—Messenger photo by Britt Kudla Southeast Valley's Eli Johnson makes a catch against Sheldon on Friday in Gowrie. The Jaguars won 46-7. For more photos, visit CU at messengernews.net

GOWRIE — It took a little while for Southeast Valley to shake off some rust, but once the Jaguars cleaned up a few mistakes they rolled to a first round playoff victory.

The sixth-ranked Jaguars (8-1 overall) knocked off Sheldon (3-6) 46-7 to advance to second round of the Class 2A playoffs. Southeast Valley’s opponent will be decided on Saturday.

“We were pretty rusty in the beginning,” said Southeast Valley head coach Mike Swieter. “We have some things we need to clean up, but now we advance and are in the final 16.”

Senior quarterback Kolson Kruse had another big night for the Jaguars, going 12-for-16 for 249 yards and three touchdown passes. He also rushed for 109 yards.

Kruse hit junior Eli Johnson twice for touchdowns. The two connected from 27 and 19 yards out. The Jaguars went up 38-0 on a 53-yard strike to senior Tre Fisher.

Johnson finished with over 100 yards and Fisher had 99 yards receiving.

Kruse had some big plays for the Jaguars, as Sheldon flushed him out of the pocket and Kruse was able to turn it into a couple of big gains.

“That is what Kolson does best,” Swieter said. “He is able to keep the play going and is able to change the game — that is huge for us.”

Senior running back Lathe Muench had a quiet, but big night for Southeast Valley. Muench had only 10 carries for 25 yards, but hit paydirt three times. Muench had touchdown runs of three, 12 and five. Muench had three two-point conversions and Kruse had two.

The three touchdowns tied Muench with current Hawkeye linebacker Kyler Fisher with the most rushing touchdowns in school history at 41.

“Our goal was not to have Lathe and Kolson run a lot,” Swieter said. “Lathe had some big touchdowns for us.”

The offense had some big plays, accumulating 449 yards of offense and holding the Orabs to 118. The Jaguars held Sheldon to six total yards late into the third quarter.

“Our defense played really well,” Swieter said. “We were able to keep them off of our side of the field and force them to scramble.”