Call it a minor upset, call it a result of home-field advantage, or call it the product of a football team that suddenly finds itself on its first and longest win streak of the season.

Randy Kuechenmeister, head coach of the Blue Earth Area Buccaneers, only cares if the maroon and gold’s 20-7 win over Luverne on Oct. 14 is called one thing: “A great team win.”

Hosting a Cardinals squad that entered Friday on a two-game win streak with a one-game lead over the Bucs in the Big South Conference, BEA churned out 352 yards of offense, forced two turnovers and made another three stops on fourth down to shut down Luverne and take its third straight game of the year.

“We battled hard,” said Kuechenmeister, a week removed from earning his 150th career victory. “We’ve improved, and we’ve got to keep improving.”

Statistically speaking, the Bucs have improved, surrendering fewer points in each of their last three wins and averaging nearly 30 points per game since a two-week skid at the end of September. And the unified step forward was evidenced yet again against Luverne, particularly through the air.

Senior quarterback Logan Jahnke did not stand nearly as tall as the linemen that blocked for him, but the Cardinals defenders may have sworn otherwise after the Bucs signal caller threw three touchdowns and accounted for an additional 94 yards on the ground, fueling an offense that averaged more than 6.5 yards per snap.

Receivers Jonah Legred and Blake Barnett ensured Jahnke had some help, hauling in contested balls on separate fade passes to the endzone in the first and second quarters.

A fumbled punt return by Bucs slot receiver Kaylan Legred set up a 12-yard touchdown run by Luverne’s Solomon Nielsen and knotted Friday’s contest, 7-7, a little more than halfway into the second quarter.

But Barnett’s catch gave BEA the lead something the Bucs hardly came close to surrendering for the remainder of the night.

Legred, meanwhile, all but sealed the home team’s victory as he made up for the special-teams miscue with 8:14 left in the game, breaking free on a deep route and securing a 52-yard floater from Jahnke to put the Buccaneers up by two scores.

The point after by Caelan Sanders was uncharacteristically off the mark, but by that point, BEA had set the tone and refused to let even its own wrongdoings outweigh the momentum at Wilson Field.

A second-half fumble by Bucs running back Chandler Pettit, for instance, was virtually erased when Jahnke, playing safety for BEA’s defense, intercepted the Cardinals on the subsequent drive.

The Bucs “D” was no slouch for much of the BSC showdown, actually, limiting each Luverne ball carrier to no more than a 3.5-yards-per-carry average and reclaiming possession of the ball after a goal-line stand in the fourth.

The win preceded BEA’s trip to Pipestone, where the team went on to top the Arrows and clinch a No. 4 seed in the section tournament for the playoffs.

Statistical leaders from the Bucs’ 20-7 win over the visiting Cardinals include:

Jahnke (11-of-19, 184 yards, 3 TDs, 94 rushing yards)

Legred (17 rushing yards, five receptions for 92 yards)

Barnett (two receptions for 53 yards)

Zach Buseman (27 rushing yards, 11 receiving yards)

Cole Klinkner (one sack)