BPH stays perfect with 26-0 win
BPH wide receiver Jesse Mealy keeps his eyes downfield as he attempts to evade multiple BEA defenders. Mealy had two touchdowns in BPH’s 26-0 win over BEA. Staff photo by Kelli Dahlen
Blooming Prairie/Hayfield (BPH) improved to 2-0 last week by beating Blue Earth Area (BEA) 26-0 in its second home game of the season.
BPH’s defense was on fire for the entire 48 minutes and held the Buccaneers to zero points while allowing just 67 yards of total offense.
Despite the strong defensive start, BPH struggled to gain any momentum early on as its offense finished its only two drives of the first quarter by turning the ball over on downs and punting after a three-and-out.
The game remained scoreless until the second quarter when BEA made the first costly blunder of the game.
A botched read-option handoff by the Buccaneers was quickly jumped on by multiple BPH defensive lineman to give the team possession at the BEA 24-yard line.
The advantageous field position resulted in an immediate trip to the redzone where quarterback Chase Escamilla connected with wide receiver Christian Mealy in the back corner of the endzone for an 11-yard passing touchdown.
BPH missed the extra point before going back to work stopping the Buccaneers for another three-and-out to protect its lead.
Neither side scored again before the half, allowing BPH to carry its one-score lead into the third quarter.
As the sunset faded and the night sky creeped in, BPH shined bright under the lights for its second touchdown of the game on a 15-yard rushing touchdown by speedster Ethan Johnson.
The score put BPH up 13-0 after a successful point-after attempt.
While BEA continued to struggle on offense late into the game, BPH caught fire by scoring twice in the fourth quarter.
The final nail in BEA’s hopes was a 16-yard touchdown from Escamilla to wide receiver Jesse Mealy on a pop-pass, jet-sweep play that saw Mealy find space toward the endzone behind multiple key blocks in the secondary.
BPH nailed the extra point for the second straight time to go up 20-0 and officially create a three-score game with less than a quarter to play.
The hosts went on to add another insurance touchdown on an 11-yard rushing score by Bentley Olson to round out the game at 26-0.
The win kept BPH’s perfect season alive at 2-0 and catapults the team into its matchup against the Fillmore Central Falcons with plenty of momentum to make a push for the top of the division.
The Falcons began their year 2-0 with a 41-7 win over Medford and a 48-28 triumph over JWP, but slipped last week in a 22-20 loss to Southland to move their record to 2-1.
Fillmore Central is led by its high-octane offense, but has shown weaknesses on defense that BPH will hope to exploit.
The Falcons will host BPH for the game on Friday, Sept. 18 at 7 p.m.
|
Team |
1st |
2nd |
3rd |
4th |
Final |
|
BEA |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
BPH |
0 |
6 |
7 |
13 |
26 |
Player Stats
BPH
Passing
#12 Chase Escamilla – 17/27 160 yards 2 TD; #16 Logan Swygman – 1/1 29 yards
Rushing
#12 Escamilla – 9 att. 41 yards; #44 Lukas DenHerder – 12 att. 38 yards; #18 Easton Johnson – 4 att. 31 yards 1 TD; #25 Bentley Olson – 3 att. 11 yards 1 TD; #50 Ryan Nelson – 1 att. 5 yards; #5 Jesse Mealy – 1 att. -2 yards
Receiving
#5 Mealy – 7 rec. 53 yards 2 TD; #4 Christian Mealy – 4 rec. 47 yards; #7 Eliot Gimbel – 3 rec. 37 yards; #25 Olson – 1 rec. 29 yards; #44 DenHerder – 3 rec. 23 yards
