Here's what happened in Friday's Minnesota high school football playoff games

Five teams earned a spot in the Prep Bowl during Friday's playoff action.

Author:
Chris Schad
Publish date:
Nov 18, 2023 11:30 AM EST

Edina pulled off an upset of Eden Prairie as five teams earned a spot in next week's Prep Bowl during the semifinals of the Minnesota State Football Playoffs at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on Friday.

Class 6A

Edina 28, Eden Prairie 7

The Hornets jumped out to a 28-0 lead and cruised to a victory over the No. 1-ranked Eagles in a Class 6A semifinal on Friday night.

Mason West began the scoring with an 11-yard touchdown pass to Sonny Villegas with 32 seconds left in the first quarter and gave the Hornets a 14-0 lead when he found Trillion Sorrell for a 20-yard touchdown pass with 4:35 left in the second quarter.

Edina went into halftime with a 21-0 lead thanks to a three-yard touchdown run by John Warpinski with nine seconds remaining in the second quarter and West's third touchdown of the game, a 16-yard pass to Meyer Swinney with eight minutes left in the third quarter put the Hornets up 28-0.

Jeremy Fredericks had the lone score for Eden Prairie with a 13-yard touchdown run with 3:21 left in the third quarter.

The third-seeded Hornets will face top-seeded Centennial for the 6A title at 7 p.m. on Nov. 24.

Class 5A

St. Thomas Academy 42, Alexandria Area 30

The Cadets rallied from a 23-point deficit in the first quarter to defeat the Cardinals in a Class 5A semifinal on Friday afternoon.

Chase Thompson helped Alexandria get out to an early lead with a 61-yard touchdown pass to Evan Kludt and a five-yard pass to Mason Gorghuber in the first quarter.

The Cardinals added to the lead with a two-yard run by Macklen Heydt and a 29-yard field goal by Daniel Jackson in the second quarter but the Cadets took momentum into halftime with a 48-yard touchdown pass from Maximus Sims to Luke Dobbs and a five-yard touchdown run by Savion Hart to cut the lead down to 25-13.

The Cadets tied the game on a 16-yard touchdown run by Hart with 10:26 left in the third quarter and took a 30-23 lead on a 69-yard pass from Sims to Avery Buckner with 6:07 left in the third quarter.

Sims threw a 29-yard touchdown pass to Dobbs to give the Cadets a 36-23 lead with 11:52 left in the fourth quarter and Hart added a 19-yard touchdown run to break the game open with 6:12 to go. Alexandria's Talan Witt threw a 53-yard touchdown pass to Mason Witt with 1:11 remaining to conclude the scoring.

The Cadets will face Chanhassen or Andover for the Class 5A title at 4 p.m. on Nov. 25.

Class 4A

Hutchinson 56, North Branch 28

Nathan Thode scored four touchdowns to help the Tigers defeat the Vikings in a Class 4A semifinal on Friday evening.

Thode opened the scoring on a one-yard touchdown run with 10:14 in the first quarter before North Branch tied the game at 8-8 with a 32-yard touchdown pass from Jacob Robillard to Tyler Minke with 4:34 left in the first quarter.

Hutchinson regained the lead on a 64-yard touchdown pass from Logan Butler to Charlie Renner with 4:23 left in the first quarter and added to the lead on a 10-yard touchdown run by Thode to go ahead 24-8 with 7:03 in the second quarter.

Thode added another touchdown on a 10-yard run with 2:34 left in the second quarter and North Branch's Austin Anderson scored on a 17-yard touchdown run with 28 seconds left in the first half to cut the lead down to 32-14 at halftime.

The Tigers offense was too much as touchdown runs by Carter Verhasselt and Renner in the third quarter put Hutchinson up 48-14. North Branch answered with a 14-yard touchdown pass from Robillard to Minke with 48 seconds left in the third quarter but Thode scored on an 11-yard run with 6:26 left in the fourth quarter to put Hutchinson up 56-20.

Brody Beaver added a three-yard touchdown run for North Branch with 58 seconds remaining in the game.

Hutchinson will face Rocori for the Class 4A championship at 4 p.m. on Nov. 24.

Class 2A

Barnesville 38, Jackson County Central 23

The Trojans scored 32 unanswered points to overcome an early deficit and defeat the Huskies in a Class 2A semifinal on Friday morning.

JCC got on the board first on Seth Stai's three-yard touchdown run with 35 seconds left in the first quarter but Barnesville answered with 7:57 left in the second quarter with a 25-yard touchdown run by Cameron Halverson.

After the Trojans failed the two-point conversion, Barnesville went into halftime with a 15-6 lead after Stai scored his second touchdown of the game on a five-yard run with 50 seconds remaining in the first half.

But Barnesville rallied in the second half beginning with Zachary Bredman's 13-yard touchdown pass to Gannon Bolgrean with 8:16 left in the third quarter.

After Halverson picked up the two-point conversion to make it a 15-14 game, the Trojans took a 22-15 lead when Halverson scored on a 14-yard run and added a two-point conversion on a pass from Bredman to Halverson with 4:24 left in the third quarter.

Major Ness helped Barnesville pull away with a 24-yard touchdown run and an 18-yard touchdown reception from Bredman in the fourth quarter and Stai scored his third touchdown of the game on a two-yard run with 54 seconds left to cap the scoring.

Eden Valley-Watkins 42, Cannon Falls 24

Nolan Geislinger scored four total touchdowns to help the Eagles defeat the Bombers in a Class 2A semifinal on Friday afternoon.

Geislinger opened the scoring with a two-yard touchdown run with 9:25 in the first quarter before Derrik Bechtholdt answered with a 32-yard touchdown run and a two-point conversion with 3:56 left in the first quarter to put the Bombers up 8-6.

Geislinger put the Eagles back in front with a 28-yard touchdown pass to Wyatt Moehrle and a two-point conversion pass to Parker Schultz with 7:09 left in the second quarter and gave EV-W a 28-8 lead at halftime with a 66-yard touchdown run with 1:09 left in the second quarter.

Geislinger added a 55-yard touchdown pass and two-point conversion to Moehrle to make it 36-8 Eagles with 1:12 left in the third quarter. Dylan Banks cut into the lead with a three-yard touchdown run with 11:50 left in the fourth quarter but Moehrle ripped off a 51-yard touchdown run 52 seconds later to put EV-W up 42-16.

Samuel Shepersky scored on an eight-yard touchdown run with 7:16 left in the fourth quarter to cap the scoring for the Bombers.

The Eagles will face Barnesville in the Class 2A championship game at 1 p.m. on Nov. 24.