Thrill ride: Awesome Blossoms bounce back in OT to beat Fillmore Central

Published 3:49 pm Saturday, September 7, 2024

By Rocky Hulne

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BLOOMING PRAIRIE – Nobody knows patience better than Blooming Prairie senior football player Lukas Loverink. 

Loverink, a 6-foot, 4-inch, 238-pound defensive end and wide receiver, sat out last season after transferring from New Richland-HEG to BP and he had to wait until the closing seconds of regulation to make his biggest impact as an Awesome Blossom as BP walked away with a 42-34 overtime win over Fillmore Central Saturday afternoon.

Trailing 34-28 in the closing minutes of the fourth quarter, Loverink hauled in a 27-yard catch to put BP at the one-yard line, but it wasn’t until a fourth and goal play with six seconds left that he got another chance. On a play that was drawn up right before the game, Loverink lined up at quarterback and dove in for a game-tying score with three seconds left.

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“These guys are my family. Owen Krueger came here from New Richland too and he’s my best friend. He blocked big for me on that fourth down play,” Loverink said. “I’m more towards fulfilling my potential now. Last week I didn’t play to my ability, but I like making big plays. Last year was tough, because I was expecting eligibility, but the process took weeks and it didn’t come back in time. It really sucked and it struck my heart. I was stuck watching when I could’ve been out there helping us win.”

BP quarterback Brady Kittelson, who opened the game with a 59-yard TD run, delivered the go-ahead score in overtime when he converted a 10-yard TD run on first down. BP held the Falcons (1-1 overall) to just two yards on their final possession to seal the win.

BP senior Cole Wangen, who scored the two-point conversion after Kittelson’s run, said it’s been a long journey for the Awesome Blossoms, who have won two straight close games after having struggles last season.

“If you look back at the last two years since our sophomore year, we have not finished games,” Wangen said. “When we get down like that, we were down on ourselves. This year, we’ve had insane growth to come back like that. There was no one in the locker room at halftime that I felt didn’t want to win that game, it was electric.”

The contest was highly emotional as it was the first home game for the Awesome Blossoms since the passing of BP assistant coach Karl Steckelberg.

The game started and ended with BP fans chanting “Win for Karl” and the emotion was not lost on the team. Wangen said it felt good to bring it home for his coach Steckelberg.

“He was everything. He was huge for our team,” Wangen said. “He’d always give us funny speeches and he was a man to look up to, really.”

BP head coach Chad Gimbel said his team honored Steckelberg with their play.

“We went out and we were playing for Karl,” Gimbel said. “For the kids to come out and keep fighting throughout the game meant a lot. At the end when we broke it down, Alex (Lea) said ‘for Karl.’ We usually say ‘Flower Power,’ but today was for Karl.”

BP started the game with some early dropped passes and some coverage breakdowns, but the team finished strong. Gimbel is hoping that it will serve as a moral booster and a learning experience.

“We need to put a whole game together so we don’t have to come back, but they’re growing and they’re believing,” Gimbel said. “To be able to win two games like this will stick with us for the rest of the year. That’s part of the learning process.”

FC put together four scoring plays of more than 50 yards, but BP held the Falcons to just one score in the last two quarters and overtime. Wangen recorded a big diving interception to set up a third quarter score for BP and the Blossoms made a big defensive stop to set up Loverink’s game tying score.

“We knew they’d have a couple of chop plays and they’re a great team, but if we could stop them driving on us, we knew we would win the game,” Wangen said.

SCORING SUMMARY

FC   7  19  0  8  0  –  34

BP 6  6   8  14 8  –  42

First quarter

(BP) Brady Kittelson 59 run (kick failed) (1 play, 59 yards) 11:46

(FC) Joshua Haugerud 51 run (Hershberger kick) (6 plays, 80 yards) 6:22

Second quarter

(FC) Kane Larson 2 run (kick blocked) (6 plays, 45 yards) 9:01

(BP) Bradley Boyd 44 pass from Brady Kittelson (kick blocked) (3 plays, 55 yards) 8:05

(FC) Haugerud 65 pass from Bridon Bahl (Hersberger kick) (3 plays, 66 yards) 6:44

(FC) Davis Penhollow 55 pass from Bahl (kick failed) (7 plays, 95 yards) :28

Third quarter

(BP) Lukas Loverink 23 pass from Kittelson (Loverink from Kittelson) (7 plays, 68 yards) 1:23

Fourth quarter

(BP) Kittelson 2 run (Staloch from Kittelson) (7 plays, 36 yards) 9:24

(FC) Greg Kennedy 68 pass from Bahl (Bahl from Kiehne) (3 plays, 68 yards) 7:18

(BP) Loverink 1 run (pass failed) :03

OT

(BP) Kittelson 10 run (Wagnen from Kittelson) (1 play, 10 yards) 

BP STATS

Rushing: Brady Kittelson, 12-for-146, 3 TD; Cole Wangen, 13-for-35; Gage Mullenbach, 1-for-11; Bradley Boyd, 1-for-8; Lukas Loverink, 2-for-1, TD

Passing: Kittelson, 9-for-17, 137, 2 TD

Receiving: Loverink, 3-for-56, TD; Bradley Boyd, 1-for-44, TD; Wangen, 1-for-17; l Cannon Wacek, 2-for-12; Alex Lea, 2-for-8

Defense: Kittelson, 1 fumble recovery; Gabe Staloch, 1 interception; Wangen, 1 interception

 

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