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VIRGINIA -- After three road trips to begin the 2022 college football season, the Minnesota West Community and Technical College Bluejays will be more than ready to have a home date.
The Jays were beaten by Mesabi Range in Virginia on Saturday, 44-20, falling to 0-3. They lost their first two games on the road to Northwestern JV and North Dakota State College of Science.
Finally, this Saturday they’ll have their home opener at 2:30 p.m. against Central Lakes College of Brainerd. But it will be a serious task ahead of them to recover from their 0-3 hole.
To try to get on the winning trail against Mesabi Range, the Bluejays went heavy offensively with their passing game -- which over the first two games had been much more effective than the running game. They attempted 73 passes, in fact, completing 37 of them for 402 yards. But it still wasn’t enough as the Norse ate up the time of possession 86 minutes to 24 and escaped with the win.
Brock Starley passed for all of West’s 402 yards, accounting for one touchdown -- the final score of the game in the third quarter -- on a 1-yard toss to Julian Bennett. Starley also rushed for a 5-yard touchdown.
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The Bluejays’ excellent kicker, Mike Peralta, connected on two field goals. His 41-yarder with 6:41 remaining in the first quarter broke a scoreless tie. His second quarter 27-yarder brought the Jays to within a point at 7-6.
Mesabi Range made three straight scores after the first Peralta kick, including a fumble recovery following a Starley pass to Travon Sanders.
Norse quarterback Trinate Jacobs, who himself had a prolific passing day, completed a 21-yard TD pass to Jose Magarin and an 87-yard scoring pass to Aundreus Griffin. Jemal Brown also threw two TD passes for Mesabi Range.
Jacobs completed nine of 16 aerials for 260 yards and Brown completed eight of 12 for 115.
West lost despite gaining 28 first downs to Mesabi’s 17. The Norse finished with 432 total yards to West’s 430, getting 57 on the ground to the Bluejays’ 28.
Minnesota West turned the ball over four times to Mesabi Range’s two. Both teams were hurt by penalties, with Mesabi getting whistled for 20 for 155 yards and West called for 12 for 186.
Sanders led the visitors in receiving, catching 11 balls for 100 yards. Stephen Lewis caught seven for 72 and Ian Stamer caught four for 82.
Starley was the team’s leading rusher with 17 yards on six attempts.
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Minnesota West 3 10 7 0 -- 20
Mesabi Range 7 18 19 0 -- 44
