Quarterback Ashton Lloyd, shown above carrying the ball against Jackson County Central in a game from earlier this season, helped lead BEA to a thrilling 24-21 victory over the Maple River Eagles in Mapleton on Saturday, Oct. 8. Lloyd rushed for 101 yards and threw for 218 yards and two touchdowns, including the game-winner with eight tenths of a second left in the game.

The Blue Earth Area Buccaneers trailed the host Maple River Eagles for 47 minutes and two tenths of a second of their football game on Saturday, Oct. 8.

Fortunately for the Bucs, the contest is a full 48 minutes long.

With the Bucs trailing 21-18, BEA quarterback Ashton Lloyd lined up in a shotgun formation with the ball at the Eagles’ five-yard line and only eight tenths of a second remaining on the game clock.

Bucs’ head coach Randy Kuechenmeister was pacing the sideline as Lloyd took the snap, moved a little to his left, and found wide receiver Jack Norman open sprinting across the field.

Lloyd’s pass to the open Norman was complete for a touchdown and BEA went home with a 24-21 victory.

“We had a few other options for that play. It was basically a 2-point conversion,” BEA head coach Randy Kuechenmeister said. “They called a time out and we switched our play, and thankfully it worked.”

Maple River had jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter.

Eagles’ quarterback Landon Fox completed an eight-yard pass to Will Sellers for their first score with 7:49 remaining in the first quarter. The scoring drive was set up when Maple River intercepted a pass and returned it to the Bucs’ 14-yard line. The extra-point kick failed and the Eagles led 6-0.

After stopping BEA on their next possession, Maple River put together a six-play drive covering 41 yards which ended in another Eagles’ touchdown. This time Maple River converted a 2-point attempt to go on top 14-0 with 4:43 remaining in the first quarter.

The Bucs responded with two touchdowns in the second quarter.

Their first score came on a 15-yard run by Lloyd with 8:03 to go in the second quarter. The two-point conversion was no good.

BEA cut Maple River’s lead to 14-12 with 4:51 to go until halftime.

Parker Meyers got behind the Eagles’ defense for a 55-yard touchdown pass. Once again the extra-point attempt failed.

Maple River only needed 20 seconds to score in the second half. A long kickoff return by Mason Schirmer set the Eagles up at the Bucs’ 25 yard line.

The next play Schirmer gathered a pass from Fox for a touchdown. The point after kick was good and Maple River was up by nine points at 21-12.

The Bucs’ next score would not come until there was just over 11 minutes remaining in the contest.

Following long passes to Norman and Noah Johnson, Lloyd carried the ball in from five yards out to close the gap to 21-18 in Maple River’s favor and put the Bucs in position to win the game.

The Eagles were forced to punt and the Bucs began what turned out to be their winning drive with 2:51 left in the game.

BEA finished the game with 419 total yards of offense compared to 173 for Maple River.

The Bucs ran 71 plays and gained 201 yards on the ground and 218 in the air.

The Eagles had 68 yards rushing and 105 passing while running 43 plays.

Lloyd completed 13 passes out of 30 attempts while Fox was 10 of 21. Both quarterbacks threw for two touchdowns and each quarterback had an interception.

Lloyd rushed the ball 20 times for 101 yards while Johnson picked up 71 yards on 13 carries.

The leading rusher for the Eagles was Tim Buckholtz with 34 yards on seven carries.

Meyers had three receptions for 80 yards and a touchdown. Johnson had two catches for 42 yards, Norman caught four balls for 37 yards, Jacob Grandgenett had a catch good for 29 yards and Colton Hubly hauled in two passes for 25 yards.

Schirmer was the leading receiver for the Eagles with eight catches for 67 yards.

“It was a definite team win,” Kuechenmeister said. “The guys showed a lot of grit and resilience and so many guys made big plays. Our defense played well and kept us in the game.”