Football notes
Only two Big South teams have won state titles
Minnesota high school football teams haven’t played the conference system used for all other sports since 2014.
But, of the 15 schools currently in the Big South Conference in the other sports, only two have ever won a state football championship.
Jackson County Central and Blue Earth Area have each won one state football title. The Huskies won the Class 3A crown in 2001 and the Buccaneers won in Class 3A in 2012.
Four other schools have made it to the finals, Fairmont, Luverne, Pipestone and Windom.
Here’s the list of schools that have made it to a state championship game and how they fared:
Jackson County Central
1997 (3A): Albany 55, Jackson County Central 7
1998 (3A): Foley 21, Jackson County Central 7
2001 (3A): Jackson County Central 42, Becker 7
2015 (3A): Pierz 36, Jackson County Central 8
Blue Earth Area
2012 (3A): Blue Earth Area 30, Rochester Lourdes 7
Fairmont
2011 (3A): St. Croix Lutheran 34, Fairmont 32
2018 (3A): Rochester Lourdes 24, Fairmont 7
Luverne
2006 (2A): Triton 70, Luverne 21
2007 (2A): Caledonia 14, Luverne 7
2008 (2A): Caledonia 47, Luverne 7
Pipestone
1980 (A): Crookston 32, Pipestone 6
2015 (2A): Caledonia 40, Pipestone 0
2017 (2A): Caledonia 57, Pipestone 6
Windom
1996 (B): Breck 20, Windom 7
2001 (2A): Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 27, Windom 20
Southern Minnesota rivals
For the third straight year, two teams from southwest Minnesota will play for the state Class 1A title. In fact, it’s the same two schools.
Minneota and Springfield will meet in the championship game for the third straight year after both claimed semifinal wins Saturday at U.S. Bank Stadium.
The Vikings shut out Parkers Prairie 45-0 and the Tigers were 30-16 winners over Mahnomen/Waubun. Minneota was the No. 1 seed in the South and Springfield was the South’s No. 3 seed.
The Vikings won the previous two championship games, 28-21 in 2022 and 43-22 in 2023.
On Saturday, Ryan Meagher rushed for 132 yards on 14 carries for Minneota, scoring touchdowns from 10 and 12 yards out. Brody Larson was 9-for-14 passing for 122 yards including a 24-yard TD to Destin Fier.
Springfield trailed Mahnomen/Waubun 16-0 at halftime and that was also score after three quarters before the Tigers scored all 30 of their points in the fourth quarter. Springfield didn’t take the lead until going up 22-16 with 2:58 to play. The Tigers intercepted a pass and scored again with 1:49 remaining.
Four different players scored touchdowns for Springfield. Parker Kuehn was 21-29 passing for 197 yards and two touchdowns.
The Vikings have been in the state football tournament 17 times, winning nine championships (1986, 1987, 1988, 2009, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2022 and 2023). The Tigers are in their 10th state tourney, winning a state championship in 2005.
Patriots in finals
Another southwest Minnesota team, Hills-Beaver Creek, is in the nine-player championship game. The Patriots defeated Mountain Iron-Buhl 26-20 in their semifinal game Thursday.
Beau Bakken rushed for 90 yards on 27 carries for H-BC and Micah Bush caught 12 passes for 115 yards.
The Patriots (12-0) will play Fertile-Beltrami (12-0) for the state title at 10 a.m. Saturday.
Coach lets loose
After Mountain Iron-Buhl’s loss Thursday to Hills-Beaver Creek on Thursday, Rangers coach Dan Zubich was asked if his team was prepared for a close game after recording one-sided wins throughout the season.
According to the Minnesota Star Tribune, Zubich took the opportunity to address critics who had accused him during the season of running up the score on opponents. MIB averaged 66 points per game during the season, surpassing 90 once, 80 twice and 70 twice.
“It’s terrible,” he said. “You have guys that get taken out early and don’t play. Everybody’s like, ‘Oh, fire the coach. They run up the score, that’s all they do.’”
Zubich said his starters rarely played much in the second half.
“Our running back only carries it three times, the quarterback only twice,” he said. “You tell me how I ran up the score. I’m sick of hearing this whiny stuff. How do you get 91 points? Well, when you never get tackled, you can get 91 points. We play whole second halves running time and we still get it.”
Prep Bowl schedule
With the change in format to Prep Bowl, JCC’s Class 2A game vs. Staples-Motley will be between two larger school games.
The Huskies and Cardinals will play between the Class 4A game between Becker and Totino-Grace and the Class 6A game matching Minnetonka against Maple Grove.
Friday, Nov. 22
10 a.m., Class 1A: Springfield (12-0) vs. Minneota (12-0)
1 p.m., Class 4A: Becker (12-0) vs. Totino-Grace (12-0)
4 p.m., Class 2A: Jackson County Central (12-0) vs. Staples-Motley (12-0)
7 p.m., Class 6A: Minnetonka (10-2) vs. Maple Grove (12-0)
Saturday, Nov. 23
10 a.m., 9 player: Hills-Beaver Creek (12-0) vs. Fertile-Beltrami (12-0)
1 p.m., Class 3A: Dassel-Cokato (11-1) vs. Stewartville (12-0)
4 p.m., Class 5A: Elk River (11-1) vs. Alexandria (10-2)
Tuesday trivia returns
Last spring I started a weekly feature, ‘Tuesday Trivia.’’ here on Substack. Well, that kind of faded away during the summer.
However, the plan is for the return of ‘Tuesday Trivia’ appropriately enough on Tuesday and the topic will be Prep Bowl trivia involving Jackson County Central and Jackson High School.
Iowa playoffs
Spirit Lake will play for the Iowa Class 2A state title on Friday as the Indians face another northwest Iowa team, West Lyon. The Indians are 11-1 while the Wildcats are 12-0.
In Saturday’s semifinals, Spirit Lake scored 21 points in each of the first two quarters on its way to a 56-28 win over PCM.
Caden Lundt was 24-for-28 passing for 374 yards and four touchdowns. Dylan Stecker caught seven balls for 178 yards and three of the TDs, coming on plays of 38, 69 and 5 yards. Ethan Stecker caught four passes for 96 yards including a 62-yard touchdown.
Lundt also rushed the ball seven times for another 94 yards and a 24-yard TD.
West Lyon beat Van Meter 49-24. Van Meter had won three straight state titles, winning in Class 1A in 2021 and in Class 2A the last two years.