Of all of the positive traits possessed by the Blooming Prairie football team, the one that sticks out the most is the team’s resiliency.

The Awesome Blossoms didn’t complain or back down when they were faced with miserable weather conditions against United South Central on Saturday and they certainly didn’t panic or complain when they’re starting quarterback Seth Peterson went down for the postseason with an injury in the last game of the regular season.

That’s because these Blossoms are driven by something deeper.

The entire team and the entire town of BP was rocked into a rush of cruel reality when a car crash on Sept. 7 would claim the life of BP teacher Rachel Harberts and her daughter Emerson. Rachel’s son Jaxon, a seventh grade football player. is still in the hospital as he recovers from injuries in the crash.

The tragedy was one that still sticks out in the memory of BP football players, including sophomore Mitchell Fiebiger, who has vivid memories of BP’s game at Fillmore Central, which took place on the night of the crash.

“It was sad,” Fiebiger said. “A lot of us were crying going into that game and coming out of the game.”

Jaxon’s jersey has graced the sideline during BP’s games since the crash and he’s been in attendance for the last two BP playoff games.

“It’s definitely motivated us,” BP senior Dylan Nirk said. “We just want to make a positive out of a negative.”

BP head coach Chad Gimbel said the team has kept the Harberts in their thoughts throughout the season.

“They’re always in our thoughts and in our prayers,” Gimbel said. “Our team wants to be strong for them. We haven’t talked about it a whole lot lately, but we just know that our prayers are always with them. We’ve kind of used (Jaxon) as an example of what you need to do to be strong. (Jaxson’s) come a long way in a short time and he’s way ahead of schedule.”

With Jaxon watching in the stands, the Blossoms have had plenty to play for over these past couple of weeks. Now they’ll look to pull off another win as they will play BOLD in the Minnesota Class A State Football Tournament semifinals at USBank in Minneapolis at 9 a.m., Saturday.