Jackson County Central’s 45-6 win over Pipestone Wednesday gives the Huskies their third straight 8-0 regular season.
It’s also the fifth time in the last nine years and the eighth overall in school history that JCC has had an unblemished regular season.
Here are the seasons Jackson County Central has gone 8-0 with the final record that year in parenthesis.
1997 (13-1)
2000 (10-1)
2003 (10-1)
2016 (10-1)
2019 (11-1)
2022 (12-1)
2023 (11-1)
2024 (?)
Win streak reaches 25
Jackson County Central has won 25 straight regular season games, extending the school record.
JCC won its final regular-season game of the 2021 season and has now gone 8-0 three straight seasons.
It’s the sixth time in school history that the Huskies have had a regular season winning streak reach double figures.
The list:
25: 2021-2024
16: 2015-2017
12: 1997-1998
12: 1999-2001
11: 2002-2004
10: 2018-2019
South (Central-Silver) District
JCC won the South Central District Silver Sub-District title with a 4-0 record.
Luverne, Pipestone and Redwood Valley all went 2-2 as each lost to the Huskies and split with the other teams involved in the tie.
Luverne beat Pipestone, Pipestone beat Redwood Valley and Redwood Valley beat Luverne.
Standings
Jackson County Central 4-0
Luverne 2-2
Pipestone 2-2
Redwood Valley 2-2
Minnesota Valley Lutheran 0-4
District games only
Wednesday, Oct. 16
Jackson County Central 45, Pipestone 6
Redwood Valley 24, Luverne 13
Maple River 26, Minnesota Valley Lutheran 0
Section 3AA
Jackson County Central will compete in Section 3AA in postseason play.
Here’s how the teams did in the final week of the regular season. Won-loss records are in parentheses.
Jackson County Central (8-0): Defeated Pipestone 45-6
Pipestone (6-2): Lost to Jackson County Central 45-6
Redwood Valley (6-2): Defeated Luverne 24-13
Le Sueur-Henderson (4-4): Defeated Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial 24-19
Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial (3-5): Lost to LeSueur-Henderson 24-19
Windom (4-4): Lost to Class 1A No. 2 Springfield 54-7
Minnesota Valley Lutheran (2-6): Lost to Maple River 26-0
Sibley East (0-8): Lost to Blue Earth Area 67-36
State leaders
JCC finished first among the state’s Class 2A teams in both points scored and points allowed during the regular season.
The Huskies outscored their opponents 423-42 for an average of 52.9-5.2 per game.
Here are the top five teams in the state in each category according to statistics on Minnesota-scores.net.
It should be noted that on the Minnesota Scores website, Staples-Motley’s points per game allowed average is listed as 7.5.
The Cardinals won by forfeit in the final week of the regular season, so they allowed a total of 60 points, which divided by eight games is 7.5. Actually, S-M allowed 60 points in seven games played, putting the average at 8.6.
Points for
52.9: Jackson County Central
47.9: Norwood Young America
45.5: Barnesville
43.0: Rush City
42.8: Kimball Area
Points against
5.2: Jackson County Central
8.0: Barnum
8.1: Norwood Young America
8.6: Staples-Motley
8.6: Kimball Area
How they fared
Here’s how the top 10 teams in the state Class 2A media football poll fared in the final week of the regular season. Opponents are also Class 2A teams unless otherwise noted.
1. Barnesville (8): Defeated Frazee 44-12
2. Chatfield (8-0): Defeated No. 8 Cannon Falls 40-8
3. Jackson County Central (8-0): Defeated Pipestone 45-6
4. Norwood Young America (8-0): Defeated Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop 47-0
5. Barnum (8-0): Defeated South Ridge 55-7
6. Kimball Area (8-0): Defeated Class 3A St. Cloud Cathedral 42-7
7. Eden Valley-Watkins (7-1): Defeated No. 9 Holdingford 24-6
8. Cannon Falls (6-2): Lost to No. 2 Chatfield 40-8
9. Holdingford (6-1): Lost to No. 6 Eden Valley-Watkins 24-6
10. Caledonia (6-2): Defeated Class 3A No. 9 Pine Island 40-0
Playoff kickoff
While JCC doesn’t play again until next Saturday, you can attend an event at Swearingen Field Monday to get the playoff run started.
From 5:30-6:30 p.m. you can purchase a ‘Husky Hankey’ for $10 and have it autographed by the players.
Proceeds will go toward the JCC football program.
It only takes 11
Did you say you were looking for an update on Pittsburgh City League high school football?
Well, you’re in luck.
Here’s a story about a team that played a game with only 11 players. And won handily.
Simser passes away
Hall of Fame football coach Jim Simser has passed away. KSUM Radio reported the news on its X (formerly Twitter account).
Simser compiled a record of 223-91-1 at New Richland-Hartland and Fairmont. He ranks 38th all-time in wins in the state. He is a member of the Minnesota Football Coaches Association and Fairmont Athletic Hall of Fame.
Simser coached the NR-H Cardinals to two state championships.
They won the 1976 Class C title with a 21-19 win over Bird Island, scoring the winning touchdown on a fourth down play with 5:00 remaining.
In 1978 NR-H was bumped to Class B and won another state championship with a 48-8 rout of Barnesville.
I helped cover that 1978 team as a part-time sports writer at the Albert Lea Tribune.
Both teams featured a wishbone offense.
As I recall, in the preview story for that game written by Tribune Sports Editor Thomas A. Kvamme, Barnesville coach Larry Anderson (pretty sure not the long-time Jackson radio announcer) claimed his team ran a “true” wishbone while NR-H did not.
Then on a wintry November Friday night in St. Cloud, the Cardinals scored on their first five possessions on their way to a 48-8 win over the Trojans. A snowstorm in southern Minnesota on Thursday made it questionable if we were going to be able to make the trip until early in the afternoon.
The trip was a bit treacherous. To this day when I’m driving in snow, I remember a Maverick (remember those cars?) passing us going too fast for the conditions. It developed into one of those situations down the road a few miles that while you do feel bad for someone’s misfortune, you also have a little satisfaction when you see them in the ditch.
After covering an earlier game in that 1978 playoff run Simser gave Tom and I this stocking cap that I still have:
FUN FACT: Anderson was in his first season as head coach at Barnesville. Who coached the Trojans the four previous seasons? 1965 Jackson High School graduate Dennis Hale. Hale would later move back to southern Minnesota and was the head coach at Worthington for 33 years.
FUN FACT, part deu: While NR-H was winning the state Class B title in 1978, Alden-Conger, located about 20 miles away, won the state Class C crown.
But I digress.
Simser became head coach of the Fairmont Cardinals in 1990 following the retirement of his close friend, Tom Mahoney, who is 26th on the wins list with a record of 256-94-8. He coached those Cardinals to state tournament trips in 1992, 1996 and 1997.