Perfect catch for a perfect season

MINNEAPOLIS — It’s not often you can knock your coach down and get away with it. Edgerton/Ellsworth running back Blake Jouwstra did just that to coach Andrew Fleischman with his go-ahead touchdown catch with 8:30 left in the state championship game versus Wheaton/Herman-Norcross.

“I’ve never seen a catch like that,” Fleischman said. “I thought they intercepted it.

“When the ref went up with his hands up, I was flabbergasted. I was so excited, I fell down. I hope that wasn’t on TV.”

Less than two minutes after WHN tied the game, E/E quarterback Isaac Heard sent a pass to the outside shoulder of Jouwstra. Jouwstra dove, stretched his left arm as far as he could, used the absolute tip of his fingers to knock the ball up in the air and cradled the ball into his chest as he slid into the end zone.

Every head in the Metrodome immediately turned to the video board to watch the replay and join in a collective awe.

It was fitting the drive ended with a Jouwstra touchdown, seeing as he accounted for 22 of the previous 34 yards on the drive before the 17-yard circus catch. Jouwstra caught a 10-yard pass and had rushes of four and eight yards before catching the game winner.

“Isaac threw it up, I saw that I was going to have to dive for it, so I just put a hand out there and brought it in,” Jouwstra said. “It was amazing.

“I didn’t think that would be the game winning one, but it just turned out that way. I didn’t think we’d be this good, but hard work paid off.”

The running joke among the E/E football team is that Fleischman favors Jouwstra when it comes to getting into the end zone on running plays. Running backs Derek Voge and Devin Hulstein claim they pick up the hard yards and Jouwstra gets the nice stroll into the end zone and the glory that comes with it. It even crosses into the pass game.

“That was an amazing catch,” Heard said. “We make fun of Blake because we say coach favors him, so I never throw him the ball.

“He always says, ‘Just let me catch it one time,’ and so I gave it to him.”

One thing is for sure: no one helped Jouwstra into the end zone on that touchdown catch.

“He proved I should be throwing it to him more,” Heard said.

Considering both Heard and Jouwstra are juniors, that is a distinct possibility next season.

Tags: edgerton ellsworth, sports, prep, football