Football team suffers season’s first loss

The Maple Lake Irish football team traveled to Belgrade on Friday evening, Oct. 5, to take on the Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa Jaguars in an important Central Minnesota Conference matchup. The game was played in windy, cold conditions with some snowflakes in the air. In fact, it was cold enough to cause Coach Tim Knudsen to put away his summer shorts. The Irish were looking to extend their undefeated streak to six games, but the Jaguars had other ideas. It was a sloppily played contest with both teams making uncharacteristic mistakes that killed drives. In the end, the Jaguars were able to put together the game-winning drive, resulting in a final score of BBE 14 and Maple Lake 7. BBE returned the opening kickoff to the 18 yard line where they began their first drive. The Jags gained a first down by penalty, but were otherwise unable to move the ball thanks in large part to a big sack by senior Isaac Hendrickson. A poor punt gave the Irish good field position at its own 43 yard line. Following a Jag penalty, senior quarterback Donnie Mavencamp sprinted through the line behind good blocking by senior linemen Isaac Kotila and Brandon Prowatzke, cut back up the middle and was not downed until he reached the Jaguars’ 26 yard line. However, the Irish fumbled the ball away at the 15 yard line. BBE took possession of the ball and moved methodically down the field, using a mix of inside runs, outside runs and short passes that attacked the edges of the Irish defense. The first quarter ended with the score 0-0 after Kotila and Prowatzke buried the BBE ball carrier for no gain at the 8 yard line. A strong defensive stand by the Irish forced BBE to turn the ball over on downs at the 9 yard line.
More information and stats appear in this week’s Messenger.