By Mike Simmons, staff writer

JACKSON JUNCTION, Iowa &8212; When it came to deciding the last playoff spot from Class 1A, District 3 it all boiled down to the last night of the season for the Lake Mills football team. The Bulldogs started the night tied with four other teams at 4-2 in the district, but needed a win plus some help from Nashua-Plainfield in its matchup with St. Ansgar to reach the postseason for the second straight year.

Fortunately, for the Bulldogs they held up their end of the bargain with a 34-0 spanking of Turkey Valley Friday night in Jackson Junction.

Unfortunately, the Bulldogs will not be heading to the playoffs again as St. Ansgar downed N-P and won the head-to-head tiebreaker with Lake Mills after both finished 5-2 in District 3.

&8220;It&8217;s disappointing we didn&8217;t make the payoffs but we still had a great run at it,&8221; said senior wingback Steve Hengesteg. &8220;The offensive line moved people back all year and made nice holes for all the running backs, they never get any credit, but they are the ones that deserve all the credit for what we have done.&8221;

The first quarter and much of the second turned out to be a defensive struggle as the first ended without either team being able to move the ball on the ground or put any points on the board.

The defense continued to dominate for both teams but just as it looked as though this game might head to the third quarter tied at 0-0 the Bulldogs temporally abandoned its ground game and put the ball in the air.

The first big connection came on a 25-yard strike from Brent Bjelland to Lars Christianson out to the Trojans&8217; 46-yard line. Two plays later it was Bjelland again, this time to Hengesteg who took it all the way for the score and a 6-0 halftime advantage.

&8220;We were just trying to figure out was working there in that first half,&8221; said Bulldogs head coach Bill Byrnes. &8220;We needed to get our offensive line going, and we made a little adjustment in that off-tackle play and you can see that that definitely helped us out.&8221;

After making those halftime adjustments, it took the Bulldogs just six plays and less than three minutes of the third quarter to get in the end zone again on a Jake Brekken 2-yard plunge and a 14-0 lead.

As the third quarter was coming to an end the Trojans fumbled in their own territory and Spenser Brackey recovered it on the Trojans&8217; 39. With just 1:15 remaining in the quarter Bjelland threw his second touchdown pass of the game when he hit Dillan Sprecher for a 4-yard completion and a 21-0 lead heading into the fourth.

Bjelland, a senior, would end the night with four TD passes in his final game for the Bulldogs.

Lake Mills got the ball back three plays later on a Hengesteg interception to end the third quarter. But just two plays into the fourth it was Bjelland and Sprecher connecting again, this time for a 38-yard score.

After another LM pick by Jordan Krull, the Bulldogs passing game once again found the end zone on a 65-yard bomb from Bjelland to Christianson to reach the final margin of victory.

&8220;It&8217;s tough, it&8217;s tough on everybody,&8221; Byrnes said. &8220;We just told them that 6-3 is a pretty good season, but it is bitter sweet, it is bitter sweet. But it&8217;s not going to be a somber bus ride home, we beat a decent team tonight and the rest just didn&8217;t work out for us.&8221;