Simply having the same lineup two weeks in a row isn't supposed to be a luxury item, but it's something it took the Jackson County Central football team until the sixth game of the season to be able to enjoy.
And the Huskies were able to enjoy it to the tune of a 36-0 homecoming win over Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial 36-0 Friday night at Swearingen Field.
However, JCC coach Tom Schuller said on the postgame show on 106.5 Lakes FM that almost changed earlier in the day at a pep rally.
"This is the first time we've had our lineup the same two weeks in a row." he said. "And we almost blew that in the pep rally. Our middle linebacker did a front flip and landed on his nose so it's been crazy. It was nice to have everybody out there again."
On a more serious note, the Huskies held the Knights to 191 yards offense, 132 rushing and 59 passing.
Schuller was pleased with the shutout, but said there's still room for improvement.
"It wasn't clean on defense," he said. "We made too many mistakes. We worked really hard on keeping their quarterback in the pocket because we know how electric he is. He got out a couple of times and he's going to get out. We had a blitz one time where we sent a guy off the edge and he got outside us. That kind of stuff actually drives me crazy because it just can't happen. When you're in an elimination game you will be eliminated because you just can't do that stuff."
Meanwhile, JCC was piling up 491 yards offense, 213 on the ground and 278 in the air.
A week after running out of the wishbone formation for more than half of the game in a 21-18 win at Redwood Valley, the Huskies wanted to throw the ball a little more against the Knights and quarterback Roman Voss was 12-for-20 passing.
"We went into this game wanting to throw the ball more," commented Schuller. "Last week we didn't get a chance. The game and the weather didn't dictate it. To get where want to get we knew we were going to have to throw the ball 15 to 20 times because it can't be the first time we do it when we get behind and get in trouble so we committed to the pass."
Jackson County Central was also able to use its two-minute offense and while it didn't result in points Schuller with pleased with that aspect.
"All week we worked on our two-minute offense and we ran it twice and it was real effective," he said. "I was really happy with the one at the end of the first half. We were able to get the ball down to about the 15-yard line. We didn't make the field goal but it was a nice drive with like 45 seconds left and two time outs and we were able to get the ball from the 50 to the 15. There's a lot of communication things and a lot of practice that goes into that and I was really proud of the kids for pulling that off."
Levi Lindley ran for three touchdowns for JCC, scoring from 3, 17 and 11 yards out.
Will Freking scored a TD from 3 yards out and Voss threw a 53-yard touchdown pass to Payton Handevidt.
Lindley was the top rusher with 94 yards on 12 carries. Travis Rogottzke had five catches for 77 yards.
"We're seeing improvement in some places and there's room for more growth yet," said Schuller. "We continue to be a work in progress but test time is coming up real fast and the biggest one is coming next week. We think if we still have a chance to get the one seed if we can beat Pipestone and St. Peter and that's a really big deal in our section. No disrespect to the other teams but if we can get the one seed we only have to go through Pipestone OR Redwood and not both."
JCC is at Pipestone next Friday. The Arrows are 6-0 after beating Luverne 20-16 Friday.
Section 3AA
JCC is a member for Section 3AA for postseason play. Here's this week's results for section teams. Records are in parenthesis.
Jackson County Central (4-2): Defeated Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial 36-0
Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial (1-5): Lost to Jackson County Central 36-0
Minnesota Valley Lutheran (3-3): Lost to New Ulm Cathedral 28-14
Pipestone (6-0): Defeated Luverne 20-16
Redwood Valley (4-2): Defeated Windom 46-14
St. James Area (0-6): Lost to Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 69-14
Sibley East (1-5): Lost to LeSueur-Henderson 24-14
Windom (1-5): Lost to Redwood Valley 46-14
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, W 50-6
Fri., Oct. 1 - at Redwood Valley, W 21-18
Fri., Oct. 8 - Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial, W 36-0
Fri., Oct. 15 - at Pipestone, 7 p.m.
Wed., Oct. 20 - at St. Peter, 7 p.m.