Blooming Prairie's best chance in some time to beat Waterville-Elysian-Morristown slipped through the Blossoms' fingers in a 36-20 homecoming loss to the visiting Buccaneers Friday night in Gopher Valley action.

Blooming Prairie took a 14-12 lead early in the second quarter on Lynn Chheang's 52-yard touchdown run, but the Bucs bounced back for the next 12 points for a 24-14 lead early in the third.

The Blossoms had a chance to put the game away in the second quarter, but a fumble in the red zone turned the ball back over to WEM, who converted the chance with a 66-yard touchdown pass from Brent Vollbrecht to Leon Barber.

WEM's Dane Reomhildt tallied a 7-yard touchdown run to start the second-half scoring, but a 5-yard touchdown pass from Kraig Olson to Blake Symes got the Blossoms back in range, 24-20.

WEM scored the game's final touchdowns for the 36-20 victory.

"That was a disappointment for us," said BPHS head coach Chad Gimbel. "We couldn't get the offense enough touches."

WEM racked up 208 yards rushing to eat a lot of the clock in the second half. Blooming's offense was slightly slowed when Chheang was forced out of the lineup with back spasms.

Chheang had three rushes for 70 yards and two receptions for 66 yards, but the Blossoms had trouble holding onto the ball for Olson.

Olson was 9-for-24 passing for 160 yards, but Coach Gimbel said his team dropped a number of passes and two that would have resulted in touchdowns.

The Blossoms' running back Jay Salinas carried 21 times for 105 yards in the loss.

WEM outgained BPHS 373 to 308, led by Roemhildt's 150 yards rushing on 30 carries.

The Blossoms host NRHEG (1-5) Friday in Blooming Prairie.