BLOOMING PRAIRIE — The Blooming Prairie defense didn’t dominate in a 41-26 win over Goodhue in the Section 1A semifinals Saturday, but it did get the job done.

The Awesome Blossoms made three stops inside their own 10-yard line and they set the tone early on when they stuffed Goodhue on consecutive plays from the 1-yard line on the Wildcats’ opening possession.

BP stopped Goodhue on fourth and goal from the one when it wrapped up Riley Huemann for a no gain.

“We packed the line pretty full and gave it our best shot,” BP junior linebacker Brett Wacek said. “That was a real momentum changer. We knew they were gonna move the ball on us a little bit, we just had to bend without breaking.”

Goodhue finished with 223 yards rushing and 184 yards passing, but the Wildcats had just two runs of 15 yards or more and both of those came late in the game.

“We were happy that our guys stepped up with their backs against the wall,” BP head coach Chad Gimbel said. “We didn’t want to give up any big running plays.”

BP’s defense was happy to get the early goal-line stand, but it may have had an even bigger impact on the Blossoms’ offense.

BP quarterback John Rumpza said the team was pumped to get the ball back after watching Goodhue be denied on the one-yard line.

“We wanted to punch them in the mouth right away and that was a huge stand,” Rumpza said.