2024 MN High School Football thread

Wayzata over Eden Prairie
Forest Lake over Stillwater

Is Coon Rapids the worst team in 6A now? Hopkins is leading Park Cottage Grove hoping to win their third in a row.

Edit - and Hopkins wins 57-50 in a game in which apparently no defense was played whatsoever.
Burnsville is the worst team in 6a

Second worst is:
Coon rapids, white bear lake, Eastview, or park cottage grove
 


Burnsville is the worst team in 6a

Second worst is:
Coon rapids, white bear lake, Eastview, or park cottage grove
White Bear is better than their record. They tend to beat themselves and or out coached week in and out. I wouldn’t want to play them as a 1 seed
 

and the scoreboard says:

9-person: #1 Nevis (4-0) at Cromwell-Wright (4-0)--Nevis 48, Cromwell-Wright 8
-- Littlefork-Big Falls (3-1) at #5 Cherry (4-0)--Cherry 41, Littlefork-Big Falls 0
--Kelliher-Northome (3-1) at #2 Mountain Iron-Buhl (4-0)-- Mt Iron-Buhl 87, Northome-Kelliher 0

1A: #9 BOLD (3-1) at #6 Dawson-Boyd (4-0)-- BOLD 58, Dawson-Boyd 26
--#3 Mahnomen-Waubun(4-0) at Red Lake County(4-0)--Mahnomen-Waubun 13, Red Lake Cty 12
-- #10 Lester Prairie (4-0) at #8 in 2A Norwood-Young America (4-0)--
Norwood-Young America 48, Lester Prairie 7
--#8 Upsala-Swanville (4-0) at #5 Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa (4-0)--
Upsala-Swanville 28, Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa 8

2A: #4 Jackson County Central (4-0) at Redwood Valley (3-1)-- JCC 46, Redwood Valley 7
--#6 Triton (4-0) at #3 Chatfield (4-0) --Chatfield 33, Triton 6

3A: #1 Stewartville (4-0) at Lake City (3-1)-- Stewartville 57, Lake City 7
--#3 Fairmont (4-0) at New Ulm (4A) (3-1)--Fairmont 47, New Ulm 6
-- Litchfield (3-1) at #2 Dassel-Cokato (4-0)-- Dassel-Cokato 28, Litchfield 14
-- #6 Holy Family Catholic (4-0) at #7 in 4A Byron (3-1)--Byron 41, Holy Family Catholic 24
-- #9 Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta (4-0) at Detroit Lakes (4A) (3-1)-- Morris Area/C-A 28, Detroit Lakes 10

4A: #4 Duluth Denfeld (4-0) at North Branch (3-1)-- North Branch 47, Duluth Denfeld 12
-- #9 Mound Westonka (3-1) at #3 Orono (4-0)-- Orono 40, Mound Westonka 8
-- #2 Totino-Grace (4-0) at Holy Angels (3-1)-- Totino Grace 28, Holy Angels 12
-- #1 Becker 49, #8 Hutchinson 6 (Becker improves to 5-0, Hutch drops to 2-3)
How is Mt Iron-Buhl's enrollment so low? The two towns have a combined population of nearly 4,000 yet they're playing 9-man.
 
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White Bear is better than their record. They tend to beat themselves and or out coached week in and out. I wouldn’t want to play them as a 1 seed
White bear lake won’t be worse than a 6 seed even if they’re 0-8

Relief teams agree to be 7-8 by taking that schedule.


Roseville vs white bear lake will be interesting. No relief team has beaten a non-relief team in 2 seasons
 


White bear lake won’t be worse than a 6 seed even if they’re 0-8

Relief teams agree to be 7-8 by taking that schedule.


Roseville vs white bear lake will be interesting. No relief team has beaten a non-relief team in 2 seasons
Who were the relief teams this year? I'm assuming Coon Rapids, Burnsville, Hopkins, Park-CG, Buffalo, Roseville? Do we know if they'll still be doing this when they realign next season?
 

Who were the relief teams this year? I'm assuming Coon Rapids, Burnsville, Hopkins, Park-CG, Buffalo?
Same as last year: two year agreement


So nobody in the north

Buffalo and Hopkins west
Roseville and park in East
Burnsville and Eastview in south

Was surprised osseo and coon rapids didn’t take it last year…But they were competitive last year so maybe a good choice. They are not competitive this year.
Would be a better system if it was a one year deal. But that would mean building new schedules every year.

So seeding for playoffs

West 7 is Buffalo
West 8 is hopkins

South 7 is Eastview
South 8 is Burnsville

East 7 is Roseville
East 8 is park
 
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White bear lake won’t be worse than a 6 seed even if they’re 0-8

Relief teams agree to be 7-8 by taking that schedule.


Roseville vs white bear lake will be interesting. No relief team has beaten a non-relief team in 2 seasons
You’re correct. Let me rephrase that, first round game
 




6A seeding starting to come into focus with 3 games left. I believe the teams that get relief can't be higher than a 7/8 seed. Someone can check my work on that. Not sure how cross over games are considered in seeding.

3A Pretty clear at this point
Lakeville North
Eagan
Lakeville South
Farmington
Rochester Mayo
Rosemount
Eastview
Burnsville

4A
Stillwater, Mounds View, and Forest Lake all are 3-1 in section with losses to each other
East Ridge
Woodbury
White Bear
Roseville
Park

5A
Maple Grove
Centennial, Blaine, Anoka, STMA, Champlin (Anoka at Centennial and Blaine at Champlin this week STMA has Maple Grove yet and Champlin plays Blaine and Centennial)
Osseo
Coon Rapids

6A
Minnetonka
Shakopee, Edina play this week
Wayzata
Eden Prairie
Prior Lake
Buffalo
Hopkins
 

6A seeding starting to come into focus with 3 games left. I believe the teams that get relief can't be higher than a 7/8 seed. Someone can check my work on that. Not sure how cross over games are considered in seeding.

3A Pretty clear at this point
Lakeville North
Eagan
Lakeville South
Farmington
Rochester Mayo
Rosemount
Eastview
Burnsville

4A
Stillwater, Mounds View, and Forest Lake all are 3-1 in section with losses to each other
East Ridge
Woodbury
White Bear
Roseville
Park

5A
Maple Grove
Centennial, Blaine, Anoka, STMA, Champlin (Anoka at Centennial and Blaine at Champlin this week STMA has Maple Grove yet and Champlin plays Blaine and Centennial)
Osseo
Coon Rapids

6A
Minnetonka
Shakopee, Edina play this week
Wayzata
Eden Prairie
Prior Lake
Buffalo
Hopkins
Do the sections have a bit of leeway in how the playoff structure works out? I was just reading that a local 2A section will have first round byes for #1 and #2. #7 and #8 are not in the tourney but will play a non-counter at a place and time TBD.
 

Do the sections have a bit of leeway in how the playoff structure works out? I was just reading that a local 2A section will have first round byes for #1 and #2. #7 and #8 are not in the tourney but will play a non-counter at a place and time TBD.
I thought all the teams made the playoffs.
 

Do the sections have a bit of leeway in how the playoff structure works out? I was just reading that a local 2A section will have first round byes for #1 and #2. #7 and #8 are not in the tourney but will play a non-counter at a place and time TBD.
I'd be surprised if that is true. If 1 and 2 get a bye it's because there are only 6 teams in the section. There are not a lot of 8 team sections anymore. Class AA has 3 6 team sections and a 5 team section.
 



I'd be surprised if that is true. If 1 and 2 get a bye it's because there are only 6 teams in the section. There are not a lot of 8 team sections anymore. Class AA has 3 6 team sections and a 5 team section.
Here's the bracket showing what I described.


And here's the list of schools (8). So #7 and #8 are not participating in the tourney.

1727736558928.png
 

Do the sections have a bit of leeway in how the playoff structure works out? I was just reading that a local 2A section will have first round byes for #1 and #2. #7 and #8 are not in the tourney but will play a non-counter at a place and time TBD.
Some sections are starting to do this. They are leaving it up to each individual section.
 

6A seeding starting to come into focus with 3 games left. I believe the teams that get relief can't be higher than a 7/8 seed. Someone can check my work on that. Not sure how cross over games are considered in seeding.

3A Pretty clear at this point
Lakeville North

Eagan
Lakeville South
Farmington
Farmington plays Eagan this week and rosemount plays south. Possibilities of these three getting shuffled
Rochester Mayo
Rosemount
Eastview
Burnsville

4A
Stillwater, Mounds View, and Forest Lake all are 3-1 in section with losses to each other
East Ridge
East ridge back in the mix of top 3 if they beat Mv this week
Woodbury
White Bear
Roseville
Park

5A
Maple Grove
Centennial, Blaine, Anoka, STMA, Champlin (Anoka at Centennial and Blaine at Champlin this week STMA has Maple Grove yet and Champlin plays Blaine and Centennial)
Osseo
Coon Rapids
Big mess 3-6
6A
Minnetonka
Shakopee, Edina play this week
Wayzata
Eden Prairie
Prior Lake
Buffalo
Hopkins
Cleanest section



You’re correct about relief being 7-8
Crossover count for something but obviously intra section games count for more. Its all coaches vote so it might count for something different in different sections
 
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Yup - Swede is 100% correct on Section 3AA. Top 6 teams make the playoffs. the 7th and 8th teams will play a game against each other - presumably on the same night as the 1st round games.

Now - I do not "know" this - but I am strongly speculating about the reason: avoiding that #8 seed vs #1 seed game that turns into a non-competitive blowout. and/or avoiding situations (which have happened in recent years) where the #8 seed forfeits its first-round game against #1.

in 3AA, you have JCC and Pipestone at 5-0 and they are in a different level than every other team. if you had a full playoff, the #7 and #8 seeds would get thumped in a running-time game. with this new format, the #7 and #8 teams will be able to play a (hopefully) competitive game against each other.
 

Yup - Swede is 100% correct on Section 3AA. Top 6 teams make the playoffs. the 7th and 8th teams will play a game against each other - presumably on the same night as the 1st round games.

Now - I do not "know" this - but I am strongly speculating about the reason: avoiding that #8 seed vs #1 seed game that turns into a non-competitive blowout. and/or avoiding situations (which have happened in recent years) where the #8 seed forfeits its first-round game against #1.

in 3AA, you have JCC and Pipestone at 5-0 and they are in a different level than every other team. if you had a full playoff, the #7 and #8 seeds would get thumped in a running-time game. with this new format, the #7 and #8 teams will be able to play a (hopefully) competitive game against each other.
I am an advocate of 6 team sections statewide

Top 4 to bracketed playoff for one round then crossover in round of 16

Teams 5-6 in each section get paired for 9th game.
All of a sudden 2/3rds of the state could have low levels of success to sell.
“we made the playoffs”
 



Yup - Swede is 100% correct on Section 3AA. Top 6 teams make the playoffs. the 7th and 8th teams will play a game against each other - presumably on the same night as the 1st round games.

Now - I do not "know" this - but I am strongly speculating about the reason: avoiding that #8 seed vs #1 seed game that turns into a non-competitive blowout. and/or avoiding situations (which have happened in recent years) where the #8 seed forfeits its first-round game against #1.

in 3AA, you have JCC and Pipestone at 5-0 and they are in a different level than every other team. if you had a full playoff, the #7 and #8 seeds would get thumped in a running-time game. with this new format, the #7 and #8 teams will be able to play a (hopefully) competitive game against each other.
About 3 years ago another coach and I charted the 1 vs 8 and 2 vs 7 games and found only 2 upsets over a 2-year span. This was 9-man through 5A. If I remember correctly, one upset was due to the higher seed losing several players (party) and the other was a #2 seed from a weak district against a #7 seed from a strong district. We have seen the #8 seed forfeit more than once in the southeastern corner of the state. Playing a 1 seed when you are 0-8 and have probably already been whipped by them does nothing to promote football in your school and makes it harder to get kids to go out for football the following season. Playing a final game against a similar opponent at the end of the season potentially sells hope for the future.
We petitioned the coaches association to only allow the top 4 teams to go on in each section and have crossover games with another section for the teams who did not make the playoffs. It didn't get far that year. Football numbers are dropping and the state needs to look at that, unfortunately is appears to me that revenue lost to the state by cutting the number of teams who make the playoffs is a strong reason, however, I could be wrong.
 

About 3 years ago another coach and I charted the 1 vs 8 and 2 vs 7 games and found only 2 upsets over a 2-year span. This was 9-man through 5A. If I remember correctly, one upset was due to the higher seed losing several players (party) and the other was a #2 seed from a weak district against a #7 seed from a strong district. We have seen the #8 seed forfeit more than once in the southeastern corner of the state. Playing a 1 seed when you are 0-8 and have probably already been whipped by them does nothing to promote football in your school and makes it harder to get kids to go out for football the following season. Playing a final game against a similar opponent at the end of the season potentially sells hope for the future.
We petitioned the coaches association to only allow the top 4 teams to go on in each section and have crossover games with another section for the teams who did not make the playoffs. It didn't get far that year. Football numbers are dropping and the state needs to look at that, unfortunately is appears to me that revenue lost to the state by cutting the number of teams who make the playoffs is a strong reason, however, I could be wrong.
Thanks for sharing. I thought section revenue stayed with the section but I’m sure some funnels to state office.

I like the 6 team section format. Provides 3/6 and 4/5 matchups.

Even at the 6A level the 2/7 and 1/8 games are brutal.

No team that wins 0-2 games deserves to get stomped one more time.
 

That's what I thought, maybe the rules have changed?
In 3AA at least, #7 and #8 will play a non-advancing game. That's a good result and should result in a competitive final game for those schools rather than going down by 60 to JCC or Pipestone in the second quarter.
 

Minnesota high school football state rankings (Oct 1, 2024)

First-place votes in parentheses, record, total points
Class 6A
1. Lakeville North (6), 5-0, 114
2. Maple Grove (4), 5-0, 108
3. Minnetonka (2), 5-0, 101
4. Edina, 4-1, 81
5. Shakopee, 4-1, 70
6. Eagan, 3-2, 56
7. Anoka, 3-2, 27
8. Blaine, 3-2, 17
9. (tie) Buffalo, 4-1, 16
9. (tie) Stillwater, 3-2, 16
Also receiving votes: Centennial 15, Eden Prairie 7, Wayzata 7, Farmington 6, Mounds View 6, Forest Lake 3, East Ridge 2, Lakeville South 2, St. Michael-Albertville 2.

Class 5A
1. Alexandria (9), 5-0, 117
2. Moorhead (2), 5-0, 107
3. Owatonna (1), 5-0, 94
4. Andover, 4-1, 79
5. Robbinsdale Armstrong, 5-0, 71
6. Elk River, 4-1, 66
7. Mankato East, 4-1, 44
8. Two Rivers, 5-0, 27
9. Chanhassen, 3-2, 15
10. (tie) Bemidji, 3-2, 9
10. (tie) Mankato West, 3-2, 9
Also receiving votes: Chaska 6, St. Thomas Academy 5, Minneapolis Washburn 4, Robbinsdale Cooper 3, Rochester John Marshall 3, Monticello 1

Class 4A
1. Becker (11), 5-0, 118
2. Totino-Grace (1), 5-0, 107
3. Orono, 5-0, 97
4. Providence Academy, 4-1, 82
5. Princeton, 5-0, 68
6. Byron, 4-1, 49
7. Rocori, 4-1, 43
8. North Branch, 4-1, 25
9. Kasson-Mantorville, 4-1, 24
10. Marshall, 4-1, 13
Also receiving votes: Hill-Murray 12, Duluth Denfeld 9, Holy Angels 6, Hutchinson 4, Hermantown 3, Mound-Westonka 1

Class 3A
1. Stewartville (11), 5-0, 119
2. Dassel-Cokato, 5-0, 103
3. Fairmont, 5-0, 84
4. Pequot Lakes (1), 5-0, 83
5. Albany, 5-0, 79
6. Waseca, 4-1, 52
7. Fergus Falls, 5-0, 44
8. Morris/Chokio-Alb., 5-0, 34
9. Holy Family, 4-1, 18
10. Pine Island, 4-1, 17
Also receiving votes: Luverne 13, Annandale 10, Pierz 4.

Class 2A
1. Barnesville (8), 5-0, 112
2. Eden Valley-Wat. (1), 5-0, 105
3. Chatfield (3), 5-0, 100
4. Jackson County Cent, 5-0 , 80
5. Caledonia, 4-1, 62
6. Holdingford, 5-0, 53
7. Norwood Young Am., 4-1, 48
8. Barnum, 5-0, 33
9. Cannon Falls, 4-1, 17
10. International Falls, 5-0, 16
Also receiving votes: Kimball Area 12, Triton 10, Staples-Motley 4, Pipestone Area 4, Rush City 3, St. Agnes 1

CLASS 1A
1. Minneota (12), 5-0, 120
2. Springfield, 5-0, 103
3. Mahnomen/Waubun 5-0, 92
4. Goodhue, 5-0, 89
5. Upsala/Swanville, 4-1, 64
6. BOLD, 4-1, 60
7. Belgrade-Brooten-E., 4-1, 35
8. Ada-Borup/West, 4-1, 18
9. Blooming Prairie, 4-1, 17
10. Fillmore Central, 4-1, 16
Also receiving votes: Parkers Prairie 14, Dawson-Boyd 10, Lester Prairie 8, West Central Area 6, Red Lake County 4, Adrian/Ellsworth 1, Breckenridge 1, Browerville/Eagle Valley 1, Deer River 1.

NINE-PLAYER
1. Nevis (8), 5-0, 116
2. Mtn Iron-Buhl (3), 5-0, 105
3. Fertile-Beltrami (1), 5-0, 94
4. Hills-Beaver Creek, 5-0, 78
5. Cherry, 5-0, 60
6. LeRoy-Ostrander/L.P., 5-0, 57
7. Spring Grove, 5-0, 50
8. Goodridge/Grygla, 5-0, 34
9. Fosston, 5-0, 28
10. Hancock, 5-0, 17
Also receiving votes: Kingsland 12, Stephen-Argyle 5, Mountain Lake Area 1.

 

In 3AA at least, #7 and #8 will play a non-advancing game. That's a good result and should result in a competitive final game for those schools rather than going down by 60 to JCC or Pipestone in the second quarter.
That's interesting!

Perhaps (making this up) the language of the rule only requires every school advance to the post-season, without further defining what that is?
 


Buffalo being ranked again proves how dumb these voters are

Buffalo with zero wins vs non relief schools. Only game vs a non relief was a loss to a team with a losing record by 34
I don’t see champion coming from outside the top 4 but this should be a really competitive playoff season for 6A
 

I don’t see champion coming from outside the top 4 but this should be a really competitive playoff season for 6A
So does that mean you think Lakeville North is better than Shakopee?
 

I don’t see champion coming from outside the top 4 but this should be a really competitive playoff season for 6A
I think the top 5 are clearly a little better early in the year. But teams are different at the end than the beginning.

The way the bracket is structured someone could get a draw that I only takes beating one of those top 5 to make the final and only 2 of those 5 to win the whole thing.
And lakeville north is banged up. I think shakopee has lost a key player or two also.

Pretty good chance champ comes from those 5, but this time last year literally no one was thinking about centennial.
 





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