CREATING SPACE — Blue Earth Area running back Parker Meyers (10) motors around St. Clair/Mankato Loyola’s Mason Stoffel (6) as he gets blocked by Bucs’ receiver Abram Kokos (3) during Friday night’s Section 2AA football championship game in Janesville. Blue Earth Area running back Noah Johnson (7) prepares to block defenders down the field. (Photo courtesy of Kevin Mertens/Faribault County Register)

JANESVILLE — A spot in the state football tournament was on the line.

The top two seeds in Section 2AA duked it out at Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton Football Stadium on Friday night, with the No. 1-seeded St. Clair/Loyola Spartans battling the No. 2-seeded Blue Earth Area Bucs.

Both teams earned impressive section semifinal victories. St. Clair/Loyola defeated No. 4-seeded Blooming Prairie 42-14 and Blue Earth Area beat No. 3-seeded Maple River 38-6.

Blue Earth Area used big offensive plays and a solid defensive effort to beat the Spartans 44-20 on Friday night in Janesville.

Blue Earth Area (9-2) advances to the state tournament for the ninth time and plays Section 1 champion Chatfield, a 10-8 winner over Caledonia, in the Class AA state quarterfinals at 7 p.m. Thursday night at Rochester Mayo High School.

The Bucs also made it in 1990, 2006, 2011, 2012 (undefeated AAA state champs), 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2019.

The Spartans finished their season 10-1.

“I’m happy because every time they scored, we answered right back,” BEA head coach Randy Kuechenmeister said. “We found what worked and went with it. We had a few things work tonight.”

Neither team scored in the opening quarter, but the Bucs used a Colton Hubly 54-yard scoring pass from Ashton Lloyd and Hubly’s 19-yard pass from Lloyd to put two touchdowns on the board in the second quarter.

Paker Meyers ran in the two-point conversion after each touchdown to complete the Bucs’ first-half scoring.

The Spartans got on the board in the second quarter when Elijah Kruse ran 20 yards to paydirt. The two-point conversion failed.

In the third quarter, Meyers scored on a 3-yard run, but his two-point conversion run failed.

Lloyd scored on an 18-yard run to open the scoring in the fourth quarter. Meyers’ two-point conversion run lengthed the Bucs’ lead.

The Spartans’ Brandon Meng scored on a long run covering 39 yards. The two-point conversion failed.

Bucs’ receiver Jack Norman added to the scoring, catching a short pass from Lloyd and then outsprinting the Spartans’ secondary to score on a play that went for 80 yards. Meyers added the two-point conversion to make it 44-20 with 7:14 left in the game.

Simon Morgan caught a 56-yard TD pass from Sizer midway through the fourth quarter. Sizer hit Caleb Mathiowetz for the two-point conversion to account for the Spartans’ final TD of the game.

Noah Johnson capped the Bucs’ scoring effort by reaching the end zone on a 56-yard run. Meyers added the two-point conversion run with 7:14 left in the game.

Lloyd completed 8 of 12 passes for 209 yards and three touchdowns. He also ran for 67 yards and a TD for the Bucs.

The Bucs’ Meyers ran for 118 yards with one touchdown, plus caught three passes for 25 yards.

Johnson rushed for 94 yards on nine carries with one TD for BEA.

Hubly had the two catches for 73 yards and two TD’s for the Bucs.

For the Spartans, Sizer was 11 of 26 passing for 160 yards with one TD and one interception.

Defensively for the Bucs, Meyers had a team-high nine tackles, plus had a quarterback sack and an interception.

Linebacker Nicholas Nelson also had nine tackles and a quarterback sack for the Bucs.

SCL 0 6 0 14–20

BEA 0 16 6 22–44

Scoring Plays

1st Quarter

No Scoring

2nd Quarter

BEA–Colton Hubly 54 yard pass from Ashton Lloyd (Parker Meyers two-point run), 11:48.

SCL–Elijah Kruse 20 yard run (two-point conversion failed), 6:40.

BEA–Colton Hubly 19 yard pass from Ashton Lloyd (Parker Meyers two-point run), 4:49.

3rd Quarter

BEA–Parker Meyers 3 yard run (two-point conversion failed), 8:36.

4th Quarter

BEA–Ashton Lloyd 18 yard run (two-point conversion failed), 10:43.

SCL–Brandon Meng 39 yard run (two-point conversion failed), 10:05.

BEA–Jack Norman 80 yard pass from Ashton Lloyd (Parker Meyers two-point run), 8:57.

SCL–Simon Morgan 56 yard pass from Jake Sizer (Caleb Mathiowetz two-point pass from Jake Sizer), 7:57.

BEA–Noah Johnson 56 yard run (Parker Meyers two-point run), 7:14.