Blossoms win 42-34 OT barn-burner over Falcons

Blooming Prairie football had its fans on the edge of their seats for a full 48 minutes and some change last week when the Awesome Blossoms took down Fillmore Central 42-34 in overtime.

The win might not have the Awesome Blossoms’ cleanest performance in years, but the team showed tremendous heart to overcome a 26-12 halftime deficit and pull out the win on a day spent raising money for breast cancer awareness and remembering former coach, Karl Steckelberg, who tragically passed away of a heart attack earlier this summer.

“We went out and we had one thing to say to the guys, ‘We’re playing for Karl.’ We broke it down at the end of the game and said, ‘for Karl.’ Usually, we say ‘flower power’ but today was all for Karl,” said Blooming Prairie head coach Chad Gimbel.

A pre-game dedication to Steckelberg included an on-field sign in his memory and a moment of silence from everyone in attendance.

The hush in the stadium weighed heavy in remembrance of a the late coach’s contributions to his community, but once the first whistles blew, there was hardly reason for silence on the home sidelines.

After a modest kick return, Blooming Prairie quarterback Brady Kittelson found running room on the first play from scrimmage, taking the ball 58 yards to the endzone in storybook fashion.

“That was a great start to hit that play,” said Gimbel.

Blooming Prairie’s extra-point attempt was unsuccessful and kept the score at 6-0 with 11:46 remaining in the first quarter.

The Awesome Blossoms looked primed for a big day after linebacker Bo Zwiener forced a fumble on Fillmore Central’s first possession, but Blooming Prairie was unable to capitalize on the turnover and instead dropped two would-be touchdown passes before punting.

The momentum began to shift when Fillmore Central scored on a 52-yard passing score the next possession, giving the Falcons a 7-6 lead.

The second quarter began with another Fillmore Central scoring drive, this time on a four-yard scamper to put the Falcons up 13-6.

However, Blooming Prairie answered quickly with a 49-yard passing touchdown from Kittelson to wide receiver Bradley Boyd just 56 seconds later.

The Awesome Blossoms had their extra point blocked and trailed 13-12 with 8:05 left in the half.

Quick scores continued to be the name of the game as Fillmore Central hooked up for a 65-yard touchdown soon after to extend its lead to 20-12 just 1:51 later.

Fillmore Central went on to add one more score before halftime on a huge 56-yard passing touchdown with 28 seconds remaining to lead 26-12.

“Honestly at halftime, the message was that we have to quit making mistakes. All of their big plays shouldn’t have happened. We had guys missing assignments and we told them that if we clean it up, we would beat them – and we did,” said Gimbel.

The second half proved to be a dog fight between the two sides with neither offense able to get much going initially.

Blooming Prairie earned the first points of the second half with just 1:23 remaining in the third on a 23-yard passing touchdown from Kittelson to wide receiver Lukas Loverink.

The two followed up the score with another successful connection on the two-point attempt to cut the Falcons’ lead to 26-20.

Blooming Prairie’s momentum rolled into the next defensive stand when a batted ball at the line of scrimmage fell into the hands of linebacker Cole Wangen for an electric diving interception.

The turnover was followed by a two-yard rush by Kittelson and another successful two-point try to put Blooming Prairie ahead 28-26 with 9:24 left in the game.

The Awesome Blossom crowd was elated, but quickly silenced again after the Falcons hit a 68-yard passing touchdown and another two-point try to regain the lead at 34-28 with 7:18 remaining.

Hope began to dwindle from the Blooming Prairie sidelines before a critical fourth-and-one blunder by Fillmore Central on a botched snap resulted in favorable field position for the home team with 3:33 remaining.

Starting on the Falcons’ 46-yard line, Blooming Prairie managed to get the ball down to the Fillmore Central one-yard line with just under a minute to play.

With four chances from the one, Blooming Prairie looked primed to tie the game, but three consecutive stops put Gimbel’s Blossoms on their heels for a fourth-and-goal scenario with five seconds remaining.

Gimbel elected to use a timeout before the play and put everything on the line with one final snap.

Trotting out to the wildcat quarterback position was Loverink, whose size paid dividends as he hammered the run home to tie the game.

“I’m really honored for Gimbel to choose me to go out there in that spot. I was shivering running out there but we punched it in there and we’re all happy now. I have to give credit to our offensive line, there was a massive hole there,” said Loverink.

Blooming Prairie elected to go for two points, but was stopped, sending the game to overtime at 34-34.

The Awesome Blossoms won the first possession of overtime where each team was to get one standard possession from the 10-yard line.

It didn’t take long for Blooming Prairie to capitalize on the short field as Kittelson took the first play 10 yards to the house and added a two-point pass to Wangen to lead 42-34.

Fillmore Central struggled to move the ball and a last-play prayer to the back of the endzone was left unanswered, giving Blooming Prairie the major win on a day that was bigger than football.

The win improved Gimbel’s squad to 2-0 with the team’s next game coming on the road against Wabasha-Kellogg on Friday, Sept. 13 at 7 p.m.

Player Stats

Passing

#9 Brady Kittelson – 9-17 144 yards 2 TD

Rushing

#9 Kittelson – 12 att. 136 yards 3 TD; #4 Cole Wangen – 13 att. 21 yards; #6 Gage Mullenbach – 1 att. 13 yards; #2 Bradley Boyd – 1 att. 8 yards; #5 Gabe Staloch – 1 att. 7 yards; #0 Lukas Loverink – 2 att. 1 yard 1 TD

Receiving

#0 Loverink – 3 rec. 59 yards 1 TD; #2 Boyd – 1 rec. 49 yards 1 TD; #4 Wangen – 1 rec. 17 yards; #21 Cannon Wacek – 2 rec. 12 yards; #12 Alex Lea – 2 rec. 7 yards