Jackson County Central competed pretty well with Class 2A second-ranked Blue Earth Area in the first half, but a couple of plays turned the tide and the Buccaneers went on to beat the Huskies 48-14 at Wilson Field in Blue Earth Friday night.
Defensively, the Huskies weren't able to stop BEA on a couple on third down on a couple of occasions and the JCC offense missed out on some opportunities to extend drives.
Blue Earth remained undefeated at 3-0, while Jackson County Central slips to 1-2.
"I thought we hung in there pretty well in the first half," said JCC coach Tom Schuller. "We couldn't get off the field on defense. We had a couple of backbreaking plays when we would get to third down when they got some big pass plays on us. And then we started losing some guys in the second half and we couldn't hold in there defensively at all."
The Buccaneers led 14-0 before Gabe Wolff scored on a four-yard run for the Huskies with 3:27 remaining in the first half. Levi Lindley ran in the two-point conversion to cut the margin to 14-8.
BEA would answer before the end of the half, scoring with one second remaining to lead 21-8 at the break.
The Bucs would stretch the lead to 41-8 before Will Freking went in from four yards out for JCC with 9:34 to play.
Blue Earth Area would score the final points of the game with 8:05 to play.
"We have to keep a positive attitude," said Schuller. "And we have to try to get some people back. We have to play better defensively. We moved the ball offensively, especially in the first half.
"There were about three plays in the first half that changed the game. We had a couple of balls we should have caught and then a couple pass plays that they made when we were close to getting them off the field. We need to develop more depth with guys that can help us off the bench."
BEA's Adam Schavey ran for four touchdowns, on plays of 3, 2, 7 and 3 yards. He also threw a five-yard touchdown pass to Ashton Lloyd and a 42-yard scoring strike to Luke Schonborn.
Freking ran for 56 yards on seven carries to lead JCC.
Roman Voss was 4-for-15 passing for 93 yards. Payton Handevidt caught all four passes.
Jackson County Central, 1-2, will host Windom next Friday. The Eagles are 0-3 after losing 26-6 to Luverne on Thursday.
JCC football schedule
Thurs., Sept. 2 - Maple River, L 35-8
Fri., Sept. 10 - Luverne, W 36-16
Fri., Sept. 17 - at Blue Earth Area, L 48-14
Fri., Sept. 24 - Windom, 7 p.m.
Fri., Oct. 1 - at Redwood Valley, 7 p.m.
Fri., Oct. 8 - Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial, 7 p.m.
Fri., Oct. 15 - at Pipestone, 7 p.m.
Wed., Oct. 20 - at St. Peter, 7 p.m.