Football Section Finals Set; Begin on Thursday, November 3rd

The Moorhead Spuds defense huddles up in the closing minutes of the 8AAAAA semifinal game against Alexandria (Photo courtesy of Spuds TV)

(KDLM) – The semifinal round of the 2022 Minnesota State High School League Section Football tournaments is complete, setting up a full slate of Section Championship football on Thursday and Friday night that will see eight teams from each class competing for a state title.

Section 4, 9 Man Championship: #1 Wheaton-Herman-Norcross vs #2 Verndale. W-H-N shut out Sebeka in their semifinal matchup, setting up a Section Championship rematch with the Verndale Pirates. Verndale beat Rothsay 46-6 to return to the section championship game. W-H-N beat Verndale 14-12 in last year’s title game, and beat them on October 14th 29-8. The Section 4 9-man championship will be 10:00 am at the Fargodome on Friday.

Section 6A Championship: #5 Breckenridge vs #3 Ottertail Central. Two of the big upsets in high school football happened in 6A on Saturday, with the fifth-seed Breckenridge upset top-seed and defending section champion New York Mills 21-0 in what was a rematch of last year’s section final. The Cowboys haven’t allowed a point in the postseason, shutting out both Menahga and NYM. Breckenridge hasn’t been to State since 2008. The Bulldogs of Otter Tail Central beat #2 Pine River-Backus 27-6 to advance to their first section final since 2018. OTC won Section 6A that season. OTC beat Breckenridge 28-27 in the opening week of the 2022 season. The 2022 Section 6A Championship Game will be at 5:30 at the Fargodome on Friday night.

Section 8A Championship: #1 Mahnomen-Waubun vs #4 Red Lake County. Mahnomen-Waubun is primed to add another section title to their 32-combined section titles since 1970 after beating Polk County West 30-20. Mahnomen has been to state ten of the past eleven seasons (excluding the 2020 Covid season), and won a state title after co-oping with Waubun in 2018. The defending section champion Thunderbirds will face Red Lake County, who shut out #2 Ada-Borup-West 24-0, avenging a 36-8 loss to the Cougars two weeks ago. Mahnomen-Waubun narrowly beat RLC 22-20 on September 30th. The 8A championship is Thursday night at 5:30 in the Fargodome.

Section 8AA Championship: #1 Barnesville vs #3 Crookston. The Barnesville Trojans quest for an undefeated season continued with the 57-0 thumping of Frazee in the 8AA semis. The six-time defending section champ will face a Crookston team that upset an injury-riddled Pelican Rapids team 27-12. Crookston is playing in their first section championship game since losing to Pequot Lakes in the 2010 8AAA title game. Crookston, who only had three wins in the regular season, only lost to Barnesville by four scores on September 9th, 28-0. The 8AA title game will be on Friday at 8:00 in the Fargodome.

Section 8AAA Championship: #1 Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton vs #3 East Grand Forks. Undefeated D-G-F, ranked #2 in the state in Class AAA, survived a scare at the hands of the Thief River Falls Prowlers in the semifinal round 14-10 to advance to their third-straight section title game. The Rebels will face East Grand Forks after the Green Wave held on to beat Perham on their home field 24-21. EGF led 24-7 with three minutes left in the game, and two quick Perham scores cut the lead to 24-21. EGF started the season 1-3, but has won five of their last six games. DGF beat EGF 22-12 on September 23rd, and will play for the section title at 8:00 on Thursday night at the Fargodome.

Section 8AAAA Championship: #1 Rocori vs #2 Becker.  A battle of top-ten teams awaits fans in what will likely be an offensive showcase as Rocori and Becker duke it out in the 8AAAA Championship game. Becker, ranked #4 in AAAA, ended Detroit Lakes’ season 31-14 on Saturday evening…the second straight season they’ve knocked the Lakers out of the playoffs after defeated them in last year’s section title game. Rocori, ranked #8, shlacked Little Falls 65-12 in the 8AAAA semis. Although Becker is ranked higher in the QRF, Rocori was awarded the  tournament’s top seed after beating Becker 31-10 in the season opener. Becker hasn’t lost since. Spartans vs Bulldogs kicks off in Monticello at 7:00 on Friday.

Section 8AAAAA Championship: #2 Moorhead vs #4 Sartell-St. Stephen. A missed Sauk Rapids-Rice field goal and a timely Moorhead interception in the endzone helped secure the 2022 Section 8AAAAA Championship Game. Top-seeded Sauk Rapids-Rice, the number eight team in the state, missed a field goal as time expired to fall to Sartell 15-14. Moorhead saw a 28-6 lead slip away to Alexandria as the Cardinals came back to tie the game at 28. The Spuds scored a late touchdown to make it 35-28, then intercepted the Cardinals in the endzone with 10 seconds left in the game to secure their place in their first section championship since 2019. The Spud win snapped a four-game losing streak and avenged a heartbreaker to the Cards in last year’s quarterfinals. The 3-5 Spuds will host the 3-5 Sabres in the section title game at 7:00 on Friday.