Jackson County Central is seeded second in the south portion of the state Class 2A football tournament.
The Huskies, 10-0, will play south No. 3 seed Central Public Schools (Norwood Young America) at 7 p.m. Friday at Orono High School. The Raiders are 11-0.
JCC won the Section 3AA title Friday with a 48-7 win over Pipestone Friday in Worthington. There will be a separate newsletter about that game.
Central is the Section 4AA champs after a come-from-behind 21-14 win over Cannon Falls Friday in Watertown.
The third-seeded Bombers led 14-7 after three quarters and held onto that lead until fourth-seeded NYA scored on a seven-yard run with a little over four minutes to play, leaving Cannon Falls with a 14-13 lead.
The Raiders recovered an onside kick and went 35 yards in less than 90 seconds and led 21-14 after a successful two-point conversion.
It’s Norwood Young America’s seventh trip to state in football, the first since 2016.
A lot more information follows. And there’s even a fun fact along the way!
Tournament schedule
Quarterfinals
Thursday, Nov. 7
1 South Chatfield (10-0) vs. 4 South Triton (8-2) at Hastings,7 p.m.
1 North Kimball Area (10-0) vs. 4 North Moose Lake/Willow River (9-2) at Brainerd, 7 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 8
2 South Jackson County Central (10-0) vs. 3 South Norwood Young America (11-0) at Orono, 7 p.m.
2 North Barnesville (11-0) vs. 3 North Staples-Motley (10-0) at St. Cloud Tech, 7 p.m.
Semifinals
Friday, Nov. 15
At U.S. Bank Stadium
Low seed South vs. High seed North, 9 a.m.
High seed South vs. Low seed North, 11:30 a.m.
Championship
Friday, Nov. 22
At U.S. Bank Stadium
Semifinal winners, 4 p.m.
Schedule/results
Jackson County Central’s schedule contained eight Class 2A schools and two Class 3A foes.
Norwood Young America played five Class 1A schools during the regular season, United South Central, Lester Prairie, Cleveland, Mayer Lutheran, Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop. Lester Prairie is in the Class 1A state tournament field.
JACKSON COUNTY CENTRAL (10-0)
Regular season
Friday, Aug. 30: at Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial, W 44-0
Friday, Sept. 6: Worthington, W 62-7
Friday, Sept. 13: at Blue Earth Area, W 63-0
Friday, Sept. 20: Le Sueur-Henderson (homecoming), W 61-14
Friday, Sept. 27: at Redwood Valley, W 46-7
Friday, Oct. 4: Minnesota Valley Lutheran, W 64-8
Thursday, Oct. 10: at Luverne, W 38-0
Wednesday, Oct. 16: Pipestone, W 45-6
Section 3AA
Saturday, Oct. 26: Le Sueur-Henderson, W 36-14
Friday, Nov. 1: vs. Pipestone at Worthington, W 48-7
NORWOOD YOUNG AMERICA (11-0)
Regular season
Friday, Aug. 30: at St. Clair/Loyola, W 53-0
Friday, Sept. 6: New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva, W 42-6
Friday, Sept. 13: at United South Central, W 33-0
Friday, Sept. 20: at Randolph, W 42-32
Friday, Sept. 27: Lester Prairie, W 48-7
Friday, Oct. 4: Cleveland, W 68-20
Thursday, Oct. 10: at Mayer Lutheran, W 50-0
Wednesday, Oct. 16: Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop, W 47-0
Section 4AA
Tuesday, Oct. 22: Maple Lake, W 58-8
Saturday, Oct. 26: at St. Agnes, W 33-7
Friday, Nov. 1: vs. Cannon Falls at Watertown, W 21-14
State appearances
Here are the state tournament appearances for the teams in this year’s field. Moose Lake/Willow River leads as the Rebels are at state for the 18th time, their seventh straight.
JCC is one of four teams making its 11th appearance in the state tournament.
Moose Lake/Willow River (18): 2000, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 AA Runner-up, 2010, 2011 AA Runner-up, 2012 AA Runner-up, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024
Jackson County Central (11): 1997 AAA Runner-up, 1998 AAA Runner-up, 2001 AAA Champion, 2012, 2013, 2015 AAA Runner-up, 2016, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2024
Barnesville (11): 1978 B Runner-up, 2009, 2010 A Runner-up, 2016, 2017, 2018 AA Runner-up, 2019, 2021, 2022 AA Champion, 2023 AA Runner-up, 2024
Chatfield (11): 1981, 1982, 1991, 1994 C Champion, 1995 C Champion, 1996 C Champion, 1999, 2013 AA Champion, 2021 AA Champion, 2022 AA Runner-up, 2024
Triton (11): 1993, 1994 B Champion, 1995, 2000 AA Champion, 2002, 2006 AA Champion, 2007, 2008, 2010 AA Runner-up, 2023, 2024
Norwood Young America (7): 2002 AA Runner-up, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2014, 2016, 2024
Kimball Area (5): 1983, 1984, 1985, 1991, 2024
Staples-Motley (4): 1988 A Runner-up, 1989, 2004, 2024
Back in the day
Four of the teams in the field have had a prior version of their current school advance to state.
Jackson High School played in two state tournaments, including winning the 1985 Class B title. The Blue Jays also advanced to state in Class B in 1989.
Before consolidating with Staples, Motley went to the state tourney in 1972 and 1977. Moose Lake also went to state in 1977.
Triton High School is composed of Dodge Center, West Concord and Claremont. West Concord made a state tournament appearance in 1984.
Enrollments
Following are enrollments for the state Class 2A teams according to figures on the Minnesota State High School League’s website.
Norwood Young America 308
Chatfield 297
Jackson County Central 288
Staples-Motley 287
Triton 272
Moose Lake/Willow River 268 (Moose Lake 163, Willow River 105)
Barnesville 247
Kimball Area 238
About Norwood Young America
The official name of the school in Norwood Young America is Central Public Schools.
Students attend from Norwood Young America, Hamburg and Cologne.
The City of Norwood Young America was formed in 1997 when the two former independent cities of Norwood and Young America merged.
Thus, the city is named Norwood Young America. There is no hyphen.
FUN FACT: Norwood Young America is home to Stiftungsfest, which is Minnesota's oldest festival. It dates back to 1861.
Lincoln Wacker
It’s been 25 years since the death of Lincoln Wacker, who died when his car was struck by a drunk driver near Glencoe of Sept. 10, 1999.
Lincoln was a sophomore in 1989 when Jackson High School finished sixth in the seven-team Southwest Conference but won the section championship and lost in the first round of the state tournament to eventual champion Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop.
At the time of his death, he was in his first year of teaching and coaching at Central High School in what was then Norwood.
Scoring averages
Jackson County Central ranks first among Class 2A state tournament teams in both points scored and points allowed.
The Huskies’ quarterfinal opponent, Norwood Young America, is second in points allowed and third in points scored.
Points scored
Jackson County Central 50.7
Barnesville 48.0
Norwood Young America 45.0
Kimball Area 40.5
Chatfield 39.8
Moose Lake/Willow River 33.9
Staples-Motley 37.1
Triton 32.0
Points allowed
Jackson County Central 6.3
Norwood Young America 8.5
Kimball Area 8.9
Staples-Motley 10.3
Chatfield 11.9
Barnesville 12.4
Moose Lake/Willow River 15.3
Triton 18.1
QRF
Here’s where the state tournament teams ranked in the final QRF by Minnesota-scores.net
Listed are rank, team, won-loss record in parenthesis and QRF number.
1. Chatfield (10-0) 87.9
2. Kimball Area (10-0) 87.6
3. Jackson County Central (10-0) 85.1
4. Barnesville (11-0) 79.3
5. Norwood Young America (11-0) 75.0
11. Triton (8-2) 66.8
12. Staples-Motley (9-0) 65.9
13. Moose Lake-Willow River (9-2) 65.7