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.