No. 11 Austin Thielfoldt manages to make his way through a minefield of Cardinals

For the fourth straight year, the Blue Earth Area Buccaneers were unable to wrestle away the Little Brown Jug from the Fairmont Cardinals. It was the final meeting between the two rival schools on the gridiron for at least the next two seasons.

Things got off to an inauspicious start at Wilson field for the Maroon and Gold. On the second offensive possession of the ballgame, the Bucs surrendered a 64-yard touchdown pass from Fairmont quarterback Garrett Myren.

On the very next possession, a six-yard touchdown run from Alex Kotewa gave the Cardinals a 13-0 advantage.

After digging themselves an early deficit, the competitive spirit of the Buccaneers kicked in. In the second quarter, BEA senior quarterback Hunter Bleess connected with receiver Koby Nagel on a 68-yard touchdown play that exciting the Buccaneer home fans. The score re-energized the Bucs as they went into halftime trailing 20-6.

As it turned out, Blue Earth Area was able to draw first blood in the second half. Bleess found an open Maxwell Ehrich in the flat for a three-yard touchdown pass. With the score now 20-12 in favor of Fairmont, the Blue Earth Area crowd had hopes of an exciting second half comeback.

BEA Buccaneer Koby Nagel reaches for a catch with a Fairmont Cardinal in hot pursuit.

Unfortunately for the faithful fans of BEA, that would be as close as the Bucs would get. Three second half touchdowns by Fairmont put the game out of reach as the visiting Cardinals came away with a 41-12 victory.

In total, the Cardinals amassed 428 yards of total offense. By comparison, Blue Earth Area accounted for just 189 yards of total offense. The Buc defense had a hard time containing Fairmont receiver Dustin Schultz, who ended the game with a game-high 168 receiving yards on five catches with one touchdown.

Koby Nagel led the Bucs in receiving with 91 yards. Meanwhile, Austin Thielfoldt led BEA on the ground with 40 rushing yards on 13 carries. As for Bleess, he completed 13 of 23 passes for 135 yards and two touchdowns. However, Bleess also threw three interceptions as well.

Now 0-1 on the season, Blue Earth Area’s next game will be on the road against Redwood Valley on Friday, Sept. 7. Details and photos from that game will be available in the next edition of the Faribault County Register.