BEA’s Tristan Tungland finds some running room around the right end during the Bucs’ game against the Maple River Eagles on Oct. 10.

It was the battle of the Buccaneers on Wednesday, Oct. 15, when the Blue Earth Area Buccaneers traveled to Waterville to take on the undefeated and Class AA, No. 5-ranked Waterville-Elysian-Morristown Buccaneers.

It was the final regular-season game for both teams and WEM kept their record unblemished with a 42-6 victory over BEA.

Both teams will now enter the Section 2AA playoffs. WEM is assured of the top seed and a bye while BEA will be on the road at St. Clair for their first playoff game on Tuesday, Oct. 21. The game starts at 7 p.m.

WEM opened the game on offense and began their first drive on their own 40-yard line. Utilizing a full-house backfield, they needed only four plays to go the 60 yards needed for the first score of the game. Their two-point attempt was good and with 10:51 to play in the first quarter, the hosts had an 8-0 lead.

BEA received the ensuing kickoff and Will Weerts returned it 24 yards to their own 40-yard line.

The Maroon and Gold only picked up a total of one yard on their first two plays. On third down, with nine yards to go for a first down, reserve quarterback Traven Zierke, playing for the injured Caden Juba, connected with receiver Dylan Preuss for a 34-yard pass completion for a first down at the WEM 25-yard line.

Unfortunately, three plays later WEM intercepted the ball near the goal line and returned it to their own five-yard line.

A nine-play drive put the host team into the end zone for the second time with 5:01 remaining in the first quarter.

BEA moved the ball again on their next drive before another turnover put the ball back in the hands of WEM.

WEM led 22-0 at the end of the first quarter and they added 14 points in the second quarter to go into half time with a 36-0 lead. After a scoreless third quarter, each team scored a TD in the fourth quarter to make the final score 42-6 in WEM’s favor.

BEA’s only score came when Zierke connected with Preuss for a 29-yard touchdown through the air.

The defensive stats showed Hayden Prestegard leading the team with 13 total tackles. Timmy Nagel had five tackles and Ryder Stauffer had four. Peter Fletcher and Jacob Brase each had one sack while Tristan Tungland and Logan Holst each had a tackle for loss.

WEM ended up with 22 first downs and 382 total yards of offense. They rushed for 303 yards and gained 79 yards passing. They were penalized two times for 20 yards.

BEA had five first downs – all of them through the air. They had 95 yards of total offense with 90 of those being passing yards. BEA was not penalized during the game.

Maple River 51, BEA 0

It was a tough night on the football field for the Blue Earth Area Buccaneers when they hosted the Maple River Eagles on Friday, Oct. 10.

The Bucs not only lost to the Eagles 51-0, they also lost their starting quarterback, Caden Juba, to an apparent ankle injury.

Maple River came into the game with only two losses. One of those losses was to the No. 1-ranked team in the state in Class AA – Jackson County Central. Their other loss was to BEA’s next opponent, the Waterville-Elysian-Morristown Buccaneers.

Maple River dominated play and scored 45 points in the first half.

Their first touchdown came after BEA received the opening kickoff and fumbled the ball to Maple River on the Bucs’ first play from the line of scrimmage. It only took the Eagles four plays to march 30 yards for their first TD of the game. Quarterback Zack Trio covered the final three yards on the ground. The Eagles’ extra-point attempt failed but they held a 6-0 lead over the Bucs.

BEA recorded one first down on their next drive before having to punt the ball away. This time the Eagles needed only one play to score with Anthony Orduna crossing the goal line on a 46-yard touchdown run. Once again, the extra point was not good but Maple River had a 12-0 lead.

The Eagles showed they could score via the air. On their next drive Trio connected with Hayden Fox for a 54-yard touchdown pass. Maple River’s two-point attempt was good this time and they increased their lead to 20-0.

Maple River led 27-0 at the end of the first quarter and scored 18 points in the second quarter to take a 45-0 lead into the intermission.

The second half was shortened to two eight-minute quarters with the fourth quarter consisting of running time.

Maple River had a 15-4 advantage in first downs and accumulated 394 yards of total offense to 70 for BEA.

Timmy Nagel led the Bucs with 33 yards rushing.

Hayden Prestegard led the Buccaneer defense with 11 tackles. Nagel had five tackles including one for a loss. Tate Elzenga had an interception for BEA.

The win gave the Eagles a 5-2 record while the Bucs dipped below .500 with a 3-4 record.