Blossoms rout Knights 39-8

No. 2 Blooming Prairie hosted No. 7 Kenyon-Wanamingo (K-W) in the quarterfinal round of the Section 1A playoffs tonight and thrashed the Knights 39-8 in a rout from start to finish.

The Awesome Blossoms owned the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball and had their way with the Knights to comfortably advance to the semifinals on Saturday.

“Obviously there are some things we’d like to do better, but the main thing is advancing and getting to the next round. Defensively, I think we played extremely well. Offensively, we had some hiccups, but we’ll clean them up and be ready for Saturday,” said Blooming Prairie Head Coach Chad Gimbel.

Blooming Prairie received the opening kickoff and set itself up in scoring position quickly behind a 41-yard rush by quarterback Brady Kittelson to the one-yard line.

Lukas Loverink lined up at wildcat quarterback the next play to punch in the ball and give BP a 6-0 lead less than three minutes in.

A quick punt by K-W set up another Blooming Prairie scoring drive, this time highlighted by a 14-yard rush running back Cole Wangen.

This time kicker Cooper Cooke was able to convert the point-after attempt to put the Awesome Blossoms up 13-0.

K-W’s struggles continued when the Knights threw a pick to Kittelson on the next drive.

Kittelson’s handiwork set Blooming Prairie up at the 38, and on the first play from scrimmage, he found Loverink on a fade route to set his team up at the one.

Wangen plunged into the endzone and Cooke converted the point after to extend the lead to 20-0 with 46 seconds remaining in the first.

The route was on to begin the second quarter when Kittelson intercepted his second pass of the game, but this time took it 35 yards to the house for a pick-six.

The defensive score put BP up 26-0 with 110:2 left in the second.

Now facing a four-score deficit, K-W elected to go for it on fourth-and-two from its own 39 in hopes of finding some momentum.

Instead, the Knights came up empty-handed after a botched snap and broken play resulted in a turnover on downs, setting Blooming Prairie up at the Knights’ 35-yard line.

After a few positive plays, Cannon Wacek found paydirt from six yards out to put Blooming Prairie up 32-0.

Both sides went into halftime with Blooming Prairie’s 32-point lead intact.

Neither side found much running room after the half until Blooming Prairie’s Kittelson found Loverink on a 29-yard passing touchdown with 4:15 left in the third.

With the game in hand, Blooming Prairie turned to its second strings for the rest of the game.

KW finally managed a touchdown and two-point conversion with 7:17 left in the game, but it was far too late for a comeback effort.

Blooming Prairie went on to win 39-8.

The Awesome Blossoms will play No. 5 Fillmore Central next in the section semifinals on Saturday, Oct. 26 at 1 p.m.

Blooming Prairie beat the Falcons 42-34 in overtime earlier this season.