Homecoming is always a fun week for Jackson County Central football coach Tom Schuller, but this one turned out to be a little more special.
A number of players from the Huskies' 2001 state championship team have been back in the area, rode in the parade Friday afternoon, were recognized at Swearingen Field before the game and watched as a group as JCC's 2021 squad beat Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial 36-0.
"Homecoming is about guys coming back," said Schuller. "But when it's 'The Guys.' The 2001 guys. It's been really special.
"I ended up riding on the float with them because they were all giddy and wanted me to do it," Schuller said on the postgame show on 106.5 Lakes FM. "It was like some of that stuff when it happened was yesterday and I look up and I'm 58 years old. I wasn't 58 years old when that happened but we're still remembering all that like it was yesterday. It's a special thing. It was really fun. Those guys were in the crowd and they were as energetic as they were when they were in high school. They're all great guys. I can't call them kids anymore. They're real sucesful now and have families. It was really special seeing them."
JCC was in its fifth year as a school district and Schuller was in his third season as head coach when the Huskies put together a 7-1 record playing a challenging regular-season schedule.
That allowed Jackson County Central the number one seed for the Section 2AAA playoffs and a first-round home game vs. eighth-seeded LeSueur-Henderon.
It would the Huskies' toughest test of the postseason as they scored late to beat the Giants 22-18.
"We were coming off a war with a tremendous Luverne team the week before," Schuller explained. "Somebody asked if that was a big game and we said they were all big games then. The league was incredibly tough. There was only one even remotely below-average team and unbeliveably it was Marshall."
"We converted three third-down plays on the last series to get that thing in there. That was the only time in my life that I just had sweat pouring off of me from nervousness. I was thinking 'I think we're pretty good and we're in big trouble here.'"
The Huskies did get that win to advance and won five more games to win the lone state title for Jackson County Central. Jackson High School won the state Class B title in 1985.
JCC outscored its final five opponents by a margin of 137-14, posting three shutouts and limiting the other two teams to seven points apiece.
The Huskies won their final two section games by identical 21-0 scores, beating St. Peter and Kasson-Mantorville.
At that time, quarterfinal state playoff games were played at homefield sites, so Jackson County Central traveled to Olivia and beat BOLD 20-7.
"We felt when we went to the Metrodome that there were four teams in our conference that could have beat those two teams," said Schuller.
Indeed, the Huskies dominated their two games under the teflon roof, beating Lake City 33-0 in the semifinals and Becker 42-7 in the championship game.
That 2001 team set a couple of school records.
Lucas Rosenbrook rushed for 1806 yards to break Andy Traetow's mark of 1800 in the Huskies' inaugural season of 1997.
Darrick Vancura would tie Rosenbrook with 1806 yards in 2012.
Shane Titterington also set a school record with 19 kickoff returns.
Jackson County Central 2001 results
Regular season
Jackson County Central 40, Blue Earth Area 14
Jackson County Central 35, Marshall 0
Redwood Valley 22, Jackson County Central 15
Jackson County Central 55, Hill-Murray 28
Jackson County Central 34, Pipestone-Jasper 6
Jackson County Central 20, Windom 15
Jackson County Central 35, Worthington 26
Jackson County Central 21, Luverne 13
Section 2AAA
Jackson County Central 22, LeSueur-Henderson 18
Jackson County Central 21, St. Peter 0
Jackson County Central 21, Kasson-Mantorville 0
State Class 3A playoffs
Jackson County Central 20, BOLD 7
Jackson County Central 33, Lake City 0
Jackson County Central 42, Becker 7