About Our Ads Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Nov. 5—Friday night, we'll know which southeastern Minnesota high school football teams are headed to the state tournament, after eight section championship games involving local teams are played.
Who: No. 5 seed Century (5-5) at No. 2 Northfield (7-2)
Where: Memorial Field, Northfield High School
What to know: Northfield beat Century by a point in their regular-season matchup, 13-12 on Oct. 14. ... Century led that matchup 12-0 after three quarters, and Panthers RB Max Elliott ran for 118 yards. ... Northfield has been to state 10 times, the most recent coming in 2010. ... Century is looking for its first trip to state . ... Century has won three consecutive games, including a 25-20 upset of No. 1-seeded and No. 6-ranked Owatonna last Saturday on the Huskies' home turf. ... Three of the Panthers' five losses are by one TD or fewer. ... Northfield averages 25.0 points per game and allows 17.0. ... Century averages 23.4 ppg and allows 19.4
Who: No. 3 seed Kasson-Mantorville (7-3) vs. No. 1 Byron (8-1)
Where: Whitney Stadium, Rochester Mayo High School
What to know: Kasson-Mantorville is in the section championship game for the eighth consecutive year and the ninth time in 10 years, counting the 2020 season, when no state tournament was held. ... The KoMets have won three of those title games (2020, '21, '25), including a 31-28 come-from-behind win against Byron last year. ... No. 4-ranked Byron is in the section final for the fourth straight year. It beat K-M in 2023 and '24 before falling last year. ... This is the sixth title-game appearance in seven years for Byron. ... K-M averages 36.5 points per game and allows 11.1. ... Byron has the fourth-best offense in the state in Class 4A (42.6 ppg) and the second-best defense (10.3 ppg allowed).
Who: No. 2 seed Zumbrota-Mazeppa (9-1) vs. No. 1 Pine Island (8-1)
What to know: Pine Island is the defending section champion and is seeking its seventh trip to the state tournament. ... Z-M is looking for its first trip to state in 30 years; it last went in 1996. Z-M has gone to state four times (1988, '93, '94, '96), while Zumbrota went once on its own (1985). ... Pine Island beat Z-M 20-10 in their regular-season matchup back in Week 3, on Sept. 17. Panthers QB Marshall Skierka hit running back Cooper Rutten for a 79-yard TD pass and Skierka ran for a 2-yard TD in the fourth quarter to ice the victory. ... That game is Z-M's only loss of the year. The Cougars are on a seven-game winning streak. ... Z-M has the second-best defense in the state in Class 3A, allowing just 7.0 points per game, with five shutouts. ... The Cougars' offense leads the section and ranks eighth in Class 3A, at 38.7 ppg. ... Pine Island averages 28.0 ppg and allows 11.3.
Who: No. 2 seed Dover-Eyota (8-2) vs. No. 1 Caledonia (9-0)
What to know: Caledonia is the top-seeded team in the section and the No. 1-ranked team in the state. ... The Warriors are the defending section champions. They beat Rochester Lourdes 19-3 in last year's title game. ... Dover-Eyota avenged one of its losses last week, beating Lourdes 27-7 in the section semifinals. D-E has a chance to avenge the other this week. ... The Eagles average 27.0 ppg and allow 7.1 per game, the second-best defensive mark in the state in Class 2A, behind only Caledonia, which allows 4.9 points per game. ... The Warriors' offense averages 42.2 ppg, which leads the section and is the third-best in the state in Class 2A. ... D-E is looking for its fourth trip to state (1992, '98, 2000). ... Caledonia has been to state 17 times, including 15 times in the past 20 years. The Warriors have won 11 state titles (1976, 2007, '08, '10, '11, '12, '15, '16, '17, '18, '19).
Who: No. 3 seed Blooming Prairie/Hayfield (7-3) vs. No. 1 Waterville-Elysian-Morristown (9-0)
Where: Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton High School
What to know: B.P./Hayfield, in its first season as a co-op, has won four straight games after a 3-3 start to the season. ... Blooming Prairie has been to state on its own nine times (winning the state title in 2019), while Hayfield has gone to state just once (1978). ... W-E-M has gone to state 11 times, including last season, and has won two state championships (1999, 2009). ... No. 5-ranked W-E-M won the regular season matchup between these teams handily, in Week 6, 34-15 at Blooming Prairie. ... B.P./Hayfield averages 28.0 points per game and allows 21.4. ... W-E-M averages 37.6 ppg and 14.3 allowed, both tops in the section.
Who: No. 2 Goodhue seed (8-2) vs. No. 1 Cannon Falls (8-1)
Where: Wally Hitt Field, at Triton High School, Dodge Center
What to know: These teams met in a back-and-forth battle in Week 6, with Cannon Falls pulling out a 36-30 win at home that ultimately gave it the top seed in the section. ... The Bombers' lone loss this season is a 34-20 defeat at Chatfield. Cannon Falls has won six consecutive games since that loss. ... Goodhue's losses came against Cannon Falls in Week 6, and at Triton in Week 1, a 21-14 defeat. ... Goodhue's two losses are by a combined 13 points. ... The Wildcats have allowed 20 total points in their past four games. ... This is a matchup of the section's best offense — Cannon Falls (40.1 ppg) — and the section's best defense — Goodhue (10.5 points allowed per game). Goodhue's offense isn't far behind Cannon Falls. Goodhue averages 39.1 ppg.
Who: No. 2 Fillmore Central (8-1) vs. No. 1 Southland (8-1)
What to know: Southland has been to state three times (1977, '83, '90), but is looking for its first trip in 36 years. ... Fillmore Central is the defending section champion and has been to state in three of the past four seasons (2022, '23, '25). ... Southland is fifth in the state in Class 1A in scoring, at 43.1 points per game. ... Fillmore Central's 10.6 points allowed per game average leads the section and is ninth in the state in Class 1A. ... Southland handed the Falcons their lone loss of the season, 22-20, on Sept. 11 at Southland. ... The Rebels' lone loss came a week earlier, a 20-8 defeat against Waterville-Elysian-Morristown, which is currently undefeated (9-0) and ranked No. 5 in the state.
Who: No. 2 Spring Grove (7-3) vs. No. 1 Lanesboro (8-2)
What to know: The top two seeds survived in this section that had an unpredictable regular season. For example, top-seeded Lanesboro's lone loss to a section opponent came in the regular-season finale, a 50-48 track-meet defeat against Kingsland, which was the fifth seed in the playoffs. ... Spring Grove has been to the state tournament five times. It has reached the Prep Bowl the past three times, and won it all in 2017 and 2018. ... Lanesboro has been to state four times, most recently in 2010, when it finished as the state runner-up, in its only Prep Bowl appearance. ... Lanesboro is no stranger to high-scoring games. It averages 39.6 points per game and allows 21.3. ... Spring Grove averages 33.2 points per game and allows 16.8.
Source: Sports
