A simplistic football philosophy is if the other team doesn’t score you cannot lose.

Rosemount hasn’t quite gotten to that level of defensive perfection, but the Irish continue to close the gap.

Its latest domination without the ball was a 41-7 win Friday at District 196 rival Eagan.

Winners of six straight after an opening night loss to Centennial, and aiming to play with a controlled aggression, Rosemount (6-1) has allowed an average of 6.8 points in those victories, including a pair of shutouts.

“We’re definitely hungry,” said linebacker Max Jones. “… We come into every game knowing we’re going to have to out-physical the team because every team we play are physical teams.

“… We have to work as one heartbeat. One heartbeat, one unit, a well-oiled machine and that’s how we’re going. We’re holding ourselves to a very, very high standard. Even letting up one score we’re really upset.”

The Irish defense may get its biggest test of the season Wednesday when Rosemount, ranked sixth in the latest Class 6A poll, is home to No. 4 Lakeville South. The Cougars (6-1), who held off Prior Lake 27-23 Friday, average 28.1 points per game.

“As our coach likes to say, ‘It’s going be to a fist fight in a phone booth,’” Jones said. “Who wants it more? Who’s going to be the stronger, more physical team?”

Against Eagan, Rosemount took advantage of excellent starting position in jumping out to a 21-0 lead. Its three first-half scoring drives were 18, 35 and 45 yards.

Finn Macken and Mayon Dixon connected for an 18-yard score, Jakhai Hollie went around the left end for 28 yards and Jaidon Jackson had a 17-yard touchdown reception.

“Everything about (our offense) we’re flowing. It’s just a family, it’s a brotherhood,” Hollie said. “… Defense tries to stop one thing, and we have a counter to it.”

Jackson added a pair of 1-yard touchdown runs in the third quarter, drives that began at the Wildcats’ 18- and 38-yard lines.

An interception by Cullen George early in the fourth quarter put the ball at the Eagan 30. Levi Cinnamo caught a touchdown pass on the first Irish offensive snap.

In losing three of four, the Wildcats have scored 28 points and continue to have trouble hanging onto the ball. Eagan lost two fumbles and threw an interception upping its season turnover total to 18.

Its lone points came on an 11-yard halfback pass from Gage Halvorson to Nick Emerson to make it 21-7 with 13 seconds left in the first half, a drive kept alive by a gutsy 4th-and-1 conversion at its own 25. Rosemount then committed personal foul and unnecessary roughness penalties — Jones called them “dumb” — in a four-play span to get Eagan to the edge of the red zone.

“(Rosemount is) just so physical … and we gave them too many short fields by not hanging onto the ball,” said Eagan coach Nick Johnson.

Eagan (2-5) played without its starting quarterback and its second-leading rusher. Plus, the squad has lost three starting offensive linemen from an area that was expected to be a team strength this season.

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Harvest season turned tragic in rural Cass County on Thursday, when a combine and a BNSF train collided about five miles northwest of Page, killing the combine driver.

Troopers with the North Dakota Highway Patrol said the 33-year-old man from Colgate, N.D., was found dead inside the combine after the collision. The impact caused the lead engine of the train to catch fire and derailed nearly two dozen train cars. Crews with BNSF are still arriving to begin cleanup operations, which could take several days.

Just before 11 a.m., the 2020 John Deere combine was headed south on a township road about five miles south of Page, N.D., when it ran into the side of the westbound lead engine. The rail crossing is marked but not controlled.

The impact caused the lead locomotive to catch fire, and approximately 20 train cars derailed, spilling cargo into nearby fields, law enforcement officials said.

The combine driver died as a result of injuries sustained in the crash. The train’s engineer and conductor escaped without injury before the fire.

“The engineer and the conductor of that train were able to witness what was about to occur. They were able to brace for impact, they were able to hit the emergency brakes of the train, they were utilizing their whistle, they utilized it more than they needed to to try and get the attention of the combine operator,” Capt. Bryan Niewind of the North Dakota Highway Patrol told WDAY News.

“As these rail cars are derailing, that combine became intermingled with some of those rail cars,” Niewind said.

Officials hope the crash serves as a reminder during harvest season.

“These uncontrolled intersections, it’s very important for people not to get complacent. Maybe you haven’t seen a train there in two years, but as you approach those intersections, you do need to be clearing those, so you need to look both ways to see if there is a train,” Niewind said.

A news release from the North Dakota Highway Patrol said 133rd Avenue Southeast will be closed north and south of the tracks for 34 to 48 hours. Drivers and residents were asked to avoid the area.

Authorities are still waiting to see if the camera on board the train was working to help piece together the events that led to the tragedy.

The crash remains under investigation by the North Dakota Highway Patrol.

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After the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension became aware of DWI testing instruments giving incorrect information, it has asked that law enforcement agencies around the state inspect their devices.

Two DataMaster DMT instruments, which measure breath alcohol levels, were discovered on Friday to have data entry errors that are related to gas cylinder installation on the devices. Those two devices with errors were in Olmsted County, potentially affecting 108 cases, and in Hennepin County, potentially affecting 38 cases, according to a news release from the BCA on Friday night.

Earlier, the BCA found errors in Aitkin, Winona and Chippewa counties.

The BCA is requiring local law enforcement agencies to “immediately review and verify dry gas cylinder data has been entered correctly into DataMaster instruments (DMT) currently being used.”

The BCA has ordered the suspension of all DMT usage until agencies verify the gas cylinder data in each instrument. In addition, the release said, “all gas cylinder replacements and maintenance” will be done by BCA personnel starting immediately, and the BCA plans to update its DMT maintenance procedures.

“This requirement follows the discovery of multiple data entry errors by trained operators during the installation of gas cylinders in the instrument,” the release said, but the agencies using the DWI testing instruments are “not necessarily responsible for the error as multiple law enforcement agencies use each instrument.”

“The BCA is committed to the highest level of quality in our forensics lab, and this is why we are conducting this review,” said BCA Superintendent Drew Evans. “We appreciate our law enforcement partners’ prompt attention to this inspection process.”

Law enforcement personnel who administer the breath tests and maintain the DMT instrument are specially trained in their use by the BCA.

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State officials say an inmate at Rush City Prison died Thursday afternoon after what authorities believe was an altercation with the man’s cellmate.

Few details were available about the death on Friday afternoon as the investigation continued.

A spokesperson for the state Department of Corrections gave the following details:

Shortly before 1:30 p.m. Thursday, correctional officers were called about a person down in a cell. They found a man with obvious injuries who was unresponsive. Despite lifesaving efforts from prison staff and local emergency medical personnel, the man was pronounced dead.

A preliminary investigation shows there may have been an altercation between the man and his cellmate. Investigators are looking into the circumstances that led up to the incident.

The Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office will perform an autopsy to determine the manner and cause of death.

The death is being investigated by investigators from the state DOC’s special investigations unit, the Chisago County Sheriff’s Office and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

The man’s identity is being withheld until his family is notified.

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