Friday Night Lights VIII: defense rules the night, Jaguars win border battle (VIDEOS!)
This was not a game for the faint of heart!
While it did not technically go down to the wire, the B-B-E Jaguars football team did not have the game in hand against Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg until quarterback Luke Illies took a knee in the final minute of the fourth quarter. They had just scored 14 unanswered points across the final 26 minutes of the 48-minute-long border battle. A game ruled by defense and offensive miscues was won by the Jaguars by a 14-3 score at Murdock.
Here's action from late in the 1st quarter last night (Wednesday) in Murdock:
More to come. I have many pages of notes to review from the game!
The flow of the game was outlined soon after the game's opening kickoff. B-B-E started on their own 32-yard line, and Ethan Mueller caught an 8-yard pass. Good! On the next play, the Jaguars lost a fumble, which gave K-M-S the ball on B-B-E's 39-yard line with 11:16 left in the first quarter. On K-M-S's first series, they gained one net yard on three plays but got off a great punt. The chess match was underway, as the Jaguars started their second series back on their own 14-yard line. Two plays later, the Jaguars lost possession on another fumble.
Back on defense, the Jaguars got tough again, but K-M-S had advantageous field position with their second drive starting on the B-B-E 10-yard line. A solo tackle by Ethan Mueller on first down brought a 5-yard loss. Next was an incomplete pass, but quarterback Tyler Engelke got those yards back with a carry on the next play. This set up 4th-and-10, and the Fighting Saints elected to kick a field goal. The kick was just on the mark, barely, as the ball fell on the goal post and rolled over to the ground. K-M-S 3, B-B-E 0 was the resulting score.
Over 16 minutes of scoreless football went by after that field goal. The Jaguars swiped the lead away from K-M-S with 1:11 left before halftime when lineman Noah Kampsen earned an interception and ran it back for a 68-yard Pick Six touchdown. The resulting 6-3 score stood to halftime.
Here's a video featuring how that Pick Six went down...
The second half...
Two false start penalties hampered K-M-S on the first series of the third quarter. The Fighting Saints had driven just into B-B-E territory, but they later punted on 4th-and-14 on their own 48-yard line with four minutes gone. The first drive of the third quarter for the Jaguars ended after three plays by an interception near midfield. K-M-S had possession at their own 45-yard line, but their drive lasted just three plays and ended on a lost fumble which was recovered by Brett DeRoo with 5:08 left in the third quarter.
This put the Jaguars back in the driver's seat with just 44 yards to go. On second down, Jack Lundberg caught a 16-yard pass. Brett DeRoo followed that with a 9-yard catch, and the Fighting Saints then committed a dead ball penalty to convert 2nd-and-1. Now at the K-M-S 19, the Jaguars had all the momentum. DeRoo caught an 11-yard pass and had a bead on the end zone before being stacked up one yard short. With first down on the K-M-S one-yard line, a costly lost fumble stopped a great opportunity to score the game's first offensive touchdown. Instead, the Fighting Saints took over possession with 1:46 left in the third at their own 2-yard line.
Later in the game...K-M-S had possession for the 10th time of the game early in the fourth quarter. Near midfield, Brett DeRoo grabbed an interception with an 8-yard return. This gave B-B-E possession at K-M-S's 42-yard line with 7:04 left in the game. Nine plays later, DeRoo caught a 4-yard touchdown pass from Luke Illies in the right corner of the endzone after he got a couple steps ahead of his defender. Harley Weber powered in the two-point conversion, and the Jaguars held a 14-3 lead with 2:47 to go.
After the kickoff that followed, the Fighting Saints reset their offense on their own 25-yard line. Their attempt for a big play on first down ended quickly when Kameron Hiltner grabbed an interception at the K-M-S 43-yard line.
Mid-Northwest Gopher Gold District football scores in Week 8 on October 16:
Browerville 43, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 14
Benson 42, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 0
Upsala/Swanville Area 37, West Central Area 14
Breaking news!
The Section 4A seedings have gone final this afternoon, and the Jaguars are the No. 2 seed for the upcoming playoffs. Both the Jaguars and top-seeded Upsala/Swanville Area both get first-round byes. B-B-E's playoff opener is on Saturday, October 26 on the home field.
Area football scores in Week 8 on October 16:
MACCRAY 42, Yellow Medicine East 0
BOLD 66, Canby 20
Parkers Prairie 57, Pine River-Backus 0
Hancock 42, Ottertail Central 6
Royalton 42, Paynesville Area 8
Rock Ridge 19, Duluth East 14
Albany 52, Montevideo 7
Annandale 35, New London-Spicer 3
Eden Valley-Watkins 24, Holdingford 6
Labels: bbe jaguars football, Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa Jaguars football, belgrade-brooten-elrosa school, border battle