MINOT – Jamestown Blue Jays Football Head Coach Bill Nelson said that he wanted to see his team put together a complete game.
Minot North never gave the Blue Jays that chance.
The Sentinels, the top-ranked team in 11AA all season, ended the Blue Jays’ faint playoff hopes Thursday with a thorough 49-14 victory at First Western Bank Field at Sentinel Stadium.
Minot North (8-0, 4-0 11AA West), on their way to clinching the top seed from the West in the 11AA playoffs, scored on all six of their first-half possessions, seemingly not bothered by rainy, chilly and windy weather.
Minot North drove 80 yards with their first series of the game, taking the first six minutes of the first quarter. Cian Hannon ended the drive with an eight-yard touchdown run.
Jamestown (1-7, 0-4), plagued by mistakes all season, had another at the end of their first drive when punter Gradin Thorlakson fumbled a snap and was brought down at the Blue Jays’ 24. Minot North scored in only four plays, the last being a one-yard scoring dive by Evan Berg.
Special teams woes continued for the Blue Jays at the end of their next drive when Thorlakson’s punt hit the back of teammate Jett Wharton and Minot North’s Lavell Harlin recovered the ball at the Jamestown 34. Again, the Sentinels scored in only four plays and led 21-0 after a five-yard run for a score by Christian Deadmond.
After a Jamestown punt, Minot North scored again in only four plays. Deadmond ran in his second touchdown from 19 yards.
Blue Jays quarterback Karson Schmidt lost a fumble on the fourth play of Jamestown’s next series. Minot North turned that into a 40-yard scoring drive, with the last yard coming from running back Cooper Chick for a 35-0 Sentinel lead.
Jamestown then drove from their 31 to Minot North’s 35 before Schmidt was intercepted by Luke Richeson. With 1:07 left in the first half, Harrison Schaefer scored on a six-yard run and the Sentinels led 42-0 at halftime.
Early in the third quarter, Richeson intercepted Schmidt again and Minot North’s second string engineered an 85-yard scoring drive in 9:48, culminating in a six-yard scoring run by Richeson.
Schmidt threw two touchdown passes for the Blue Jays in the fourth quarter, a 12-yarder to Eric Van Berkom and a nine-yarder to Brannen Kahler on the game’s last play from scrimmage.
Chick ran for 106 yards for Minot North. Liam Frey had 77 yards rushing for Jamestown. Schmidt was eight-of-14 for 72 yards.
The loss for Jamestown assures the program’s first time to miss the playoffs since 2019. The Blue Jays’ seven-game losing streak is the school’s longest since 2016.
Jamestown will close its season against St. Mary’s at Hansen Stadium on Friday, October 24. Coverage will begin at 6:30 PM on The Voice of the Blue Jays, Jamestown 107.1. Live and archived video will be available on the Jamestown 107.1 Sports YouTube Channel.