Blue Earth Area’s Jared Armon, No. 60, makes a crushing tackle of a Knights ball carrier from his knees in the Buccaneers’ 26-7 win over Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial on Wednesday, Oct. 26.

That makes five.

Severe storms postponed the Buccaneers’ Section 2AA playoff opener to Wednesday, Oct. 26, after nearly a full quarter of play the night before, but even an extended break could not shift the momentum of Blue Earth Area’s final home game of 2016 its fifth consecutive victory.

With a persistent ground game and perhaps their most suffocating defensive performance since a 1-3 start to the year, the Bucs plowed their way to a smooth 26-7 win over Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial, securing a ticket to the Section semifinals.

Leaning on the run early in the first quarter on Tuesday, BEA took a 6-0 lead before weather delayed the action, but the maroon and gold picked up right where they left off Wednesday at Wilson Field, relying on Zach Buseman (three TDs), Chandler Pettit and senior quarterback Logan Jahnke to move the ball on the ground.

Buseman took an option hand-off into the endzone from about 10 yards out to extend the Buccaneers’ lead in the second. And a few drives later, after Jahnke connected with wideout Jacob Vaske to put BEA back in the red zone, it was the quarterback who pulled the ball and fought his way across the goal line.

Chris Sanders was a busy man for the Blue Earth Area Buccaneers during the team’s 26-7 win over the Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial Knights on Wednesday, Oct. 26

Up 19-0, the Bucs continued to feed their ball carriers, setting up a deep pass by Jahnke to slot receiver Chris Sanders, then pushing the score to 26-0 on another Buseman carry up the middle.

Perhaps more than anything, though, the Bucs defense came to play both in the first quarter and the postponed three.

“We prepared a lot this week, watching film on them,” said Bucs linebacker Cole Klinkner, part of a unit that surrendered just seven points late in the fourth quarter. “It was a short week, you know, but we just tried our best, played hard and physical.”

That much was evident throughout the contest, as Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial (LCWM)’s offensive attack was bottled up from start to finish. It was not until BEA began substituting defensive players late in the game that the visiting Knights got in scoring range and ultimately erased the Bucs’ shutout with a red-zone rushing score.

The maroon and gold capitalized on a LCWM fumble in the second half, and defensive lineman Jesus Quintero was one of several Bucs to log a sack in Wednesday night’s showdown.

Originally, the Buccaneers would have suited up on Saturday, Oct. 29, for the next round of Section playoffs, but since the team’s matchup with Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial was pushed back a day, Minnesota State High School League officials approved a rescheduling of their Section semifinal game to Monday, Oct. 31.

That is when the Bucs, at 7 p.m., are slated to travel to Mapleton for a clash with the Maple River Eagles, who improved to 7-2 with a 26-0 win over Le Suer-Henderson and entered the Section 2AA bracket as the No. 1 seed.

If their recent streak five straight wins is any indication, the Bucs could enter Monday’s game with some confidence, as head coach Randy Kuechenmeister said following Wednesday’s victory.

But, of course, five consecutive wins is not the end goal.

“Well, we’d like to get six,” Kuechenmeister said with a smile. “We’ll see but, yeah, five in a row the kids never quit, kept working and that gives you the opportunity. And that’s what we have is an opportunity.”