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B.E. Area produces shutout over St. James

ST JAMES — Turnovers, turnovers, turnovers.

The Blue Earth Area Bucs rolled the St. James Area Saints 35-0 in a South Central White District football clash Wednesday night in St. James.

Blue Earth Area (3-5, 3-4 South Central White) and St. James Area (2-6, 2-5) will find out today their respective opponents and where they play in Tuesday’s Section 2AA quarterfinals.

Bucs head coach Randy Kuechenmeister said getting the win to head into the playoffs is important for the team.

“You hope it gives you some momentum,” Kuechenmeister said. “That’s what we want it to do. You always want to win to get some momentum going in.”

The matchup included seven turnovers, four interceptions from the Bucs and an interception and two fumble recoveries from the Saints.

BEA got ahead quickly.

Caelan Sanders took the opening kickoff 20 yards to set the Bucs up to start at their own 32. On the first play from scrimmage, quarterback Hunter Bleess faked a handoff on a jet sweep to the left, and ran the ball up the middle, cutting to the right sideline in the secondary for a 64-yard run. With only four yards to go to hit paydirt, Koby Nagel took a handoff up the middle and powered over the goal line for the first score of the day only 32 seconds into play.

Brayden Barnett’s extra point was good making the score 7-0 at the 11:28 juncture in the first quarter.

Two drives later, the Bucs were moving. Five plays got the ball down to the Saints’ 26 yard line before a Cole Durheim interception got the Saints the ball with no harm done.

Cameron Anderson didn’t let SJA keep the ball for long. On the third play after Durheim’s interception, Anderson intercepted a pass of his own on the Saints’ 45 and returned it for a touchdown.

Anderson jumped the deep crossing route near the home stands, broke to his right and made it to the opposite hashmark before making another cut to head back to the home sideline where he was free to the end zone.

Barnett made his second extra point attempt to put the score at 14-0 with 1:39 left in the first quarter.

BEA would score again on its next drive.

Max Ehrich carried the ball three times for 41 yards on the drive, including a 14-yard touchdown run.

Ehrich’s touchdown and a bad snap on the extra point attempt put the Bucs up 20-0 with 8:02 left before intermission.

Before the break, Aaron Rodriguez recovered a fumble for the Saints and Sanders grabbed an interception, neither became consequential.

On the first drive of the second half, Sanders brought down his second interception of the day and the Bucs capitalized.

Bleess completed passes to Nagel and Anderson before Ehrich pushed a pile of SJA defenders five yards on his 11-yard touchdown run with 9:33 left in the third quarter.

BEA went for two and Bleess completed a pass to Austin Thielfoldt on the right sideline to put the Bucs’ lead at 28.

The Bucs’ final score opened the fourth quarter.

Ehrich and Nagel combined for four carries and 59 yards on the drive, but the final yards came with Akei’ra Morrow in the backfield.

Morrow took three handoffs for 28 yards, including a 16-yard scoring run. Barnett hit the extra point to put the Bucs ahead 35-0 with 10:07 left.

Kuechenmeister said he told his team now it’s time to get ready for the next game.

“This is a step,” Kuechenmeister said. “Now let’s take another step next week. Good game, let’s get ourselves ready to roll next week.”

Ehrich led BEA on the ground with 12 carries for 123 yards and two touchdowns, while Nagel also broke the 100-yard mark with 12 carries for 112 yards and a touchdown.

BEA ran the ball 46 times and amassed 366 yards for a nearly eight yards per carry average.

Kuchenmeister said controlling the trenches led to the big day on the ground.

“It was a good performance,” Kuechenmeister said. “We were able to run the ball and control the line of scrimmage, which made us ablee to put points on the board. I thought it was key that we came out right away and scored, that kind of set the tone.”

BEA 14 6 8 7 — 35

SJA 0 0 0 0 — 0

Scoring Plays

1st Quarter

BEA–Koby Nagel 4 run (Brayden Barnett kick), 11:28

BEA–Cameron Anderson 45 interception return (Brayden Barnett kick), 1:39

2nd Quarter

BEA–Max Ehrich 14 run (run failed), 8:58

3rd Quarter

BEA–Max Ehrich 11 run (Bleess to Thielfoldt good), 9:33

4th Quarter

BEA–Akei’ra Morrow 16 run (Brayden Barnett kick), 10:07

TEAM STATISTICS

First Downs: BEA 16; SJA 5. Rushing: BEA 46-366; SJA 22-47. Fumbles-Lost: BEA 5-2; SJA 0-0. Penalties: BEA 3-30; SJA 2-15.

INDIVIDUAL STATS

Offense: Passing (Completions-Attempts-Interceptions-yards): Hunter Bleess (BEA) 6-12-1-64, Derrick Halvorson (SJA) 8-27-4-74. Rushing: Max Ehrich (BEA) 12-123, Koby Nagel (BEA) 12-112, Hunter Bleess (BEA) 9-83, Akei’ra Morrow (BEA) 3-28, Cole Warmka (BEA) 6-14, Kobe Mohwinkel (SJA) 7-50. Receiving: Koby Nagel (BEA) 2-21, Cameron Anderson (BEA) 2-13.

Defense: Interceptions: Caelan Sanders (BEA) 2, Cameron Anderson (BEA) returned for touchdown, Koby Nagel (BEA), Cole Durheim (SJA). Fumble Recoveries: Aaron Rodriguez (SJA).

Alden-Conger/Glenville-Emmons 42, Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman 12 — The Knights slayed the Jaguars by 30 points during 9-Man action in Alden on Wednesday night.

Alden-Conger/Glenville-Emmons ended its season with a record of 5-3 and Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman ended its regular season at 0-8.

The Jaguars finished last in the Section 3, 9-Man standings and will likely play Hills-Beaver Creek (7-1) in a 7 p.m. quarterfinal game Tuesday night.

No individual or team stats were reported.

Redwood Valley 34, Martin County West 0 — The Class AA No. 3-ranked Cardinals soared by the Mavericks during their regular-season finale in Redwood Falls on Wednesday night.

Martin County West ended its season with a record of 1-7, while Redwood Valley finished the regular season at 8-0.

Martin County West will learn its next opponent during today’s official announcement.

No individual or team stats were reported.

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