Scarlets demolish Cougars

Mankato West Scarlets defeat Mankato East Cougars extending Jug wins to 13-0.

Aaron Young
Staff Writer

Last Friday night, the 46th annual Mankato High School Classic was played between the Mankato East Cougars and the Mankato West Scarlets under the lights at Blakeslee Stadium in Mankato, MN.

The winner received bragging rights in a historical rivalry, and the glory of lifting the famous jug.

In a discussion with the Mankato Free Press, East head coach Eric Davis explained how big of a rivalry this High School matchup was going into the game.

“The Jug game has been such a big rivalry for so many years. Last year, we made it a dozen, now we’ve made it 13 (consecutive). It’s amazing to win in all of my 4 years at West,” said Davis.

Once the game began, West came out and scored two touchdowns on their first two possessions of the game to run the score to 14-0 after just 10 minutes of play.

After East scored their first touchdown in the second quarter, Mankato West came back with one of their own, making it 20-6 heading into the locker room.

At the half, the Scarlets almost had double the number of yards as the Cougars did on offense, with 188.

Coach Davis said, “You can’t think of the (East) touchdown; you have to focus on the next play. You have to move on and do things better.”

Once the second half began, Mankato West went on to score 34 unanswered points, with the last TD by them being an 84-yard run by Melik Davis.

Nearing the end of the fourth quarter, all East could do was lessen the deficit, and they did, scoring two touchdowns to make it 48-20, which ended up being the final score, with West coming home with the jug once again.

The player of the game without a doubt was West quarterback, Jack Foster. The Junior threw for 190 yards and 2 TD’s, and had 82 yards on the ground with 2 rushing TD’s. His go-to receiver, junior Spencer Spaude, had 4 catches for 93 yards and a touchdown.

The game was more of a statement than anything. West scored on its first two possessions, with both being rushing TD’s. East responded back with one of their own, but 14-6 was the closest it ever got.

Mankato East head coach Eric Davis expressed his frustration after the game.

“I thought we were prepared, but we didn’t answer the bell early. As head coach, I take responsibility for not having us ready to play.”

With the result, it’s hard not to agree with him. Every coach wants to get their players as prepared as possible, with the goal of winning the game.

It just so happened that East was on the losing end this time, and all they can do is head back to the drawing board and prepare for the next game.

As for West, they are now 2-0 and take on John Marshall next Friday, while East tries to bounce back against Rochester Mayo.

Feature photo by Mansoor Ahmad/MSU Reporter.