Blossoms rout Rebels

Although the two teams were seeded fourth and fifth, the Awesome Blossom football team defeated Southland easily 43-6 at McFarlin Field on Tuesday.   It marked the first time the two teams had met on the football field since 2011, when the Blossoms edged Southland in the section 1A championship game.
After forcing a punt on the first possession by the Rebels, the Blossoms quickly went to work.  Three long runs by Connor Getchell and Lucas Noble moved the ball to the Southland 21, from where Getchell ran almost untouched for the score with 8:42 on the clock.  Kicker Brad Staska kicked the first of five perfect extra points for a 7-0 lead.
“We knew with the wind and the rain,” commented Coach Chad Gimbel,  “that the passing game would be almost non-existent, and I give the offensive line a lot of credit for allowing the ground game to be effective all night.  That made a big difference.”
Southland scored late in the first period to cut the Blossom lead at 7-6 when quarterback Parker Bingham scrambled for 34 yards to the 16 on a fourth down play. Colton Mandt rumbled the last 16 yards for the score, but the extra-point try was blocked.  That turned into the last gasp for the Rebels, as they wouldn’t see the end zone again all night.
In the second quarter, BP stayed mostly on the ground until quarterback Seth Peterson found Getchell for 7-yard touchdown and a 15-6 lead at the 6:42 mark.  Just three minutes later, Southland fumbled a BP punt that Ben Smith recovered. A short drive took the ball to the five, where Noble would rush in for a 5-yard touchdown run.  That put BP up 22-6 at the break.
Any thoughts of a Rebel comeback were quickly dashed in the third quarter when the Blossoms scored three times.  The first came less than two minutes into the period on 37-yard gallop by Getchell. The second after BP recovered a botched short kickoff  and a 19-yard run by Noble. The third score was on a 57–yard rumble by Getchell. Staska continued his perfect night kicking extra points, and the Blossoms had their big victory.  Neither team scored in the fourth quarter, mostly due to very sloppy conditions of the field by this point in the game.
“We kept the ball on the ground," concluded Gimbel, “and the boys really responded.  The offensive line blocked well, and I was happy to see that, despite the conditions of the field, we had no turnovers in the game.” 
Except for the one lapse on the fourth down play in the first quarter, the defense kept Southland from getting a passing game going as well.  Wyatt Grundmeier led the defense with 8 tackles, and Mitchell Oswald added 6 tackles, plus a sack.
Blooming  Prairie        7    15   21     0  43
Southland                   6      0     0     0    6 
Team Statistics
BP Rushing     440 yards; Passing  25= 465 yards yards
S Rushing   183 yards; Passing 10= 193 yards
Individual Statistics
BP Rushing    Connor Getchell  212 yards; Lucas Noble 118 yards
BP Passing    Seth Peterson  2 of 10  25 yards