd 31, Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 8
Rockford Area 27, Holdingford 14
Lester Prairie/Holy Trinity 20, Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial 14
Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 28, Benson 19
BOLD 29, Montevideo 0
New London-Spicer 26, Little Falls 13
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 36, Yellow Medicine East 13
Pierz 39, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 28

Game day

It's GAME DAY for the B-B-E Jaguars football team! They travel 55 miles to the northwest on Highway 55 to face the West Central Area/Ashby Knights in a Mid-State District contest. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. at the WCA high school football stadium.

After missing the first two road contests of the season, I can finally make the trip with the football team to cover tonight's game. I look forward to it.

Oh, by the way, this is Homecoming week at WCA. Veterans are invited to attend the game, get in for free, and also gather together at halftime in a special ceremony on the football field to honor their service.

Pre-season practices are completed - Jaguars football is ready for the 2010 season - WCA Knights football preview is below

Under new Coach David Drexler...
Young WCA Knights ready for Football action
by Kris Beuckens, Herman-Hoffman Tribune sports editor

Young and undersized are two words that accurately describe the WCA Knights’ Football team in 2010 and first year Head Coach David Drexler and his coaching staff will be charged with putting a competitive team on the field.

Most WCA followers will remember Drexler as one of the leaders of a football team that finished as state runners up in 1999 and as a standout on the basketball court. He will be joined on the sidelines by Trevor Schneeberger, another past WCA football and basketball great. Arick Follingstad, Jeff Holsen, Terry Ohlgren and David Schleicher round out the coaching staff.

While the entire coaching staff agrees that the young and undersized aspects of their Knights’ team could be looked at as negatives, they’re accepting the challenge and will look to put an aggressive yet disciplined group on the field.

“We lost nearly our entire offensive line last year so we know we’ve got plenty of work to do, but we’ll approach it positively and coach our kids to play hard and aggressively,” said Drexler. “We’re all looking forward to seeing the team develop and continue to improve on a day-to-day and a week-to-week basis.”

Returning to lead the team will be seniors Colton Blascyk (QB/S), Jake Boeddeker (TE/LB), Brandon Quick (OL/LB) and Austin Gulbrandson (OL/DL) and junior Ethan Supler (RB/LB). Blascyk, Boeddeker and Quick will serve as the team’s captains.

There will be plenty of newcomers to the team who will need to make an impact if the team is to enjoy success. Senior Jon Pikop (OL/DL) will likely see a lot of playing time as will juniors Matt Wagner (CB/WR) and Calvin Anderson (RB/LB).

According to Drexler, there will be many sophomores and possibly even a few freshman who will need to step up and make contributions to the team this year giving them a chance to show their abilities and gain experience for the coming years.

The Knights will be competing for the last time in the Heart O’Lakes Conference this year and would love, as such, to make an impact.

Drexler points to Staples-Motley, Breckenridge and DGF to be the favorites in the Heart O’Lakes Conference this season while Pierz, Breckenridge and Crosby-Ironton will be the teams to beat in Section 6AA.

The Knights open the 2010 season with a home game on Friday, September 3, when the Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa Jaguars come to town for a 7:00pm game at the WCA High School athletic complex in Barrett.