TRUMAN — Two teams played 48 minutes, but the final 13 determined the game.

The Madelia Blackhawks beat the Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman Jaguars 12-8 in a 9-Man district football game Friday night in Truman.

The teams played to a scoreless first half and nearly went scoreless into the final quarter. The Jaguars looked to break the tie when they drove all the way to the Madelia 8-yard line, but an Isaac Arduser interception in the end zone ended the scoring try.

With 1:11 left before the final quarter break, Madelia quarterback Ethan Arndt pulled the ball down on a designed pass and broke through the line of scrimmage. When Arndt got to the second level of defenders, he turned to the Madelia sideline and passed the Jaguars’ group for a 64-yard touchdown to put the Blackhawks ahead.

Madelia threw an incomplete pass on the 2-point conversion to keep the Jaguars’ deficit at six.

The Jaguars’ Jacob Becker collected the ensuing kickoff at the 20-yard line and brought it out to the 45, where a Madelia player was called for unsportsmanlike conduct, moving the Jaguars’ offense to the Madelia 40-yard line.

Carter Spear continued pounding the ball through the middle of the trenches as he had all game and got the ball to the Madelia 25, but the Blackhawk defense hardened to turnover the Jaguars on downs.

Two plays later, Ramiro Zamora took a zone run through the right side of the line of scrimmage, reversed field to the Jaguars’ sideline, then reversed again toward the middle for a 59-yard score. The Blackhawks threw another incomplete pass on the 2-point conversion, leaving the score at 12-0 Madelia with 9:40 left in the game.

The Jaguars put together a 69-yard 12-play drive that started with an Owen Wolter 39-yard completion to Spear deep down the Jaguars’ sideline. But the Blackhawks forced a fourth-and-goal try from the 5-yard line and though Wolter tried a Russell Wilson-esque scramble, dropping back past the 20 while avoiding defenders, his run down the Jaguars’ sideline was stopped at the 1 and the Blackhawks took control of the ball.

Jaguar head coach Bennett Senf said even in the loss, he was happy with how his team fought.

“I thought we fought hard, our culture is going up,” Senf said. “We’ve got a lot of fight in our guys. We made a lot of mental errors, we made a lot of mistakes, poor execution, but that’s going to happen, it’s high school football. We just have to keep fighting and keep grinding. … Very happy with our fight to come back and get something at the end. The effort is there, we just have to clean up some small things.”

The Jaguar defense turned in an excellent series, forcing a punt from the Madelia 14, which went out of bounds at the 20 with one minute left, giving the Jaguars their best starting field position of the game.

Wolter needed only one play to capitalize, finding Cael Jaskulke running a short corner route to the front pylon on the Jaguar sideline for a touchdown.

Wolter then hit Spear on a swing route to the left for the 2-point conversion.

With only 52 seconds remaining and no timeouts, the Jaguars were forced to go for the onside kick.

Dylan Benes hit a mid-range kick and Madelia was able to fall on the ball, giving the Blackhawks’ offense the chance for two plays in the victory formation.

Senf said though the Jaguars have lost their first three games, he is happy with how the teams has looked nearing the midpoint of the season.

“We’re a couple of plays away from being 2-1 instead of 0-3,” Senf said. “That’s two home games in a row that we’ve lost by less than a score and we’ve had a chance at the end. We’ve got to make plays throughout the night to not let it come down to the last play of the game.”

Wolter led the Jaguar offense, throwing for 135 yards on 8 of 19 passing with one touchdown and two interceptions. Wolter added 17 rushing attempts for 33 yards.

Spear controlled the ground game for the Jaguars with 32 carriers for 103 yards.

Jaskulke caught two passes for 31 yards and a touchdown, while Spear caught three passes for 45 yards.

Arndt completed 8 of 19 passes for the Blackhawks, totalling 105 yards and an interception, but he added 11 carries for 89 yards and a touchdown. Zamora carried the ball nine times for 82 yards and a touchdown.

The Jaguars (0-3) go on the road to face Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s in a 7 p.m. game next Friday, while the Blackhawks (2-1) play host to Renville County West.

Madelia 0 0 6 6 — 12

GHEC/T 0 0 0 8 — 8

Scoring Plays

1st Quarter

No Scoring.

2nd Quarter

No Scoring.

3rd Quarter

MAD–Ethan Arndt 64 run (run failed), 1:11.

4th Quarter

MAD–Ramiro Zamora 59 run (run failed), 9:40.

GHECT–Cael Jaskulke 20 pass from Owen Wolter (Carter Spear pass from Wolter), 0:52.

TEAM STATISTICS

First Downs: Madelai 9; GHECT 13. Rushing: Madelia 29-194; GHECT 49-136. Passing: Madelia 8-19-1-105; GHECT 8-19-2-135. Fumbles-lost: Madelia 1-1; GHECT 1-0. Penalties: Madelia 9-69; GHECT 10-72.

INDIVIDUAL STATS

Offense: Rushing: Spear (GHECT) 32-103; Wolter (GHECT) 17-33; Arndt (MAD) 11-89; Zamora (MAD) 9-82; Luke Hennis (MAD) 9-23. Passing: Wolter (GHECT) 8-19-2-135; Arndt (MAD) 8-19-1-105.

Defense: Interception: Arndt (MAD); Kaiden Musser (GHECT); Isaac Arduser (MAD). Fumble recovery: Kaden Moon (GHECT) .

Blue Earth Area 46, St. Peter 36 — The Bucs built a 40-14 lead through three quarters before fending off the Saints’ late comeback bid during non-district action Friday night at Wilson Field in Blue Earth.

Quarterback Gavin Storbeck completed 13 of 15 passes for 185 yards and four touchdowns to top the Bucs’ winning ways, while running back Koby Nagel balanced out the offense by gaining 103 yards for one TD on 14 carries.

Caelan Sanders made six catches from Storbeck for 85 yards, including TDs from 21 and 14 yards on the game, to complement his 75-yard return on the opening kickoff of the third quarter for six more points for Blue Earth Area.

Cameron Anderson garnered four receptions from Storbeck for 74 yards, including scoring connections from 33 and 27 yards, respectively, to go with his 56-yard fumble return for six points for the Bucs.

Nagel also garnered an interception for the Bucs’ defense.

St. Peter quarterback Wyatt Olson completed 28 of 51 passes for a game-best 298 yards and four TDs, with split end Ethan Grant pocketing half of the scoring strikes from 8 and 60 yards, respectively.

Ethan Volk made nine catches for 79 yards, including an 11-yard TD, for St. Peter, while Vinny Guappone topped the ground game with 87 yards on 14 carries.

Blue Earth Area (3-0) plays host to Windom Area next Friday night at Wilson Field for Homecoming.

St. Peter 0 14 0 22 — 36

B.E. Area 13 6 21 6 — 46

Scoring Plays

1st Quarter

BEA–Caelan Sanders 21 pass from Gavin Storbeck (Kean Hicks kick), 8:26.

BEA–Cameron Anderson 56 fumble return (kick failed), 8:02.

2nd Quarter

BEA–C. Anderson 33 pass from Storbeck (pass failed), 11:52.

SP–Vinny Guappone 39 pass from Wyatt Olson (Wareke Gillette kick), 7:09.

SP–Ethan Volk 11 pass from Olson (Gillette kick), 2:20.

3rd Quarter

BEA–Sanders 75 KO return (Zach Herrmann pass from Storbeck), 11:50.

BEA–C. Anderson 27 pass from Storbeck (pass failed), 6:31.

BEA–Sanders 14 pass from Storbeck (Hicks kick), 1:09.

4th Quarter

SP–Ethan Grant 8 pass from Olson (Gillette kick), 10:54.

BEA–Koby Nagel 55 run (kick failed), 10:41.

SP–Grant 60 pass from Olson (Ryan Braun kick), 7:16.

SP–Michael Connor 11 run (Connor run), 3:38.

Jackson County Central 48, Martin County West 3 — The Mavericks managed 154 yards of total offense, falling to the Huskies, 48-3, on Friday night in Sherburn.

The Mavericks had the daunting task of battling JCC, ranked No. 3 in Class 3A. Martin County West is a Class 1A school.

Maverick coach Tom Elliott said he was proud of the way his team played given the tough matchup.

The Mavericks ran the ball 29 times for 78 yards. Quarterback Wyatt Geistfeld added 76 yards through the air.

Jaxson Rohman carried 17 times for 39 yards, while Miles Fitzgerald ran five times for 19 yards. Derek Dunlop made three receptions for 76 yards for MCW.

MCW managed its only points on a 26-yard second-quarter field goal by Alex Weir. The score capped a drive that began on the Mavericks’ own 39 yard line.

Jackson County Central led 27-3 at halftime.

Raine Stade led the Mav defense with seven tackles. Connor Simmonds had six and Dunlop five. Weir added one fumble recovery.

Martin County West falls to 1-2 on the season. It hosts New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva at 7 p.m. next Friday in Sherburn.