Blue Jays go down at home, will get better for next week

Oct. 13—JAMESTOWN — It was a tough night at Charlotte and Gordon Hansen Stadium on Friday.

For the first time in nearly two years, the Jamestown High School football team dropped a home game. The Blue Jays fell 29-28 to West Fargo Horace.

The now 5-3 Jays will cap off the regular season with a road tilt at undefeated Fargo North next week.

"I love my kids to death," JHS head coach Bill Nelson said. "We will get better for next week. It just didn't go our way tonight."

Just two plays and 13 seconds in the ball game, Horace scored its first points of the night with a 39-yard pass from Gavin Olson to Lucas Holsing. The Hawks' points were a result of a Jamestown fumble on the initial kickoff return.

After a 22-yard strike from Ryan Kallenbach to Nate Walz, the Jays were 12 yards away from tying the affair at six points apiece.

On the next snap, Kallenbach fired one into the belly of Horace's Axel Anderson. Anderson returned the interception 95 yards to score the Hawks' second TD of the night. Horace's two-point conversion was good to put the visitors up 14-0 with 7:50 left in the opening quarter.

A 13-yard completion from Kallenbach to Caleb Schiele moved the Jays into the Hawks' territory to end the first quarter. After another near fumble, Kallenbach scrambled 15 yards to bring up 1st and 10 from the Hawks 16-yard line.

The junior signal caller capped off the 10-play, 70-yard drive with a 17-yard pass to Walz in the endzone. Kallenbach connected with Tyson Jorissen for the two-point conversion to make it 14-8 Horace with just over 10 minutes left to play in the first half.

Jamestown kept the punches rolling.

A series of calls on Horace put the Jays all the way at the Hawks' five yard line. Jorissen took the direct snap, rushed the five yards and earned the Jays' second touchdown of the night. The Jays' two-point conversion failed, leaving the score tied at 14.

Jamestown ended the first with one last punch to Horace's gut.

Walz hauled in a 46-yard pass from Kallenbach to give the Blue Jays their first lead of the evening, but it wasn't a lead that would hold for very long.

A miss on the Blue Jay block allowed Horace's Gavin Olson some room to run. The senior running back chugged 46 yards up the right sideline to score another touchdown for the Hawks.

With the PAT from Jacob Birnbaum, Horace took a one-point lead with just under five minutes to play in the third frame.

As time ticked down, so did the Jays' scoring chances, but the home team made good on one more opportunity before time expired.

With just over six minutes left in the tilt, Caleb Schiele zigged and zagged his way 45 yards upfield to give his team a 28-21 lead over the Hawks.

Horace responded with another touchdown run by Ty Geray and a two-point conversion to give them back their one-point lead.

That would do it.

"We've got really good kids who play the game the right way," Nelson said. "They play the game the right way, they treat it the right way, they respect it the right way.

"There's things that go on that you can get angry about, but it is what it is," he said. "They made more plays than we did tonight. We've got a great group of kids and we're going to be resilient, we're going to come back and we're going to get better for next week. That's all there is to it."

West Fargo Horace 29, Jamestown 28

WFH 14 0 7 8 — 29

JHS 0 20 0 8 — 28

First quarter

WFH: 39-yard pass by Gavin Olson to Lucas Holsing, (Jacob Birnbaum kick failed),11:47

WFH: 95-yard interception returned by Axel Anderson (two-point conversion good), 7:50

Second quarter

JHS: 17-yard pass by Kallenbach to Nate Walz (two-point conversion good), 10:03

JHS: 5-yard carry by Tyson Jorissen (conversion failed), 5:00

JHS: 46-yard pass by Kallenbach to Walz (conversion failed), 0:35

Third quarter

WFH: 46-yard run by Gavin Olson (kick good), 4:56

Fourth quarter

JHS: Caleb Schiele 45-yard punt return, (conversion good), 5:52

WFH: 5-yard run by Ty Geray (conversion good), 4:19