A gritty effort by the Jackson County Central football team ended with the Huskies winning 34-26 over Blue Earth Friday at Swearingen Field.
Class 2A sixth-ranked JCC trailed 26-6 early in the second quarter, but came from behind to improve its record to 3-0 on the season. The eighth-ranked Buccaneers are 2-1.
After Parker Meyers threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to Ashton Lloyd, the Buccaneers led 26-6 with 10:01 still to play in the first half.
Clay Malchow returned the ensuing kickoff to the BEA 38-yard line and the Huskies scored on the first play from that point with Gabe Wolff scoring the TD on a 38-yard run. Alvaro Gonzalez Garcia kicked the extra point and JCC was within 26-13 with 9:44 left in the second quarter.
After a defensive stop, Jackson County Central drove and made it a one-score game with Brenan Runge throwing a two-yard TD pass to Roman Voss with two seconds left in the half. Garcia’s PAT made the score 26-20.
BEA had a 26-6 lead early in the second quarter.
26-13 and then made it a one-score game at 26-20 just before halftime.
“One of the huge things that kind of goes unnoticed is the tremendous drive we had before the first half ended,” said JCC Coach Tom Schuller. “Then we got a stop to start the second half and you could see things start to turn a little bit. We saw we could stop them and they were having difficulty stopping us.”
The Huskies would tie the game with 1:42 remaining in the third quarter as Runge and Voss connected on their second TD of the game, this one from 11 yards out. The PAT was not good, leaving the score 26-26.
JCC would get a couple of defensive stops in the fourth quarter, with Travis Rogotzke intercepting a pass and then Huskies later stopped the Bucs on a fourth-and-three play.
After the two earlier touchdown receptions, Voss then threw a TD pass, covering 65 yards to Wolff and Jackson County Central had its first lead.
Wolff explained what turned out to be the game-winning play.
“We all got in the huddle together and Roman says to Wade, ‘Wade we need a touchdown.’ ” Wolff said. “And Wade says ‘We got one right here. Roman, you’re throwing to Gabe going right, we’re going to make it work. We practiced that play during practice because we knew on film that I would be man on a linebacker and it’s hard for a linebacker to keep up with me.”
What was going through Gabe’s mind as he raced up the sideline toward Swearingen Field’s south end zone?
“Run. As fast as I can,” he said “I knew as long as I could get the first three steps out of the gate he wasn’t going to catch me. I got those three steps and I was gone.”
JCC had a 32-26 lead after the touchdown pass.
The Huskies elected to go for a two-point conversion after a penalty on the Buccaneers moved the ball half the distance to the goal line.
There was a delay before the point after attempt as Wolff, um, gathered himself a few yards away from the JCC huddle. “It was my Seven Layer Hotdish” Gabe explained. “I lost all seven layers I ate before the game.”
Seth Stai would run in the conversion to make the score 34-26 with 3:56 remaining.
The Huskies would stop the Bucs and ran out the clock for the win.
Wolff said Jackson County Central did a good job staying in the game after trailing big in the first half.
“The big thing with our team is grit,” he said. “We’re trying to keep as much positivity as possible. Even in those moments when it when we’re messing up and it would be real easy to get mad at them we try to stay positive. We still get on them, but in a positive way and that kept us in the game.
“We knew coming into this game that Blue Earth was going to be one of the hardest matchups if not the hardest matchups of the regular season. We’re just going to ride on this win for now and go week by week and try to take each team down as they come.”
Wolff ran the ball 27 times for 181 yards and had the one reception for 65 yards.
“We’re playing him mostly one way, which is good,” Schuller said. “Holy smokes, he’s giving us about 180 yards of offense per game and that’s special, so it’s been well worth it. He played D-end last year and wasn’t very good at it. We’re playing him a little bit at nickel and you don’t get to play much of that against a team like Blue Earth when they’re running the ball like they were so we’re trying to play him as little as we can because we’re getting so much out of him on offense and that’s really helping the football team.”
Schuller also praised the tenacity of his team.
“We were close to getting knocked out,” he said. “I watch a lot of boxing on Youtube. It was kind of like Hagler-Hearns where Hearns cut Hagler in the first round and Hagler decided this thing is going to be over if I don’t try to close the show down. When we missed the quarterback three times in that fourth down play, that could have buckled us. It looked like we were never going to stop them. We’re in the right place but we can’t tackle this guy.
“But we held our water and executed down the stretch. “This is what Friday nights are all about.”
JCC will be on the road for the third in four games in the first half of its regular-season schedule this Friday, traveling to Windom.
SOUTH CENTRAL SILVER DISTRICT
Standings
Jackson County Central 0-0
Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial 0-0
Pipestone Area 0-0
Redwood Valley 0-0
Windom Area 0-0
District games only
Thursday, Sept. 15
Luverne 36, Windom Area 0
Friday, Sept. 16
Jackson County Central 34, Blue Earth Area 26
Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial 40, LeSueur-Henderson 21
Maple River 32, Redwood Valley 13
Pipestone 56, Sibley East 7
Friday, Sept. 23
Jackson County Central at Windom
Maple River at Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial
Pipestone at Redwood Valley
SECTION 3AA
Records
Jackson County Central 3-0
Pipestone Area 3-0
Minnesota Valley Lutheran 2-1
Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial 1-2
Redwood Valley 0-3
St. James Area 0-3
Sibley East 0-3
Windom Area 0-3
Thursday, Sept. 15
Luverne 36, Windom Area 0
Friday, Sept. 16
Jackson County Central 34, Blue Earth Area 26
Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial 40, LeSueur-Henderson 21
Martin County West 13, Minnesota Valley Lutheran 6
Maple River 32, Redwood Valley 13
New Ulm Cathedral 29, St. James Area 28
Pipestone 56, Sibley East 7
Friday, Sept. 23
Jackson County Central at Windom
Maple River at Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial
Murray County Central at St. James Area
Norwood Young America at Sibley East
Pipestone at Redwood Valley
Saturday, Sept. 24
Minnesota Valley Lutheran at Wabasso
JCC football schedule
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, 7 p.m.
Sat., Oct. 1 - Redwood Valley, 1 p.m.
Fri., Oct. 7 – at Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial, 7 p.m.
Fri., Oct. 14 - Pipestone, 7 p.m.
Wed., Oct. 19 - St. Peter, 7 p.m.