High School Football Focus: 6 area teams one win away from The Bank
The Section 1 football championship games offered little drama. The defending state champion needed a fourth-quarter field goal to beat Caledonia.
Mayo (9-1) and Mankato West (10-0) are playing in the state football championship game on Saturday. Stewartville (0-10) is playing Hutchinson ( 9-2) in Class AAAA. Cannon Falls ( 10- 1) plays Watertown-Mayer (1-11) on Thursday. Chatfield (11- 0) will play Blue Earth Area (8-3) today. Fillmore Central ( 11-00) takes on Lester Prairie (12-
Carter Holcomb, Owen Sikkink, Jacob Erickson and Dillon O'Connor are the top performers from the Section finals. They are from Mayo, Stewartville, Fillmore Central, Chatfield and Spring Grove. They have three more games left in their season. The Gophers are headed to state. Their kicker, Erickson, had an ACL injury in the first game of the 2021 season, but he made a field goal in a game against Caledonia. He is a senior. His team won the game. It was the team's first trip to the state finals since 2015.
Chatfield won the Section 1AA championship game 10-8 against Caledonia. Caledsonia coach Carl Fruechte feels it was the state championship. Chatfield will not take the rest of the area for granted.
Tigers are the No. 1 team in the QRF Rankings. They play their first state tournament game in seven years against Hutchinson. Stewartville averages 51.0 points per game and allows 5.5. Hutch scores 45.6 points and gives up 12.3.
Cannon Falls has won six of their last six games since their one loss. They have averaged 58 points per game since that loss and 56.7 points in three Section 1AAA playoff games.
Mayo held leads of 14-0 and 21-14 at the first two quarter stops in its regular-season game against Mankato West back on Sept. 30. The Spartans know they can play toe-to-toe with their Big Southeast District rival when they meet on Saturday night in the Class AAAAA state quarterfinals.
Fillmore Central's offense has been unstoppable this season. The Falcons' defense has also been very good. They allow just 10.3 points per game and have surrendered eight or fewer points in half of their games. On Friday, they face Lester Prairie, one of the few teams in Class A that allows fewer than 4 points a game.
Spring Grove is back in the state tournament for the first time since 2018. The Lions won their second consecutive state championship last season.
Caledonia lost to state powerhouse Chatfield in the section title game. The Warriors are 8th in Class AA. They lost only two games this season.
After a season-opening loss to Byron, K-M won seven of its next eight games. The KoMets' other two losses came against Stewartville.
Lanesboro made it into the top-10 state poll this season. The Burros lost just twice all season, both times to unbeaten Spring Grove.
Plainview-Elgin-Millville is 7-4 and one win away from The Bank.
Cannon Falls won the Section 1AAA title game 50-6. P-E-M won three of their final four games. They knocked off Lourdes in the section semifinals.
