2025 Minnesota High School Football Thread

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Some notes from this weekend from smaller schools:

Section 2A: A rarity! 3 vs 4 seeds make it the section Championship game Lester Prairie vs GFW

Section 1AA: Again 3 vs 4 Championship game. Chatfield and Triton go down in the semis.

Section 4AA: 6 seed Randolph makes it to the Championship game to face Goodhue

Section 6AA: #1 Pillager went down to Osakis. A lot of talk about Pillager being in AA and some thought maybe they were the best team in AA but didn't even get out of the semis so maybe the whole discussion was stupid to begin with.

Section 8AA: You don't normally call Hawley vs Barnesville a surprise but the is a 2 vs 5. Not really surprised that the two historically strongest programs in the section ended up playing to go to state.

Section 8AAA: Not a strong section this year and there is basically DGF then the next 5 teams are pretty evenly matched but 6 seed TRF makes it to the Championship to play DGF.
 


MaxyJR1 said:
In the end typically, the best teams in a section win.
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Yeah, with small schools particularly seeding is hard. A lot of the teams don't play each other during the season and don't have many common opponents in some cases. And some of the teams play up or down classes a lot more than others...ect.

Unless they've played each other before many times you really don't know how it will go.
 

With the relief teams out of the way there should be some interesting matchups in 6A on Friday.

STMA vs. Rosemount - no common opponents but expecting a battle from STMA as they have played some good teams.

Prior Lake vs. Minnetonka - Won't be surprised if Prior Lake gives Minnetonka a battle.

Shakopee vs. Centennial - Haven't seen Centennial play since week one but guessing Shakopee can give them a game.

Assume there will be some other really good matchups as well but will rely on those who have a better take on the entire class to provide their insights as my focus has been pretty narrow to the South Metro teams.
 

mcrow47 said:
Well turns out Hutch vs Marshall went mostly the same way as the first game. However, I feel like Hutch played better. Really should have been 7-7 going into the half. Marshall punted and Hutch kid was not paying attention and ball bounced off his back giving Marshal the ball on like the 10. Then just before the half Hutch had 1st and goal and kid fumbles the ball just before he was going to walk into the endzone. Two gut punches they just couldn't recover from and Marshall dominated in the second half.

If I had to pick right now, Marshall wins the AAAA Prep Bowl this year, I just don't think there is a team better than them this year.
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I think Byron is better than them if healthy, but I don’t think Byron is healthy. I would also pick Marshall.
Not sure Byron gets out of section final
 


MNVCGUY said:
With the relief teams out of the way there should be some interesting matchups in 6A on Friday.

STMA vs. Rosemount - no common opponents but expecting a battle from STMA as they have played some good teams.

Prior Lake vs. Minnetonka - Won't be surprised if Prior Lake gives Minnetonka a battle.

Shakopee vs. Centennial - Haven't seen Centennial play since week one but guessing Shakopee can give them a game.

Assume there will be some other really good matchups as well but will rely on those who have a better take on the entire class to provide their insights as my focus has been pretty narrow to the South Metro teams.
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Anyone from the east and north is at risk.
The top of the south and west is just better this year, IMO (as evidenced by Eagan almost beating Woodbury).

I’ll go:
Rosemount > STMA but close
Prior lake > Minnetonka but close (least confident in this pick)
Edina > forest lake (probably the biggest upset)
Eden prairie > Champlin park
Centennial > shakopee (shakopee still pretty banged up…I’d pick healthy shakopee)
Moorhead > Woodbury (the biggest upset by seed but not sure it would be an upset)
Maple grove > east ridge
South > mounds view

My predicted quarterfinals
Edina vs Eden Prairie @ Osseo
Rosemount vs Prior Lake @ Farmington

South vs Maple Grove @ Eastview
Moorhead vs Centennial @ Spring Lake Park
 


Some guy said:
I think Byron is better than them if healthy, but I don’t think Byron is healthy. I would also pick Marshall.
Not sure Byron gets out of section final
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Hard to say for sure. Not really much crossover between 1AAAA and 2AAAA. Byron and Rocori both played TG amd Rocori dominated TG fairly easily and Byron barely got by TG. Marshall dominated Rocori the first time, we will see about this time.

IMO, 2AAAA is stronger than 1AAAA. Byron, Stewartville, and K-M are a good top three but I think Rocori might be as good as any of them and Marshall is better than Rocori. Heck, Hutch might be as good as Stewartville or K-M.
 

mcrow47 said:
Hard to say for sure. Not really much crossover between 1AAAA and 2AAAA. Byron and Rocori both played TG amd Rocori dominated TG fairly easily and Byron barely got by TG. Marshall dominated Rocori the first time, we will see about this time.

IMO, 2AAAA is stronger than 1AAAA. Byron, Stewartville, and K-M are a good top three but I think Rocori might be as good as any of them and Marshall is better than Rocori. Heck, Hutch might be as good as Stewartville or K-M.
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Byron played TG week 8 when they were banged up. Hence why I think Marshall is better right now

So I guess we are in agreement
 



mcrow47 said:
Some notes from this weekend from smaller schools:

Section 2A: A rarity! 3 vs 4 seeds make it the section Championship game Lester Prairie vs GFW

Section 1AA: Again 3 vs 4 Championship game. Chatfield and Triton go down in the semis.

Section 4AA: 6 seed Randolph makes it to the Championship game to face Goodhue

Section 6AA: #1 Pillager went down to Osakis. A lot of talk about Pillager being in AA and some thought maybe they were the best team in AA but didn't even get out of the semis so maybe the whole discussion was stupid to begin with.

Section 8AA: You don't normally call Hawley vs Barnesville a surprise but the is a 2 vs 5. Not really surprised that the two historically strongest programs in the section ended up playing to go to state.

Section 8AAA: Not a strong section this year and there is basically DGF then the next 5 teams are pretty evenly matched but 6 seed TRF makes it to the Championship to play DGF.
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As far as the Pillager comment goes ill say this. I have seen them play a few times in the past 4 seasons. Kids usually take on a form of their head coach and that team is no exception... They on kickoffs pump their helmets and yell KILL - KILL - KILL , now who really cares but in todays atmosphere I am surprised a reffing crew allows something like that. Last year I watched there game on hudl fan against Osakis in the championship round. They had a couple calls go against them and the HC and some of the kids went ballistic. HC was calling time outs towards the end of the game and walking to Osakis sideline to I assume scream at the opposite side line judge, not address his team, but to use the time out to walk 53.3 yards and scream at someone. After the loss several kids we smashing helmets on the ground and refused to shake hands and hand to be restrained by coaches. In all my years of watching high school sports I have never seen anything like it.

I have no idea how this past weekends game went down but another loss to Osakis almost seems like karma for the way that staff handles themselves.
 

Ranger692 said:
As far as the Pillager comment goes ill say this. I have seen them play a few times in the past 4 seasons. Kids usually take on a form of their head coach and that team is no exception... They on kickoffs pump their helmets and yell KILL - KILL - KILL , now who really cares but in todays atmosphere I am surprised a reffing crew allows something like that. Last year I watched there game on hudl fan against Osakis in the championship round. They had a couple calls go against them and the HC and some of the kids went ballistic. HC was calling time outs towards the end of the game and walking to Osakis sideline to I assume scream at the opposite side line judge, not address his team, but to use the time out to walk 53.3 yards and scream at someone. After the loss several kids we smashing helmets on the ground and refused to shake hands and hand to be restrained by coaches. In all my years of watching high school sports I have never seen anything like it.

I have no idea how this past weekends game went down but another loss to Osakis almost seems like karma for the way that staff handles themselves.
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I'm admittedly old, and grew up playing for "old school" type coaches and maybe I'm getting soft in my old age but this seems a bit over the top to me. I'm actually quite surprised that school administration or someone (officials like you mentioned) haven't stepped in and put a stop to this.
 

Ranger692 said:
As far as the Pillager comment goes ill say this. I have seen them play a few times in the past 4 seasons. Kids usually take on a form of their head coach and that team is no exception... They on kickoffs pump their helmets and yell KILL - KILL - KILL , now who really cares but in todays atmosphere I am surprised a reffing crew allows something like that. Last year I watched there game on hudl fan against Osakis in the championship round. They had a couple calls go against them and the HC and some of the kids went ballistic. HC was calling time outs towards the end of the game and walking to Osakis sideline to I assume scream at the opposite side line judge, not address his team, but to use the time out to walk 53.3 yards and scream at someone. After the loss several kids we smashing helmets on the ground and refused to shake hands and hand to be restrained by coaches. In all my years of watching high school sports I have never seen anything like it.

I have no idea how this past weekends game went down but another loss to Osakis almost seems like karma for the way that staff handles themselves.
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No idea about any of that or exactly what happened in this weekend's game other than the score but could be karma for sure if all of that is true.
 

Random Guy 12 said:
I'm admittedly old, and grew up playing for "old school" type coaches and maybe I'm getting soft in my old age but this seems a bit over the top to me. I'm actually quite surprised that school administration or someone (officials like you mentioned) haven't stepped in and put a stop to this.
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Back in my day nobody would bat an eye at this but these days everyone is offended about everything so I'm surprised it hasn't been squashed by the refs.

In the old days chanting something like that probably just made the other team want to stick it too you more. 🤷‍♂️
 



Go to 6 team sectional playoffs.

1 & 2 get byes

For the 9th game for teams that would have been 7th & 8th seeds - there would be final games 4 7th v 7th games and 4 8th v 8th games.

That means 16 teams in each class (A-AAAAA) would have a competitive final game instead of being blown out (a lot)-0.
 

mcrow47 said:
Back in my day nobody would bat an eye at this but these days everyone is offended about everything so I'm surprised it hasn't been squashed by the refs.

In the old days chanting something like that probably just made the other team want to stick it too you more. 🤷‍♂️
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I mostly just remember slapping our thigh pads and and yelling "AHHHHHH". Don't really see anybody doing that anymore either
 

mcrow47 said:
No idea about any of that or exactly what happened in this weekend's game other than the score but could be karma for sure if all of that is true.
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Exactly like i said its minor, but I was really meaning to say that I dont think some teams and coaches do well well and others don't under adversity. And that was what I saw last year against osakis. Pillager had some high level recruits, but osakis has experience in big games in section 6 and continues to come out on top more than not in those games. I dont think that anyone is touching Holdingford at least for a week or 2, but that's tlnot what the post was about. The adversity thing and playing in the biggest game of your life sometimes just shrinks some teams and individuals, sometimes the real personalities show up
 

Random Guy 12 said:
I mostly just remember slapping our thigh pads and and yelling "AHHHHHH". Don't really see anybody doing that anymore either
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Yeah, I remember our High School wrestling team used to play "entrance" music , turn the lights out except the one directly over the mat and the whole team would run out and circle the the mat a few times (Including the other team) before we lined up for intros.

So maybe they might play Enter Sandman, House of Pain "Jump Around" , "Walk" by Pantera or something like that. That would probably be considered overly aggressive these days. 😂
 

Of the 32 teams left in 9-man and A, three are #3 seeds, one is a #4 seed and the rest are all #1 and #2. Add a 9th regular season game and just take the top 4 teams in each section.
 

GophersInIowa said:
Of the 32 teams left in 9-man and A, three are #3 seeds, one is a #4 seed and the rest are all #1 and #2. Add a 9th regular season game and just take the top 4 teams in each section.
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I kinda of like the idea of teams needing to earn a playoff spot. I think for some programs it can be a goal to make the playoffs if they traditionally are a bottom of the section team. So it would give those types of programs a step to build towards too.
 

Ope3 said:
The good guys won.

Raiders gave up a TD, scored a TD, recovered an onside kick, scored another TD, hung as the Huskies missed a 40 yd FG at the gun.

Advance to play Mayo.

www.southernminn.com

Last minute heroics lead Northfield to playoff victory over Owatonna

Down 23-13 with less than 2:00 left in regulation play, the No. 2 seeded Northfield High School football team (6-3) put together a heroic 13 point rally to claim a
www.southernminn.com www.southernminn.com
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For those keeping track the Northfield at Rochester Mayo Sec 1-AAAAA Championship is actually going to be played on SATURDAY, Nov 1 at 7 PM.

This section seems to like avoiding Playoff games on Halloween when Oct 31 falls on Friday throughout the years.
 

Ski U Mah Gopher said:
Go to 6 team sectional playoffs.

1 & 2 get byes

For the 9th game for teams that would have been 7th & 8th seeds - there would be final games 4 7th v 7th games and 4 8th v 8th games.

That means 16 teams in each class (A-AAAAA) would have a competitive final game instead of being blown out (a lot)-0.
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agree

Make all classes 48 so this model works for all levels
1a would end up having like 52 and would have to make some slight modifications.

Leave 9 man as is.
 

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