GRANADA — The players cheered and showered head coach Bennett Senf with Gatorade when the Jaguars walked off the field with a win for the first time in 749 days.

The Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman beat the Heron Lake-Okabena/Fulda Coyotes 36-34 to celebrate Homecoming in a 9-Man Southwest District football game Friday night in Granada, but the Jaguars needed two huge plays in the final 2 minutes to close out the win.

After a 10-play, 61-yard drive and a 1-yard Eli Fest QB sneak touchdown, the Coyotes were within two points and going for the 2-point conversion.

Senf called timeout to prepare his players and it worked as Cael Jaskulke knocked down the pass and kept the Jaguars in the lead with 1:42 left to play.

“We’d seen some stuff on film, they do some different stuff out of that formation,” Senf said. “We just trusted our guys, but with the game on the line, 12 (Jaskulke) made a hell of a play to knock the ball out of 85’s (Brandon Hinkeldey’s) hands. That was pretty remarkable.”

The Jaguars recovered the ensuing onside kick and needed a first down to use up the Coyote timeouts and kneel out the game.

They handed off to Carter Spear three times to get to a 4th-and-1 before going into a jumbo-wildcat formation, with Spear taking a direct snap.

The snap was high and Spear couldn’t control it, he grabbed it off the ground, started running to his left and saw Jaskulke open down the left sideline. Spear completed the pass for a 13-yard gain and the necessary first down.

“Honestly I was crapping my pants,” Senf said. “I thought, ‘Here we go again’ but for the streak to end on a play like that. That will go down as the best play in program history so far.”

After the pass, Owen Wolter knelt out the remaining minute to seal the win.

The Jaguars built a multiple-score lead in the first half.

On the fourth drive of the game, Wolter led the Jaguars 42 yards on seven plays, including a 24-yard pass to Jaskulke. The drive was capped off when Spear took a direct snap out of the jumbo-wildcat package and ran for a 3-yard score.

After the Coyotes pulled off a 42-yard double pass, they had a first down from the 11. Matt Madsen took the ball three yards up the middle, then Dylan Johanning looked to score, but the Jaguars’ Jacob Becker forced a fumble and Kaden Moon fell on the ball at the 1.

Wolter led a 99-yard scoring drive that including a 35-yard desperation heave to Jaskulke down the left sideline and a 40-yard tight end screen to Matt Heckman, who scored after breaking through a tackle at the line of scrimmage and rumbling down the left sideline.

Spear went into the jumbo wildcat again and ran for 2 points to go ahead 14-0 with 16 seconds left in the opening quarter.

The Jaguars scored again when Wolter led a four-play 55-yard drive, including a 34-yard pass down the left sideline to Spear and a 32-yard TD pass to Kaiden Musser after Musser made a double-move on the right sideline.

The Jaguars held a 20-0 lead with 8:23 left in the first half. The Coyotes put their first points on the board with 37 seconds left before the break.

Fest completed 4 of 8 passes for 89 yards, including a 21-yard TD to Tyler Madison.

They came out of the second half looking to close the gap quickly, and scored in the first three minutes after Fest hit Madison again, this time for 25 yards on a deep post, closing the score to 20-12 Jaguars.

The Jaguars answered with a four-minute drive, culminating in a Spear 14-yard TD and a Wolter-to-Musser 2-point conversion, making the score 28-12 with 5:16 left in the third quarter.

The Coyotes wouldn’t give up, scoring on their next two drives both on passes from Fest to Madison, one 25-yard reception and a 13-yard completion, tying the score at 28 with 11:51 left.

The Jaguars then drove 64 yards to score on a 46-yard pass from Wolter to Matt Heckman down the right sideline, the 2-point conversion was good and the Jaguars went ahead 36-28.

“Here’s the thing, we lost 21 games in a row,” Senf said. “We’ve fought so hard and we’ve been so close so many times, but this group just kept fighting and fighting and fighting. We’ve gone through a lot, 77’s (Stendsay Weringa’s) dad passed away from leukemia earlier this week, we’ve been through a tornado, but we just keep fighting. I have nothing but happiness. … These kids have worked so hard to end the streak and we finally did it.”

Wolter completed 10 of 16 passes for 254 yards and three TDs to go with his 46 rushing yards on 16 carries.

Spear ran through the Coyote defense for 103 yards on 28 totes and two TDs.

Jaskulke made five catches for 87 yards for the Jaguars.

Fest completed 17 of 28 for 243 yards and four TDs, while also rushing for a touchdown. Madsen carried 13 times for 109 yards, while also catching eight passes for 148 yards and a TD.

Madison added seven catches for 110 yards and three TDs.

The Jaguars (1-4, 1-3 Southwest District) travel to Westbrook-Walnut Grove next Friday.

HLO/F 0 6 14 14 — 34

GHEC/T 14 6 8 8 — 36

Scoring Plays

1st Quarter

GHECT–Carter Spear 3 run (pass failed), 5:57.

GHECT–Matt Heckman 40 pass from Owen Wolter (Spear run good), 0:16.

2nd Quarter

GHECT–Kaiden Musser 32 pass from Wolter (run failed), 8:23.

HLOF–Tyler Madison 21 pass from Eli Fest (run failed), 0:37.

3rd Quarter

HLOF–Madison 25 pass from Fest (pass failed), 9:19.

GHECT–Spear 14 run (Musser pass from Wolter), 5:16.

HLOF–Madison 20 pass from Fest (Matt Madsen run good), 3:58.

4th Quarter

HLOF–Madsen 13 pass from Fest (Madsen run good), 11:51.

GHECT–Matt Heckman 24 pass from Wolter (Spear pass from Wolter), 6:03.

HLOF–Fest 1 run (pass failed), 1:42.

TEAM STATISTICS

First Downs: HLOF 19; GHECT 13. Rushing: HLOF 28-183; GHECT 41-149. Passing: HLOF 18-29-1-285. GHECT 13-17-0-267. Fumbles-lost: HLOF 2-1; GHECT 3-1. Penalties: HLOF 2-19; GHECT 9-75.

INDIVIDUAL STATS

Offense: Passing: Fest (HLOF) 17-28-1-243; Wolter (GHECT) 10-16-0-254. Rushing: Madsen (HLOF) 13-109; Johanning (HLOF) 12-84; Spear (GHECT) 28-103. Receiving: Madsen (HLOF) 8-148; Madison (HLOF) 7-110; Jaskulke (GHECT) 5-87.

Defense: Interception: Matt Heckman (GHECT). Forced Fumble: Jacob Becker (GHECT). Fumble recovery: Kaden Moon (GHECT); Jonathan Hoy (HLOF).

Martin County West 31, Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop 30 — Jaxson Rohman rushed for 259 yards and the Mavericks held the ball for the final four and a half minutes to salt away the win, 31-30, over the Thunderbirds in football action in Winthrop on Friday night.

GFW had scored on a 2-yard run at 4:41 in the fourth quarter to draw within a point, and had all three of its timeouts remaining as it kicked off.

But the Maverick ground attack, which tallied 319 yards for the game, kept churning. The Mavericks pushed ahead for four first downs, making the Thunderbirds burn their timeouts. The game ended with MCW quarterback Wyatt Geistfeld taking a knee three times.

For the game, Rohman carried the ball 27 times and scored three touchdowns. Geistfeld ran nine times for 29 yards and one score.

Miles Fitzgerald had eight carries for 23 yards, including some tough running on the final drive, said coach Tom Elliott.

Rohman’s touchdowns included runs of 21 yards and 37 yards in the first quarter before GFW could answer with a 66-yard TD run of its own. Geistfeld then ran it in from 4 yards out to cap an active quarter.

GFW responded in the second quarter with a 23-yard touchdown run, before Geistfeld threw a scoring pass to Derek Dunlop covering 47 yards. GFW ended the quarter with a 20-yard touchdown run, making it 24-22 in favor of Martin County West at halftime.

The teams went silent in the third. Martin County West resumed the scoring in the fourth quarter when Rohman found the end zone again with a 14-yard run, putting his team up 31-22. That was when GFW came down the field and added its final score, plus a two-point conversion.

Geistfeld completed three passes on seven attempts, tallying 95 yards, with one touchdown and one interception. Derek Dunlop caught all three passes, for 95 yards and a TD.

The Maverick offense netted 414 yards overall.

Rohman also led the defense with 11 tackles, while teammate Connor Simmonds had 10. Fitzgerald added six.

GFW rushed 43 times for 342 yards and had 15 passing yards.

Martin County West (3-2) hosts Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial at 7 p.m. Friday in Sherburn.