Jackson County Central and Redwood Valley will meet in a familiar setting when they square off in the Section 3AA football playoffs Saturday.
The top-seeded Huskies and fourth-seeded Cardinals are playing for the third time in 365 days and each of those games has been on a Saturday afternoon at Swearingen Field in Jackson. Kickoff for Saturday’ Section 3AA semifinal game is 3 p.m.
JCC beat Redwood 38-12 in the section semifinals last year.
On Oct. 1, the Huskies were 35-0 winners on their way to taking a 9-0 record into Saturday’s contest.
That loss left the Cardinals with an 0-5 record. They haven’t lost since. Redwood comes in with four straight wins, beating Windom, Sibley East and two wins over Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial, beating the Knights in the final game of the regular season and also in the opening round of the section playoffs.
JCC’s defense limited Redwood to only 19 yards rushing and 96 yards total.
The Cardinals are a different team than they were for the first meeting earlier this month. For one thing, they have two heathy quarterbacks.
Camron Enright (No. 1) was injured in the earlier meeting, which left Tyson Irlbeck (55/11) as the lone QB.
“They’re a totally different team now,” said Jackson County Central Coach Tom Schuller. “They have two different play cards for the quarterback. No. 55 is kind of their passing quarterback and No. 1 is a running quarterback.”
The Huskies opened the playoffs Tuesday with a 62-28 victory over Windom.
Schuller was not pleased with the play of the defense in the win and said that there was a lot of work to do between games with a condensed schedule between games.
“That was the worst we’ve played on defense and by a lot,” Schuller said. “There was so much work to do and so short of time to do it that it’s a big task. “We’re going to have to be ready.”
Saturday’s other semifinal has second-seeded Pipestone hosting third-seeded Minnesota Valley Lutheran. The winners will play for the section title Friday at Southwest Minnesota State University.
Scoring averages
In the eight games the Huskies have played (they received a forfeit from Lake Cryatal Wellcome Memorial) JCC is outscoring its opponents 34.1-12.6.
Redwood has a 22.2-21.6 edge over its foes.
In the semifinals again
JCC has played in the section semifinals in 22 of the 25 years the playoffs were played to a conclusion. In 2020, the format was altered after the first round.
The Huskies have advanced to the section finals 19 times. The lone losses were in 2002 at LeSueur-Henderson (22-16 in overtime) and in 2011 at home to Luverne (12-0).
Only three times has JCC had to play a semifinal game away from Swearingen Field.
There was the overtime loss mentioned at LSH in 2002, but the Huskies won the other two, at Glencoe-Silver Lake in 1999 (49-15) and at Luverne in 2014 (23-16).
In that 2019 win at GSL, quarterback Jack Zelinko threw for school records of 338 yards and five touchdowns.
Zelinko still holds the single-game yardage record. Tanner Menke equaled the TD record with five vs. West Central in 2012 before Rudy Voss threw seven vs. Worthington in 2019.
2022 JCC results
Thurs., Sept. 1 – at Maple River, W 30-27
Fri., Sept. 9 – at Luverne, W 24-0
Fri., Sept. 16 - Blue Earth Area, W 34-26
Fri., Sept. 23 – at Windom, W 48-6
Sat., Oct. 1 - Redwood Valley, W 35-0
Fri., Oct. 7 – at Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial, W 2-0 (forfeit)
Fri., Oct. 14 - Pipestone, W 12-7
Wed., Oct. 19 - St. Peter, W 28-7
Tues., Oct. 25 – Windom, W 62-28
2022 Redwood Valley results
Thurs., Sept. 1 – Luverne, L 21-20
Fri., Sept. 9 – Norwood Young America, L 30-22
Fri., Sept. 16 – at Maple River, L 32-13
Fri., Sept. 23 – Pipestone, L 35-7
Sat., Oct. 1 – at Jackson County Central, L 35-0
Fri., Oct. 7 – Windom, W 28-8
Fri., Oct. 14 – at Sibley East, W 30-6
Wed., Oct. 19 – at Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial, W 40-21
Tues., Oct. 25 – Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial, W 40-6
Series highlights
Series: Jackson County Central leads 24-4
Regular season: Jackson County Central leads 24-3
Postseason: Tied 1-1
First meeting: Jackson County Central 20, Redwood Valley 14 (1997)
Last meeting: Jackson County Central 35, Redwood Valley 0 (2022)
Current streak: W 3
Longest Huskies win streak: 14 (2004-2017)
Longest Cardinals win streak: 1 (4 times)
Most Huskies points: 49 (1998, 2012, 2015, 2019)
Most Cardinals points: 28 (2004, 2011)
Huskies shutouts: 1998, 2000, 2022
Cardinals shutouts: 2018
Scores
All-time scores in the JCC-Redwood Valley series.
1997 – Jackson County Central 20, Redwood Valley 14
1998 - Jackson County Central 49, Redwood Valley 0
1999 - Jackson County Central 47, Redwood Valley 24
2000 - Jackson County Central 38, Redwood Valley 0
2001 – Redwood Valley 22, Jackson County Central 15
2002 - Jackson County Central 34, Redwood Valley 30
2003 - Jackson County Central 18, Redwood Valley 13; Redwood Valley 19, Jackson County Central 6 (Section 3AAA championship)
2004 - Jackson County Central 31, Redwood Valley 28
2005 - Jackson County Central 42, Redwood Valley 14
2006 - Jackson County Central 31, Redwood Valley 13
2007 - Jackson County Central 15, Redwood Valley 13
2008 - Jackson County Central 35, Redwood Valley 13
2009 - Jackson County Central 33, Redwood Valley 20
2010 - Jackson County Central 46, Redwood Valley 6
2011 - Jackson County Central 42, Redwood Valley 13
2012 - Jackson County Central 49, Redwood Valley 28
2013 - Jackson County Central 26, Redwood Valley 2
2014 - Jackson County Central 41, Redwood Valley 12
2015 - Jackson County Central 49, Redwood Valley 7
2016 - Jackson County Central 35, Redwood Valley 7
2017 - Jackson County Central 26, Redwood Valley 14
2018 – Redwood Valley 7, Jackson County Central 0
2019 - Jackson County Central 49, Redwood Valley 12
2020 – Redwood Valley 28, Jackson County Central 14
2021 - Jackson County Central 21, Redwood Valley 18; Jackson County Central 38, Redwood Valley 12 (Section 3AA semifinals)
2022 – Jackson County Central 35, Redwood Valley 0
Total points: Jackson County Central 885, Redwood Valley 389
Average: Jackson County Central 31.6, Redwood Valley 13.9
SECTION 3AA
Tuesday, Oct. 25
Quarterfinals
Jackson County Central 62, Windom Area 28
Redwood Valley 40, Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial 6
Pipestone 30, St. James Area 0
Minnesota Valley Lutheran 40, Sibley East 8
Saturday, Oct. 29
Semifinals
Redwood Valley (4-5) at Jackson County Central (9-0), 3 p.m.
Minnesota Valley Lutheran (6-3) at Pipestone (7-2), 3 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 4
Championship
At SMSU
Semifinal winners, 7 p.m.