Blue Earth Area’s Jacob Grandgenett (12) races down the field on his way to reaching the end zone following a bad snap on a punt. The senior speedster avoided being tackled for a loss before breaking into the open and scoring the Bucs’ first six points of the game against Pipestone.

The Pipestone Arrows overcame a 20-13 halftime deficit with 22 second-half points to defeat the Blue Earth Area Buccaneers 35-20 in football action that took place at Wilson Field in Blue Earth on Friday, Aug. 30.

BEA began the fourth quarter with a one-point 20-19 lead before giving up two touchdowns and two-point conversions in the final 12 minutes of the game.

The Bucs got on the board first courtesy of a broken play. Faced with a fourth down and 21 yards to go, BEA punter Jacob Grandgenett waited for the snap near his own 10-yard line.

A low snap resulted in Grandgenett almost getting tackled and the Arrows taking over deep in Buccaneer territory. However, Grandgenett evaded the first wave of Pipestone defenders and headed straight up the field before veering towards the BEA sideline and sprinting to the end zone for a touchdown. Grandgenett’s line-drive kick just made it over the cross bar of the goal post to give the Bucs a 7-0 lead.

Pipestone took the ensuing kickoff and assembled a nine-play, 67-yard drive which resulted in a touchdown. After a failed extra point, the Bucs retained a 7-6 lead.

Gage Barker caught Pipestone’s kickoff at the 10-yard line and returned it 37 yards to the BEA 47-yard line.

It took the Bucs 13 plays to travel 53 yards for their second touchdown of the game.

BEA overcame a holding penalty and converted a fourth and 18 yards to go situation by completing a pass to Branson Hauskins for a first down.

Hauskins was also on the receiving end of Grandgenett’s three-yard pass that scored the touchdown. The extra-point kick failed making the score 13-6 in the Bucs’ favor early in the second quarter.

After stopping the Arrows on a fourth and one, the Bucs took over again on their own 35-yard line.

Six plays later BEA had another touchdown. The extra point was good to give the Bucs a 20-6 lead.

Pipestone scored once more before the first half ended by engineering an 11-play touchdown drive that covered 78 yards. The Arrows made the extra point this time to cut the Bucs lead to 20-13 and end the first-half scoring.

Pipestone’s touchdown in the third quarter followed by a missed extra point made it a one-point game heading into the fourth quarter.

Two fourth-quarter touchdowns along with two successful two-point conversions put the Arrows in the lead and the 35-20 victory.

The final statistics for the game showed that Pipestone had 14 first downs to 13 for BEA.

The Arrows had 59 rushing yards and 269 passing yards for a total of 328 yards.

The Bucs picked up 156 yards on the ground and added 141 through the air for a total of 297 yards.

Pipestone was flagged for four penalties totaling 17 yards while BEA had seven penalties for 55 yards.

Grandgenett attempted 34 passes and had 17 completions for 141 net yards. He threw one touchdown and his longest completion was 34 yards. He threw two interceptions.

Grandgenett also led the Bucs in rushing with 129 yards on 16 carries for an average of just over eight yards per carry.

Hauskins led the BEA receivers with six receptions for 80 yards and one touchdown. Barker had five receptions for 21 yards.

The Bucs went on the road Sept. 6 to face the defending Section 2AA Champion Triton Cobras. The Cobras opened their season with a 42-13 triumph over the Maple River Eagles on Thursday, Aug. 29. Look for the results of the BEA versus Triton game in next week’s issue of the Faribault County Register.