JCC to play state football quarters game Saturday against Caledonia

The unbeaten and top-ranked Jackson County Central football team will take on Caledonia at 7 p.m. Saturday in Orono in a Minnesota Class 2A quarterfinal game.

The Huskies are the defending state champions and have cruised through a 10-0 season thus far by averaging 54.2 points per game offensively and allowing just 10.4. Their closest game of the season came last week, and they still won by 24 in the Section 3AA final, 30-6 over LeSueur-Henderson.

Section 1 champion Caledonia has a record of 9-2 this fall, as the Warriors lost their opener 21-14 to Rushford-Peterson and their third game of the year, 13-3, to Triton. Caledonia later blew out Triton, 39-7, in the Section 1AA semifinals and then won the section title by topping Rochester Lourdes, 19-3. The Warriors average 26.0 points per outing and surrender 8.4.

In another state football matchup, 8-2 Murray County Central will meet third-ranked and 10-0 Fillmore Central at 7 p.m. Friday at Rochester Mayo High School. The Rebels have won eight straight after starting the fall 0-2. They're scoring 37.3 points and allowing 11.2 points per game. 

Fillmore Central, which earned a spot in the state tourney for the third time in four years, is scoring 42.0 points per game and allowing 10.0. It won the Section 1A title last week with a 34-21 triumph over Lewiston-Altura.

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In a Thursday night 9-man state quarterfinal contest, top-ranked and unbeaten Hills-Beaver Creek built a 32-0 second-quarter lead and went on to beat fourth-ranked Red Rock Central 44-14. It was the Section 2-champion Falcons' first loss of the year.

H-BC will now meet Fertile-Beltrami, a 40-14 victor over Cromwell-Wright Area in another Thursday quarterfinal, at 1 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 13. That game will be played at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.