Jack Tillotson loves to travel to foreign locales.

From Canada to Costa Rica to South Africa, Tillotson enjoys visiting places much different from his home town of Bloomington. 

But on Wednesday night, the Bloomington Jefferson junior quarterback found pleasure in helping the Jaguars visit a place far more familiar: the end zone at Bloomington Stadium. 

Tillotson threw four touchdowns while rushing for another to lead No. 4 seed Bloomington Jefferson to a 34-6 victory over No. 5 seed Waconia in the Class 5A, Section 2 quarterfinals. 

Next on Tillotson’s itinerary is a trip on Tuesday to Mankato West High School. The Jaguars face the No. 1-seeded Scarlets, who are also ranked No. 1 in Class 5A in the Associated Press state high school football poll. The last time Bloomington Jefferson played Mankato West was in last year’s Class 5A state quarterfinals. The Scarlets defeated the Jaguars 48-0. en route to the state title. 

Tillotson, who is a first-year starter, didn’t play in that game, and Jaguars coach Tim Carlson isn’t worried about his signal caller against the undefeated Scarlets.

“Someone like Jack will be excited to play a Mankato (West),” Carlson said. “Some kids might shy away from that, but we have some kids who look forward to that and Jack is one of them.”

Tillotson’s confidence seemed to grow against Waconia as he completed 14 of 22 passes for 233 yards and threw one interception. 

What ended as a strong performance didn’t start out that way, however. The Jaguars offense didn’t register a first down on their first two possessions. 

Once Tillotson relaxed and became more confident, he guided a Bloomington Jefferson offense that Waconia struggled to stop the rest of the game. The Jaguars’ third drive went 72 yards and was capped with Tillotson’s 1-yard touchdown run. 

Although he scored his team’s first points on the ground, Tillotson thrived through the air. He found his John Carlson, a 6-foot-1 receiver who finished the regular season leading the state with 12 receiving touchdowns, and 6-2 receiver Joe Hird on numerous occasions to keep Waconia from finding much hope of winning the game.

“Jack just grins when he sees the athletes we have up there,” Tim Carlson said.

While Tillotson enjoys throwing to John Carlson and Hird, the duo are happy to have Tillotson as their quarterback. 

“He is so accurate with the ball and makes great reads,” John said.

The Jaguars’ quarterback situation has turned out better than it looked last spring. Jake Murray, the anticipated starter heading into this season, tore his  anterior cruciate ligament  in the spring playing AAU basketball. Tillotson stepped in as Murray’s replacement, something John found difficult to overcome because he is good friends with Murray. 

The initial practices with Tillotson under center didn’t start well.

“At the beginning, we didn’t have the best chemistry, but we worked on it,” John said. 

The effort paid off as the pair finished the regular season as one of the state’s best quarterback-receiver combos. 

Nine games into the season, they have a rapport on the field that makes it difficult for opponents to defend the two. 

“He knows where I like the ball, and he knows he can just throw it up and I will do my best to go get those 50-50 balls,” John said. “He has that trust in me and I have that trust in him.”

They’ll need that trust next week to move past Mankato West. 

While Tillotson is traveling to a new destination as Bloomington Jefferson’s starting quarterback, his favorite place to visit remains the end zone and he hopes make a few more trips there against the Scarlets.

“We don’t really have anything to lose,” Tillotson said. “We can go out there and give it our all.” 

Junior quarterback Jack Tillotson threw four touchdowns to lead No. 4 seed Bloomington Jefferson to a 34-6 victory over No. 5 seed Waconia in the Class 5A, Section 2 quarterfinals on Wednesday at Bloomington Stadium. Tillotson also ran for a 1-yard TD in the victory.  

The Jaguars face No. 1 seed Mankato West, last year’s Class 5A state champion, next Tuesday. The last time Bloomington Jefferson played the Scarlets was in the 2014 state quarterfinals, where the Jaguars lost 48-0. 

Wednesday’s victory is Bloomington Jefferson’s second over Waconia this season. The Jaguars defeated the Wildcats 17-14 in a Suburban White subdistrict matchup on Sept. 18. 

Defensive back Cortez Martin sparked Bloomington Jefferson’s strong defensive game with two interceptions and a pass breakup on Waconia’s first seven passes. The Wildcats registered 4 yards on offense in the first quarter.

Waconia sophomore quarterback Nolan Vanderhoff, who was making his third start, threw two interceptions and one TD. 

Check back later for more on the game. 

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