BLOOMING PRAIRIE – The Awesome Blossoms received a big boost from one of their slot receivers early on as they went on to cruise to a 56-0 win over No. 4 seeded Southland in the Section 1A semifinals in BP Saturday.

BP junior Alex Baldwin threw a 57-yard TD pass to Tim Wolf off an end-around to put BP up 8-0, Baldwin caught a shovel pass from Kaden Thomas and scored from 10 yards out to make it 15-0 and he ran a punt back 46 yards for a TD to make it a 22-0 BP lead in the second quarter.

“I depend on my blockers and I depend on my whole team. Everybody chips in,” Baldwin said. “We only practiced (the end around pass) a few times yesterday. I just let it go tonight.”

The Rebels (5-5 overall) made a big stop on their eight-yard line on BP’s first possession and they forced BP to punt on its second possession, but the Blossoms answered with seven straight scoring drives to put the game away.

Southland was missing the presence of its middle linebacker and running back Carter Schmitz.

“We’re a whole different team without Carter Schmitz in the middle and that allowed them to run the ball more,” Southland head coach Shawn Kennedy said. “Anything that could go wrong did go wrong. They’re a good football team and I think we got shell shocked and we lost our identity.”

BP (10-0 overall) was dominant on the defensive side of the ball as it picked up its second shutout of the season. The Blossoms forced two turnovers and they racked up five sacks.

“I’ve been super impressed with our defense all season,” BP head coach Chad Gimbel said. “It starts with our defensive line up front keeping our defense free and our defensive backs are playing well with pass coverage on third down.”

BP junior quarterback Kaden Thomas threw for 192 yards and three TDS and he also ran for a score. Gabe Hagen had TD catches of 44- and 69-yards to start the second half.

BP will now focus on the Section 1A title game, where it will play No. 2 seeded Goodhue in RCTC Stadium in Rochester at 5 p.m. Saturday. BP beat Goodhue 20-14 on Sept. 14 and the Wildcats knocked off BP in the Section 1A title game last year.

Wolf said the Blossoms are ready for the challenge.

“We know anybody can beat anybody and we’ve just got to have focus throughout the week of practice and we’ve got to show up on Saturday,” Wolf said. “Goodhue knocked us off last year and I feel like it’s a revenge game. We’re going to come ready.”

The loss was a tough way for the Rebels to end the season after they had won their first postseason contest since 2013.

“This group of kids put us back on the map and they bought into what we were trying to do as far as the weight training and making those sacrifices,” Kennedy said. “We had a state championship season as far as I’m concerned and I’m going to miss them. They’re a class act group of guys and it was an honor to coach them.”

SCORING SUMMARY

Southland 0 0 0 0 – 0
BP 8 21 27 0 – 56

First quarter
(BP) Tim Wolf 57 pass from Alex Baldwin (Gabe Hagen from Colin Lerum) (1 play, 57 yards) 2:27

Second quarter
(BP) Baldwin 10 pass from Kaden Thomas (Carson Brennecke kick) (9 plays, 63 yards) 7:20
(BP) Baldwin 46 punt return (Brennecke kick) (1 play, 46 yards) 3:30
(BP) Thomas 4 run (Bennecke kick) (6 plays, 20 yards) :42

Third quarter
(BP) Hagen 44 pass from Thomas (Bennecke kick) (1 play, 44 yards) 9:09
(BP) Hagen 69 pass from Thomas (Bennecke kick) (3 plays, 69 yards) 6:58
(BP) Matthew Pryor 25 run (kick blocked) (2 plays, 25 yards) 3:54
(BP) Karson Vigeland 7 fumble return (Bennecke kick) (1 play, 7 yards) :17

Fourth quarter
No scoring

BP STATS

Rushing: Matthew Pryor, 13-for-62, TD; Alex Baldwin, 3-for-43; Payton Simon, 1-for-13; Drew Kittelson, 5-for-8; Kaden Thomas, 6-for-6, TD; Bradley Simon, 1-for-2; Gabe Hagen, 1-for-1; Zach Archer, 3-for-(-1)

Passing: Thomas, 9-for-11, 192, 3 TDs; Baldwin, 1-for-1, 57, TD; Kittelson, 1-for-2, 7

Receiving: Hagen, 4-for-179, 2 TDs; Tim Wolf, 2-for-91, TD; Payton Simon, 1-for-23; Baldwin, 2-for-16, TD; Bradley Simon, 1-for-7

Defense: Trenton Swenson, 2 sacks; Hagen, 1 sack; Mitchell Fiebiger, 1 sack; Cole Christianson, 1 fumble recovery; Karson Vigeland, 1 fumble recovery

Penalties: 5-for-35

SOUTHLAND STATS

Rushing: Donavan Felten, 5-for-35; Noah Sayles, 11-for-26; Brendan Kennedy, 6-for-25; Lee Wilson, 8-for-20; Christian Hjelman, 1-for-5; Eli Schwartz, 1-for-4; John Hegge, 1-for-(-1); Dan Boe, 5-for-(-30)

Passing: Boe, 2-for-11, 19

Receiving: Kennedy, 1-for-10; Sayles, 1-for-9

Defense: Clayton Luthe, 1 sack

Penalties: 2-for-15