Prep football: BBE heads to FargoDome for section final

Oct. 31—BELGRADE — After three winless seasons, Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa has punched its ticket into the Section 4A football championship with a 34-21 victory over the Browerville/Eagle Valley Tigers on Saturday.

BBE plays top-seeded Upsala-Swanville at 12:30 p.m. Friday at the FargoDome in Fargo, North Dakota. It's the first the Jaguars have advanced to the section final since 2013. They also were in the section final '12.

The last time the Jaguars played the Patriots was Sept. 24 in Belgrade. The Patriots won 50-40.

The Jaguars (7-3) bounced around the end zone following the conclusion of Saturday's game with a shot at state now on the line.

"This proves that we had a couple bad years with some injuries and it just kind of snowballed on us," BBE head Chris Moscho said. "This year we had a roster of 43 guys and in (Class A) football, 43 guys in (Class A) is a great roster.

"For the seniors, it's great. But when they all come out, when they all join forces, we can do some good stuff."

For the 12 seniors, including linebacker and wide receiver Blaine Fischer, Saturday's victory will be one to remember.

"This win today was really huge," Fischer said. "Our team came back from three years of not winning a game.

"Now onto the section finals, that's pretty cool."

Fischer ended the game with 83 yards and two touchdowns on six rushing attempts. He also notched an interception on the defensive end.

"I played pretty good, but I also got to thank my offense and defensive line," he said. "They helped tremendously with making plays and taking out blockers."

Sophomore quarterback Luke Dingmann connected on 8 of 10 passes for 165 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions. He also punched in one rushing touchdown.

"I'm feeling great," Dingmann said. "We came out and executed the way that we had hoped. It's just a great team win."

It was announced at halftime that Dingmann had reached the 1,000-yard passing mark.

"It's just an honor to be out here playing with my teammates," Dingmann said. "It's just really fun."

Moscho believes the team's confidence from its achievements this season helped carry the Jaguars to the section championship.

"Going into the season, when I first talked to the guys, the goal was to go 4-4," Moscho said. "When you look back on the last three years, it was not pretty. So going 4-4 would have been a great goal. But when we started off in practice, I knew that we were better than a 4-4 team."

The Jaguars started the season with a 26-0 victory over Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg, snapping a 25-game losing streak.

"Once they started going in that first week, I definitely knew then we were way better than a 4-4 team," Moscho said. "And they've done a great job of continuing that effort the rest of the season."

BBE earned four more wins in the regular season, the final victory a 38-26 score over the Tigers on Oct. 15 in Belgrade.

After defeating Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 36-8 in the Section 4A quarterfinals on Oct. 26, the Jaguars looked to repeat their success against the Tigers on Saturday.

With a shot at the section championship, Moscho said the Jaguars were together early on Saturday.

"We had team breakfast this morning," he said. "Coming into that morning breakfast I could tell that they were laser focused. They knew we beat this team already but they knew Browerville was back and healthy and we had to be tough."

Moscho described the Jaguars' performance on Saturday as being 'nearly perfect' with no penalties called on BBE. The team also scored a touchdown on each of its first five possessions.

"The week before today we had eight (penalties)," Moscho said. "That was a key part of our practices, ... cleaning up our act. They did a great job doing that today."

The Jaguars sunk their teeth into the Tigers' defense early with Fischer scoring a 44-yard touchdown run on the seventh play of the game. Fischer went on to successfully convert the two-point conversion to take an 8-0 lead.

The Tigers narrowly answered by getting the ball into the red zone, but the BBE offense withstood the Tigers' heavy running offense to force a turnover on downs at their own 13 yard line.

Following a connection between Dingmann and junior receiver Jamison Reed for more than 60 yards to put BBE at the Tigers' 7-yard line, senior Gavin Kampsen punched in a 3-yard touchdown run.

The Jaguars started the second quarter with a 1-yard run by Dingmann and followed it up with a 10-yard connection pass with Easton Hagen.

The Jaguars' led 28-0 at halftime.

BBE scored once more in the third on a 3-yard run by Fischer.

Both teams played junior varsity players during the fourth quarter. The Tigers scored three straight touchdowns with the JV players on the field.

With the Jaguars' victory sealed on back-to-back knees, BBE's announcer brought joy to the student section by announcing there was to be no school on Friday with the Jaguars' playing in Fargo.

With the Jaguars' losing by 10 against the Patriots in the previous matchup, Moscho believes the section championship is sure to be a good one.

"Their offense is explosive," Moscho said. "We know they can score quick and our defense has got to lock onto their receivers. We're going to have to play near perfect. I just think it's really going to come down to who can stop who."

Despite making it to the section championship after three winless seasons, Moscho says clinching the section championship is the main goal, not just playing for it.

"The message today was this was not our Super Bowl," he said. "The kids are really happy about going to the FargoDome, but at the end of the day those guys are not satisfied."

BBE 34,

Browerville/Eagle Valley 21

Browerville/Eagle Valley (5-5) 0 0 0 21 — 21

BBE (7-3) 14 14 6 0 — 34

Scoring Plays

BBE — Blaine Fischer 44 run (Fischer run)

BBE — Gavin Kampsen 3 run (2-point conversion failed)

BBE — Luke Dingmann 1 run (Kampsen run)

BBE — Easton Hagen 10 pass from Dingmann (2-point conversion failed)

BBE — Fischer 3 run (2-point conversion failed)

BEV — 26 pass (kick good)

BEV — 13 run (2-point conversion failed)

BEV — 36 run (2-point run)

Browerville/EV

First downs: 15 ... Penalties: 1-10 ... Rushing (Individual and team): 45-224 ... Passing (Individual and team): 3-7-1 61 ... Receiving (Individual and team): n/a ... Interceptions: ma ... Fumble recoveries: Caden Berg ... Tackles (solo-assist): n/a ... QB sacks: n/a

BBE

First downs: 9 ... Penalties: 0-0 ... Rushing (Individual and team): Fischer 6-83, Kampsen 10-47, Dingmann 2-9, Wyatt Lewis 1-1, Tanner Shelton 1-(-6). 20-134 ... Passing (Individual and team): Dingmann 8-10-0 165 ... Receiving (Individual and team): Will VanBeck 3-103, Fischer 3-2, Jamison Reed 1-20, Hagen 1-10 ... Interceptions: Fischer 1 ... Fumble recoveries: none ... Tackles (solo-assist): Toby Cebulla 6-2,Kampsen 4-4, Hagen 4-4, Ryan Jensen 4-5, Carson. Gilbert 3-2, Harley Weber 3-3, Fischer 2-3 ... QB sacks: n/a