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Football: Mayer Lutheran braces for BBE Jaguars

michael lyne, west central tribune, willmar, minn.
·4 min read

Nov. 7—ST. CLOUD — Mayer Lutheran head coach Dean Aurich is well aware of the talent on the

Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa

football team.

Now, it is just a matter of whether or not his Crusaders can stop that talent in the Class A quarterfinals.

The Jaguars face off against Mayer Lutheran in the opening round of the state tournament at 7 p.m. Friday at St. Cloud Apollo High School. It will mark BBE's second state tournament appearance and the Crusaders' eighth.

BBE, which is 10-0, and the Crusaders, who are 8-2, are both back at state for the first time since 2021. Mayer Lutheran won the Class A title that year.

"(The Jaguars) got a great quarterback, they throw the ball and they are loaded," Aurich said. "That's about all I can say.

"They are blowing teams out and we feel we're definitely the underdog."

BBE's great quarterback that Aurich speaks of is senior Luke Dingmann.

Dingmann, who is a Mr. Football nominee, has led a Jaguars' offense that is producing at an alarming rate. BBE is averaging 41.6 points per game.

Dingmann, listed at 6-foot-4, 210 pounds, has completed 70.4% (131 of 186) of his passes for 1,847 yards, 30 touchdowns and seven interceptions. He also leads the Jaguars with 641 rushing yards to go with nine touchdowns on 73 attempts.

"Luke is phenomenal," BBE head coach Chris Moscho said. "He's done a great job for us."

Dingmann has a plethora of weapons to choose from. Five Jaguars have at least 15 receptions and four have at least 20.

That corps consists of wide receivers in senior Ryan Jensen and juniors in Brett DeRoo, Luke Illies and Hayden Sobiech and junior running back Jack Lundberg.

"All those five options are number one options in different plays," Moscho said. "Luke does such a good job of picking the matchups and picking the matchups he likes."

Aurich knows his Crusaders will need to keep up with BBE's high-powered offense in order to have a shot in winning.

"We got to match their score," Aurich said. "I think their strength is their offense and their defense is stout.

"(The Jaguars) can score super fast and so we've got to make sure that we try to at least keep it close by controlling the clock with a little bit longer drives and that's going to be a real challenge for us."

Mayer Lutheran's offense, which averages 28.2 points per game, is led by senior quarterback Levi Hahn and senior running back Jack Grimsley as well as senior lineman Gavin Lofgren, who is listed at 6-2, 300 pounds.

Moscho was not short on being complimentary of what the Crusaders have in their toolbox.

"(Mayer Lutheran has) a stud quarterback and running back and they got some big boys in the trenches," Moscho said. "They're going to get some big plays but we just got to limit them. We're going to have to find a way to stop their big guys upfront."

Both teams have had solid outings from their defenses all year long. BBE has allowed 11.1 points per game and Mayer Lutheran follows closely at 12.3.

"It all starts with our coaches," DeRoo said. "They do an amazing job of getting the game plan ready."

"We just got to try to stay with them, keep it close and hopefully not make mistakes," Aurich said. "(The Jaguars are) definitely favored and we just got to fight to keep it close and maybe something good will happen."

Aurich believes his Crusaders need to perfectly execute their game-plan in order to keep their state tournament run alive.

"I hate to say it but if we make mistakes, it could get out of hand," Aurich said. "(BBE is) just too good and that quarterback (Luke Dingmann) is a stud."

Games Friday

* Springfield (10-1) vs. Fillmore Central (10-0), 5:30 p.m. at Jordan

* Mahnomen/Waubun (10-0) vs. Parkers Prairie (9-2), 7 p.m. at Brainerd

* Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa (10-0) vs. Mayer Lutheran (8-2), 7 p.m. at St. Cloud Apollo

* Braham (9-2) vs. Minneota (11-0), 7 p.m. at St. Cloud Tech