1 day Ago By Conrad Engstrom
MINNEAPOLIS — The magical run for the Staples-Motley Cardinals ended with a second-place trophy Friday, Nov. 22. The Cardinals lost to the Jackson County Central Huskies 42-26 in the Class 2A Prep Bowl at US Bank Stadium.
ADVERTISEMENT “First undefeated season in JCC history,” JCC head coach Tom Schuller said. “We have a storied history and we wanted to come through today with a legacy.” The Huskies scored 28 straight points in the first half to take command and never relinquished more than a two-score lead.
On JCC’s first drive, S-M’s Luke Bjerga intercepted a screen pass and returned it 38 yards for a touchdown and a 6-0 lead. JCC responded with touchdowns on five of its next six possessions. JCC’s Ben Dahlin collected all five of his catches for 166 yards in the first half.
Dahlin caught a 67-yard touchdown for the Huskies’ first score. He added a 69-yard touchdown to give the Huskies a 28-6 lead. Trailing 28-6 with 6:46 left in the second quarter, S-M quarterback Eli Rutten scrambled and slid for 3 yards.
He stayed on the turf with an injury and did not return. Alex Schultz, who is the Cardinals’ leading receiver, stepped in as quarterback. On his first play behind center, he completed a pass to Colbe Tappe to convert a fourth down.
ADVERTISEMENT Schultz led the Cardinals on a touchdown drive capped by a Bjerga 2-yard run. “We have a next-man-up mentality,” S-M head coach Drew Potter said. “We have such a good team with so many weapons and so many good players that we practice rotations.
We were comfortable, but it felt terrible to have Eli miss. Alex did a fine job.” Potter added it was his call to keep Rutten out of the game.
“I feel for that kid,” he said. “He did so much to get to this point and is such a tough kid.” JCC’s Clay Malchow dominated on the ground with 123 rushing yards and three touchdowns on 19 carries.
He ran in a 1-yard touchdown in the first quarter and a 39-yard run with 2:46 left in the second quarter to give JCC a 36-14 lead. “We had a hard time picking up momentum,” S-M junior Turner Beachy said. “We needed to start making plays on offense and things just really weren’t connecting for us.
It hurt having Eli out.” ADVERTISEMENT The Cardinals responded with a touchdown right before the half. Schultz used a pump fake to open Peyton Mithun for a 47-yard touchdown pass and cut JCC’s lead to 36-20.
While S-M played the majority of the game without its starting quarterback, JCC was without its quarterback Roman Voss, who suffered a season-ending injury in the state quarterfinals. Grant Freking took the snaps for the Huskies and threw for 212 yards and three touchdowns, including a 24-yard strike to Caron Pohlman in the first quarter. “Freking has played quarterback for three weeks and hadn’t been out since he was a freshman,” Schuller said.
“To digest our offense is not the easiest thing in the world and for him to do what he did; I don’t think there are many guys who could do that. It was impressive.” In the fourth quarter, Malchow put the final touches on the Huskies state championship with a 21-yard touchdown run to put them ahead 42-20.
S-M’s Ben Tyrrell scored a 2-yard touchdown run with 5:33 left. The Huskies' defense held the S-M offense to 251 total yards and 20 points not counting the pick-six. “We wanted to contain the quarterback on the runs,” Schuller said.
“We wanted to get a pass rush. I thought we did a decent job, but they are a really good offensive football team.” ADVERTISEMENT The Cardinals finished the season with a 12-1 record.
It was the first time the Cardinals reached the Prep Bowl since 1988. Beachy’s father, Arden Beachy, played in the Prep Bowl in 1988. Turner Beachy finished with one catch for five yards.
“It’s an awesome feeling to say that I played in the championship game, too,” Turner Beachy said. “It definitely gets competitive with my dad and we talk about it a lot. It’s a cool feeling.
” It was an emotional ending of the season for Potter, who has been the Cardinals’ coach since 2022 when they went 0-9. “I love these guys,” he said. “They are an amazing group of football players, but also better people.
I’m proud that I’m their coach.” CONRAD ENGSTROM may be reached at 218-855-5861 or conrad.engstrom@brainerddispatch.
com. Follow on Twitter at www.twitter.
com/the_rad34. Jackson County Central 42, Staples-Motley 26 Key: Huskies scored 28 straight in the first half. Overall: SM 12-1, JCC 13-0.
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