JANESVILLE — The battle of the Bucs. The visiting No. 3-seeded Blue Earth Area Bucs forced a turnover on downs in the final seconds of the Section 2AA football semifinals to beat the No. 2-seeded Waterville-Elysian-Morristown Bucs, 21-14, on Saturday night.

Waterville-Elysian-Morristown ended its season at 6-4. Blue Earth Area (6-4) plays Class AA No. 7-ranked Maple River (8-1) in a rematch of the 2015 section championship at 7 p.m. Friday in Janesville. Maple River, who beat BEA in the 2016 section semifinals, took a 34-14 win over No. 4-seeded New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva to reach the finals for the third time in as many years.

“They’re (Maple River) a very good football team. They’ve been a good football team all year, so we’re going to have to play well to give ourselves an opportunity to win,” BEA head coach Randy Kuechenmeister said.

With 4:58 to go in the fourth quarter, BEA’s defense forced a turnover on downs to get the offense on the field. Junior quarterback Hunter Bleess completed three passes to get the visiting Bucs to the WEM 16. Despite losing 2 yards on a hard tackle from linebacker Taylor Glende, BEA drew WEM offside to get to the 13.

Bleess then found wideout Jacob Vaske, who made six receptions for 86 yards, for the touchdown on a 4th-and-6 situation. Alex Reece, who made all of his PATs, kicked the extra point for the 21-14 lead.

“I don’t think it’s anything I do, I think it’s just the kids,” Kuechenmeister said. “They believe in what they’re doing, they hang together and that’s the main thing. Hang together, play as a group and if you do that, good things can happen.”

With 1:12 left in the contest, WEM started on its 37. Quarterback Grant McBroom completed a 23-yard throw to wide receiver Tyson Miska to get into BEA territory.

McBroom made two more passes to reach the 22, but a 4-yard pass to running back Jaden Taylor was short three yards on fourth down.

BEA started with a 14-6 lead over WEM after two quarters. Safety Caelan Sanders picked off three of McBroom’s passes, two of which BEA converted into points.

“The last couple of weeks, the coaches have asked me to step up and cover some good receivers,” Sanders said. “I have to thank the coaches for giving me the opportunity to make big plays.”

Following Sanders’ first interception, Bleess threw a 15-yard TD to Vaske for the 7-0 lead in the first two minutes of the game. Sanders picked off McBroom again in the second quarter, putting BEA at its 47.

Four hometown penalties, five carries from running back Rylee McGuire and two more Bleess totes put the visitors at the WEM 7. Wide receiver Jonah Legred caught Bleess’ 7 yarder for the 14-0 score.

Glende avoided the first-half shutout, running in the 2-yard TD just before intermission. BEA’s Dalton Nagel blocked the PAT.

Glende, who finished with 67 yards on 10 carries, ran 39 yards to the end zone at the 3:21 mark in the third quarter. He then caught the 2-point conversion from McBroom to tie the game before BEA’s go-ahead TD in the final frame.

Bleess went 12-for-24 passing for 151 yards. Sanders had three catches for 47 yards to go with his three interceptions on defense.

WEM 0 6 8 0–14

BEA 7 7 0 7–21

Scoring Plays

1st Quarter

BEA — Jacob Vaske 15 pass from Hunter Bleess (Alex Reece), 10:20.

2nd Quarter

BEA — Jonah Legred 7 pass from Bleess (Reece), 5:04.

WEM — Taylor Glende 2 run (kick block), 1:32.

3rd Quarter

WEM — Glende 39 run (Grant McBroom to Glende), 3:21.

4th Quarter

BEA — Jacob Vaske 13 pass from Bleess (Reece), 1:12.

TEAM STATISTICS

First downs: Blue Earth Area 13, Waterville-Elysian-Morristown 11. Rushing: WEM 25-110; BEA 27-97. Passing: WEM 15-35-3-161; BEA 12-24-1-151. Fumbles-lost: BEA 4-2; WEM 1-0. Penalties: WEM 10-78; BEA 3-19.

INDIVIDUAL STATS

Offense: Rushing: Jaden Taylor (WEM) 9-37; Taylor Glende (WEM) 10-33; Rylee McGuire (BEA) 14-27; Hunter Bleess (BEA) 12-27. Passing: Grant McBroom (WEM) 15-35-3-161; Bleess (BEA) 12-24-1-151. Receiving: Jacob Vaske (BEA) 6-86; Taylor (WEM) 4-55; Caelan Sanders (BEA) 3-47; Tyson Miska (WEM) 3-37.

Defense: Interceptions: Sanders (BEA) 3, Tanner Ranslow (WEM). QB Sack: Glende (WEM), Adam Rients (WEM). Fumble recovery: Taylor (WEM).

Section 3AA

Redwood Valley 44, Martin County West 14 — Quarterback Mitchell Irlbeck threw three TD passes to Cole Woodford and running back Logan Josephson rushed for two more scores to guide the Class AA No. 5-ranked Cardinals to a 30-point victory over the Mavericks during Section 3AA semifinal action Saturday in Redwood Falls.

Redwood Valley (8-1) plays No. 6-ranked Pipestone (9-1) in a 4 p.m. section finale on Friday at SMSU in Marshall.

Running back Thai Risk, who led the Mavericks (2-8) with 65 yards on the ground, scored on a 5-yard run for MCW in the third quarter before Alec Weir kicked the PAT.

MCW quarterback Wyatt Geistfeld generated 44 of his 76 passing yards via a fourth-quarter TD completion to Aaron Burmeister. Weir added the PAT.

Payton Anderson made one catch for 22 yards, while Parker Anderson added one reception for 10 yards.

Mason Schweiss recovered a fumble for the Mavericks, while teammate Payton Anderson topped the tackling charts with seven. Derek Dunlop and Burmeister each made six tackles, with Burmeister adding a quarterback sack.