Jaguars hold off Raider rally
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NICOLLET -- Nicollet nearly overcame a 22-point third-quarter deficit Friday in a Nine-Man, Southwest District football game against Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman, but the Raiders came up just short, falling 38-32 to the Jaguars.
Jackson Madsen led the Jaguars, passing for two touchdowns and rushing in another. Ashton Spear ran in two scores for GHEC/T, and Carter Langford caught another two. Griffin Studer had two interceptions and Aiden Wieland had an interception and a fumble recovery.
Henry Oscarson led the Raiders with four touchdowns passing and one rushing, while A.J. Kramer had three touchdowns receiving. Colton Rengstorf had a receiving touchdown and an interception, while Nick Slater had a fumble recovery.
GHEC/T head coach Alex Roorda said his team found success in running to the edges in the game.
"I think, first of all, it starts up front," he said. "Our offensive line is kind of pieced together, losing a couple of guys last week. But they're working hard, and if we get that first push we can get through. Our job was to get to the edge, and our guys did really well."
While many plays on the ground went for big positive yardage for GHEC/T, Nicollet was also able to get good penetration, with Slater especially wreaking havoc in the backfield with multiple tackles for loss.
"The biggest thing for us was just doing your job and trusting the guy next to you," Nicollet head coach Cory Jans said. "There was a lot of times where we had guys who didn't trust each other, they left their jobs and they left gaps open, and they [GHEC/T] exploited that. To their credit, they did a great job of finding those holes and running through them. For us, we need to trust the guy to the left and right and he's going to do his job and I'm going to do mine, and we'll be good with our fits."
Nicollet started things strong on defense, with Rengstorf coming away with an interception on a deep right pass. The Raiders were unable to capitalize, however, punting three plays later. Nicollet turned around and forced a turnover on downs on the Jaguars' next drive, and this time the Raiders scored, with Oscarson taking it himself for a 5-yard score.
The Jaguars quickly responded, with Madsen tossing a 29-yard pass to Langford for a touchdown to tie the game at 6. GHEC/T made a stand on defense, with Wieland coming up with a fumble recovery. Five plays later, Madsen ran in an 18-yard touchdown, with Braeden Shell converting the 2-point conversion to make it a 14-6 game.
GHEC/T forced a punt from Nicollet on its next drive, and they drove down for its third score of the game, with Spear rushing 38 yards into the end zone, with Keagan Berhow adding 2 points for a 22-6 lead. The Jaguars took that lead into halftime after Studer shut down Nicollet's next drive with an interception.
The third quarter started the same way the second quarter ended, with Wieland intercepting a screen pass. The next play, Spear took a run 46 yards to the house to put the Jaguars up 30-6.
Nicollet turned things around at that point, going down the field and scoring on a 25-yard touchdown pass from Oscarson to Kramer.
"One of the big things for us in past years has been riding the energy roller coaster," Jans said. "That was our main message at halftime. There were a couple of big plays that didn't go our way in the first half, and instead of rising to the occasion, we kind of got down on ourselves and we were in that slump. We just had to talk to them that, 'Hey, things are going to be up and down.' You have to be positive in the ups and you have to come together in the downs. That was the message, and I couldn't be prouder of the effort. We rallied, and this is a team in years past we probably would have lost 50-8 instead of a one-score game."
Nicollet forced a punt from GHEC/T on its next drive, and the Raiders marched down the field and scored again, this time on a 49-yard completion from Oscarson to Kramer for his second touchdown catch of the quarter. Rengstorf converted for 2 ponts to cut the lead to 30-20.
Nicollet again stood tall on defense on the next drive, with Jacob Brandt coming up with a clutch TFL on third down, leading to a turnover on downs the next play on a botched snap. However, this time the Raiders were unable to score, turning it over on downs themselves.
The Jaguars quickly struck once more, with the second play of the drive going from Madsen to Langford for a 43-yard touchdown, giving GHEC/T a 38-20 lead. Nicollet responded with a six-play drive ending in a touchdown pass from Oscarson to Rengstorf to cut the lead to 38-26. GHEC/T turned it over on downs in its next drive, and Nicollet threw another interception on its drive, with Studer coming down with a one-handed grab on defense.
Nicollet forced a Jaguar punt on the resulting drive, giving the Raiders another chance. This time, they capitalized, with Kramer collecting his third touchdown of the night on a pass from Oscarson from 6 yards out.
But with only 1:50 left on the clock, GHEC/T was able to run the ball effectively, with Madsen getting an 8-yard run for a first down to seal the victory.
"You got to be kind of scrappy to get through this," Roorda said. "And that was a great team. Nicollet's a great team. They can throw the ball really, really well. Our defense, we were trying it, staying in that man coverage, and they took it to us. I'm really fortunate to get the win out of it, and we had a couple of good turnovers."
Nicollet (1-1) plays Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart at home on Friday, while GHEC/T (1-1) hosts Mountain Lake Area on Friday.