It wasn't a great start, but the finish turned out just fine for the Jackson County Central football team Friday in a 36-16 win over Luverne Friday at Swearingen Field.
The Cardinals led 16-14 at halftime after leading 16-6 early in the second quarter.
"We can't come out and play a half of football like that," said JCC coach Tom Schuller. "That was unacceptable. We had a bunch of bad plays we made and they all turned into big plays for Luverne. I thought we put them in the end zone. Not to take anything away from them, but with our experience we have to play better than that. In the second half though, we came out and played better."
The Huskies scored the final 30 points of the game, played in 80-plus percent humidity.
"We wore them down and we had some kids come in to supply depth for us and that saved us. Both teams had quite a few people cramping up. We were able to get some people that were down in our depth chart to come in and play functional football which was very, very necessary because you couldn't play both ways tonight, it was just too humid. I noticed in warmups it was really humid. I thought it was going to be trouble."
Those cramps kept trainer Caitlin Place busy.
"I thought the biggest thing was (Seth) Stai coming in at linebacker. We want to give Levi the ball and he wants the ball," Schuller said. "Going into the game we didn't think we could pull Lindley at linebacker because we were short a starter, but Stai came in there. Levi got the ball a bunch of times and wanted to stay in there so we gave Stai a shot and he did okay. We were able to put him out there and that helped us a bunch."
Lindley finished with 121 yards rushing on 17 carries and tied a school record with four rushing touchdowns (see separate newsletter).
Gabe Wolff ran the ball 13 times for 109 yards.
Eighth-grader Roman Voss was 4-for-8 passing for 92 yards in his first start at quarterback.
"The offensive line is supposed to carry him and early there were too many mistakes," Schuller said. "We screwed up our base plays a couple of times and that is very disappointing. For a veteran club, that just can't continue to happen. Roman had a significant improvement over last week doing the little things. The ball was not on the ground very much, so I was happy with that."
JCC, now 1-1, is at Class 2A third-ranked Blue Earth Area next Friday.
"Blue Earth is going to tougher than nails," Schuller commented. We have to continue to get better and progress toward the playoffs. We're early yet, but we're in a desperation mode of trying to get better.
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, 7 p.m.
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.
South Central Silver District
Friday
Jackson County Central (1-1) defeated Luverne 36-16
Pipestone (2-0): Defeated Worthington 57-20
Redwood Valley (2-0): Defeated Norwood Young America 53-22
Windom (0-2): Lost to Maple River 55-0
Saturday
Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial (0-1): vs. Blue Earth Area
Section 3AA teams
Friday
Jackson County Central (1-1) defeated Luverne 36-16
Minnesota Valley Lutheran (1-1): Defeated St. James Area 60-13
Pipestone (2-0): Defeated Worthington 57-20
Redwood Valley (2-0): Defeated Norwood Young America 53-22
St. James Area (0-1): Lost to Minnesota Valley Lutheran 60-13
Sibley East (1-0): at Tri-City United (Sat.)
Windom (0-2): Lost to Maple River 55-0
Saturday
Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial (0-1): vs. Blue Earth Area