By John RittenhouseThe Luverne football team battled back from a halftime deficit to defeat Jackson County Central 28-16 Friday in Luverne.Trailing 10-7 at the intermission, the Cardinals turned things around in the third and fourth quarters to outscore the Huskies 21-6 and win the game by 12 points.The victory was Luverne’s fourth straight and placed more importance on the annual Battle Ax game played in Pipestone Wednesday night. If the Cardinals could beat their long-time rivals in the regular-season finale, they would host a game to open the playoffs Tuesday night."If we beat Pipestone, we would be either a third or a fourth seed. If we lose, we could slip to a sixth seed," said LHS coach Todd Oye.Luverne needed to beat JCC to put itself in a position to host a playoff game.Coach Oye said the Huskies played well throughout the contest, but it was Luverne’s ability to pass the ball in the second half that settled the issue.Cardinal quarterback Nick Heronimus completed four of five passes for 80 yards and two touchdowns to ignite Luverne’s second half comeback."Our ability to pass the ball in the second half was the difference," Oye offered.Luverne’s rally began in the third quarter, when the Cardinals struck quickly with their second and fourth offensive possessions of the second half.The teams exchanged punts to open the second half, and the Cardinals gained possession of the ball on JCC’s 45-yard line to start their second offensive series.After Heronimus gained seven yards with a run on the first down, he hooked up with Jake Hendricks for a 38-yard touchdown pass on second down. Chris Engesser booted his second of four straight extra points after the touchdown to give the Cards a 14-10 advantage.The Luverne defense came up big by forcing JCC to punt from deep inside its own territory late in the third quarter.With pressure being applied on the punter by Luverne’s front linemen with the punt return squad, JCC ended up losing three yards with the kick.LHS took over on the JCC 10-yard line, where Heronimus threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Mike Kunstle on the first play of the possession to make it a 21-10 game with 1:16 remaining in the third period."Being able to get that extra cushion was important," Oye admitted."Being able to score on the first play after a short punt was big for us."The importance of Luverne’s second touchdown of the third quarter became evident when the Huskies climbed back into the game with a 13-play, 62-yard drive with their next offensive possession.Running back Nathan Stender capped the march with a two-yard touchdown run at the 8:13 mark of the fourth quarter, ending a six-game streak of playing shutout ball in the second half by the LHS defense.The defense, however, successfully stopped JCC’s run for a two-point conversion, leaving the Cardinals with a 21-16 lead.JCC gained possession of the ball with 5:59 left to play, but a sack by Luverne’s Seth Goembel forced the Huskies to punt with 2:26 remaining.Luverne took over on its own 49-yard line and put the game away when Derek Elbers dashed 39 yards for a touchdown four plays later.JCC, which put together two nice offensive drives to open the game, scored the game’s first points with a field goal at the 11:48 mark of the second quarter.Luverne countered with a 19-play, 73-yard drive that ended with Chris Ashby scoring on a five-yard run to make it a 7-3 game with 3:15 remaining in the first half.The scoring march featured the Cardinals converting five third-down situations and two fourth-down situations into first downs.After Luverne gained its four-point lead, JCC returned the ensuing kickoff 62 yards to the LHS 35. Five plays later, JCC’s Marcus Schultz scored on a nine-yard run with 35 seconds remaining in the second period to give the Huskies a 10-7 halftime advantage.Team statisticsLuverne: 174 rushing yards, 106 passing yards, 280 total yards, 11 first downs, seven penalties, zero turnovers.JCC: 109 rushing yards, 90 passing yards, 199 total yards, 13 first downs, seven penalties, zero turnovers.Individual statisticsRushing: Ashby 6-15, Ben Nath 9-58, Elbers 14-74, Heronimus 8-27.Passing: Heronimus 8-12 for 106 yards.Receiving: Clark 2-38, Kunstle 3-18, Elbers 1-11, Hendricks 2-39.Defense: Kunstle two sacks, Goembel one sack.