on the Prep Bowl -
for the smaller classes (the ones I tend to follow the most)
9pl: Hills-Beaver Creek and Fertile-Beltrami -- both teams dominated their regular seasons. HBC (#4 ranked in state) avg 40.6 pts/gm on offense and allowed 8.8 pts on defense. closest regular-season game was a 12 pt win over a decent Mt Lake team. won their semi 26-20 over Mt Iron-Buhl (#2 ranked in state). HBC has won 1 State Title.
Fertile-Beltrami (#3 ranked in state) avg 54.6 pts on offense and 13.4 pts on defense. no close gms in regular season. won semi 60-33 over LeRoy-Ostrander (#5 ranked in state).
they do have a common opponent - Border West. HBC beat Border West 34-14. F-B beat Border West 60-32.
I make this a pick-em game.
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1A: Minneota vs Springfield. #1 vs #2-ranked teams in state. Minneota avg 56.3 pts and allowed 6.8 pts. closest game in Sect Finals over (#6 in state) BOLD 34-28. won semi-final over Parkers Prairie 45-0. Minneota has won 9 State Championships and been Runner-Up twice.
Springfield avg 34.2 pts and allowed 9.1 pts. close games - beat Murray County Central by 10 pts in regular season and again beat MCC by 10 pts in Section Finals. beat #4 in state Goodhue by 6 pts in State Quarters, and beat #3 in state Mahomen-Waubun by 14 pts in State Semis. Springfield has won 1 State title. finished 2nd to Minneota the last two seasons.
common opponent - Russel-Tyler-Ruthton. MInneota beat RTR 54-21. Springfield beat RTR 32-7.
have to go with Minneota. IMHO Minneota has advantage across both OL and DL. Springfield has some big-play potential if they have time to set up deep passes.
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2A: Jackson County Central vs Staples-Motley. JCC ranked #3 in State, Staples-Motley #10.
JCC avg 47.9 pts and allow 8.0 pts. no close games in regular season. won Semis over Kimball Area (#5 in state) 34-26. won Quarters over Norwood-Young America (#4 in State) 34-7. JCC has 1 State Title and 3 Runner-up finishes.
**JCC playing without two injured starters - Roman Voss at QB & S, and Ben Gallagher at WR & CB. some services have Voss as #1 recruit in MN for his class. current QB is a senior who didn't play FB before this season......
Staples-Motley. S-M avg 37.8 pts and allow 14.2 pts. closest regular-season game 24-14 over Parkers Prairie. beat Osakis 36-30 in Section Final. beat Barnesville (#1 ranked in State) 46-44 in State Quarters. won Semis 36-24 over Chatfield (#2 ranked in State). Staples-Motley No State Titles, 1 Runner-up finish. before this season, last appeared in State Tournament in 2004.
this is a tough call. if JCC was healthy, I think they win fairly handily. But without Voss, it's a different story. Staples-Motley has knocked off the #1 and #2-ranked teams in the State in last two weeks and has played more close games. That might give them the edge.