Luverne senior defender David Roemen drags down a Jackson County Central runner during an Oct. 16 football game played in Luverne.
By John Rittenhouse
Luverne’s bid to qualify for the Section 3AAA Football Playoffs came up short when the Cardinals lost a 28-6 game to Jackson County Central in Luverne Wednesday, Oct. 16.
Playing the Huskies in what was a must-win situation for LHS, it looked like the Cardinals might have a chance to upset the defending state champions when they opened scoring in the second quarter.
JCC, however, scored 28 unanswered points the rest of the way to secure a 22-point victory.
The victory locked up a No. 3 seed for JCC in Section 3AAA. Luverne ends the year with a 2-6 record.
According to Cardinal coach Todd Oye, LHS can blame only itself for not making the playoffs.
"We needed to win more games earlier in the season. We never should have been in a position where we had to beat JCC in the last game of the season to make the playoffs. JCC is a good, solid team. They didn’t win a state championship last year by accident," he said.
Luverne played right with the Huskies in the first half, falling behind 7-6 after JCC scored seven points in the final minute of the second quarter.
The Huskies dominated play by outscoring Luverne 21-0 in the second half.
JCC nearly opened the scoring when it moved the ball to the LHS 25-yard line during its second possession of the game, but an incomplete pass during a fourth-and-nine situation gave the Cards the ball on downs.
Luverne moved the ball from its own 25 to the JCC six in 12 plays, but a fumble during a fourth-and-one situation was recovered at the 10 by JCC’s Pat Wieneke at the 8:07 mark of the second quarter.
Luverne got the ball back two plays later when Cardinal Cody Gehrke recovered a fumble on the JCC 15. On the first play from scrimmage after the turnover, Luverne quarterback Tony Smedsrud tossed a 15-yard touchdown pass to Canaan Petersen.
The ensuing extra-point attempt was blocked, leaving the Cards with a 6-0 lead with 7:16 remaining in the second period.
JCC moved the ball into LHS territory with its next possession before punting. The Cards took over on their own five, but a short punt on fourth down gave JCC the ball on the LHS 25 with 2:01 left in the first half. Huskies running back Kent Scheff scored four plays later on a six-yard run, and the first of four extra points by Nick Wheeler gave JCC a 7-6 edge with 59 seconds left in the second quarter.
The Huskies opened the second half with a five-play drive that was capped by a 61-yard touchdown pass from Jon Hummel to Jeremy Sirovy to make it a 14-6 game with 9:33 remaining in the third quarter.
A pass out of punt formation from Adam Kurtz to Joey Pick resulted in a 24-yard gain and moved the ball inside JCC territory during Luverne’s first possession of the second half, but the Cards were forced to punt four plays later.
JCC took over on its own 21 and moved the ball inside Luverne territory before Luverne’s Marcus Walgrave picked off a pass to end the possession.
The teams traded punts while running the rest of the time off the clock in the third quarter.
JCC put the game away with a 14-point fourth quarter.
The Huskies mounted a nine-play, 57-yard drive during their first possession of the final stanza. Scheff capped the march with a five-yard touchdown run with 7:50 left to play.
JCC’s Tom Mattsen recovered a fumble by LHS moments later, setting the stage for a 72-yard touchdown pass from Kevin Williams to Sirovy on the second play of JCC’s ensuing possession.
Wheeler’s final extra point capped the scoring with 6:16 remaining in the game.
"The kids played hard," Oye said. "We made some mistakes, but we played hard the whole way."
Team statistics
Luverne: 103 rushing yards, 131 passing yards, 234 total yards, 10 first downs, seven penalties, two turnovers.
JCC: 116 rushing yards, 235 passing yards, 401 total yards, 13 first downs, six penalties, three turnovers.
Individual statistics
Rushing: Joel Evans 12-57, Aaron Schmidt 1-4, Tyler Elbers 2-6, Walgrave 8-16, Smedsrud 3-15, Mark Remme 3-5.
Passing: Smedsrud 9-22 for 101 yards, Kurtz 1-1 for 30 yards.
Receiving: Pick 6-69, Ben Cornish 3-47, Petersen 1-15.
Defense: Gehrke one fumble recovery, Josh Lange one fumble recovery, Walgrave one interception.