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Photo by Jake McNeill Minneota’s Brody Larson, 12, throws a pass to Lucas Rybinski during the first half of the Section 5A Championship game against BOLD at Mattke Field in Marshall on Nov. 1. Minneota takes on Parkers Prairie in the Class A semifinals today. at US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.

MINNEAPOLIS – For the fourth year in a row, the Minneota Vikings are headed to the state semifinals. While the Vikings have advanced to the state finals in each of the last three, they still have work to do to do the same this year when they take on Parkers Prairie today at US Bank Stadium.

“It should be a little bit easier just from the standpoint that we’ve been here before,” Minneota head coach Chad Johnston said. “Most of them won’t be shocked. Sometimes you take that field for the first time, it’s pretty amazing to be there. Sometimes it’s a distraction. But I think the fact that we’ve been here before, should allow our kids to be nice and calm to start the game.”

As no. 1 seed is the pressure and expectations on Minneota. The Vikings are a perfect 11-0 on the season and have now won 31 straight games dating back to 2022. After being in each of the last three state championship games and four of the last six, many people will automatically pencil in any Minnesota -game as a Viking win at this point.

“It’s definitely a challenge because you hear people talk like that. You even hear some of our fans, they talk very confidently about us and I’m sure our kids probably hear that at times,” Johnston said. “But we’ve had a few games now, the last few games, where we didn’t really start very fast and maybe were a little slow in the first half. I think it’s been a bit of an eye opener for the kids that there’s a reason you play the games, nothing is guaranteed. You have to show up and you have to be ready to play, and I think this group is motivated to be back in the championship game.”

Minneota was held to 7 points in the first half in the sectional championship against BOLD and 13 in the state quarterfinals against Lester Prairie. Still, the Vikings overcame a 21-7 halftime deficit to beat BOLD 34-28 to claim their fifth straight sectional championship, and ran away with the game in the second half against Lester Prairie to claim a 41-0 victory over the fourth-seeded . Bulldogs.

“It’s just a matter of recognizing what someone is going to do defensively,” Johnston said of his team’s slow start. “You record the season tape and everything and get an idea of ​​what the foundation of their defense is, but sometimes teams will turn around and throw some kind of wrinkle at you… sometimes it takes us a little while to just recognize what they” do. The last few games we talked about being slow. We were marching down the field and doing good things, then all of a sudden we weren’t getting on people or recognizing some adjustments that teams were making, so hopefully we recognize what they’re going to do defensively right away. “

Johnston added that his players have picked up their assignments correctly and covered well, but he feels they just need to be more physical.

Minneota has now been to the state tournament 17 times, eight of which have come since 2009. Six of the team’s nine state titles have also come in the same span.

Under the new format, where teams are seeded 1 through 4 in the North and 1 through 4 in the South, Minneota takes on 4 seed from the North, Parkers Prairie.

The Panthers had their struggles throughout the season, riding a three-game skid in September before closing out the regular season at 5-3 with a dominating 57-0 win over Pine River-Backus. Despite the lopsided win, the skid shook people’s faith in Prairie, especially with a 46-8 loss to Pillager in the mix, sending them down to the third seed in the sectional tournament.

Still, Parker’s Prairie dominated Ashby/Brandon-Evansville 62-6 in the section quarterfinals and avenged a regular-season loss to Breckenridge with a 22-12 victory in the Section 6A semifinals. They finished the run with a dominating 42-12 victory over West Central at the Fargodome. The win gave the Panthers their second straight state tournament and third in program history.

Despite the strong finish, Parkers Prairie still hadn’t proven itself yet, earning the No. 4 seed in the north side of the state tournament. Still, they delivered when it mattered, dominating undefeated top-seeded Upsala/Swanville 33-0 in the state quarterfinals to set up the matchup with Minnesota.

Ryan Meagher has been the mainstay of Minneota’s offensive game plan for the past few years. After averaging 68 yards per carry game on the ground as a change of pace behind Zack Fier as a sophomore, Meagher rushed for 158 yards per carry. game with 40 rushing touchdowns his junior season, and has averaged 140 yards per carry. game with 32 rushing touchdowns through 11 games this season.

While there aren’t many teams in the state that can run the ball like the Vikings, Parkers Prairie has done its best behind the play of Mason Boesl so far this year. The 5-foot-10 senior has averaged 157 yards per carry. game so far this year and has totaled 1,882 yards on the ground with 28 touchdowns. He has also hit 14 2-point conversions on the ground for the Panthers.

“We’ve seen some very good backs recently and feel like we’ve seen one of the better ones in BOLD’s (Hudson) Vosika, but the Boesl kid is a good kid and he runs well,” Johnston said. “I think more what Parkers Prairie does well is more deception. They’re a lot like us where they’re going to get a lot of deception and things like that, so we have to be aware of where he is at all times. But more importantly, we approach this game like option football. Everyone has a responsibility, you have to take your responsibility. You have to trust your team to do theirs.”

Johnston added that avoiding giving up big plays will be a key focus for the team as they try to prevent Boesl from getting outside and breaking off big chunks.

As a team, Minneota has limited its opponents to just 38 rushing yards per game and four rushing touchdowns on the year. Kyson Arndt, Parker Bradley and Eli Gruenes have led the team with six, five and four sacks, respectively, while Kellen Bradley also leads the team with 69 tackles. Kellen Bradley’s eight tackles for loss also trail only Gruenes’ nine and Parker Bradley’s 11.

While running the ball in the Vikings’ defensive front is difficult, the Panthers don’t have much experience moving the ball through the air. They have averaged 42.5 passing yards per game. game with seven touchdowns and five interceptions. In contrast, Minneota’s offense has run the ball on 72% of its plays this year, but still averaged 112 passing yards per carry. game with 20 touchdowns and five interceptions.

While the Vikings have dealt with some injuries recently, Johnston said he felt his team is generally as healthy as it can be this late in the season.

“You’ve got some ankle problems, you’ve got some sore bodies, that kind of thing, but that’s typical when you get to this time of year. It’s just a long season with hard strains on children’s bodies,” Johnston said, adding that he feels fortunate to be able to play the team’s depth often during the season to try to keep the kids healthy.

Kickoff today at US Bank Stadium is set for 11:30 am. The winner of the Vikings-Panthers game will go on to take on the winner of the matchup at 9 between no. 3S Springfield and no. 2N Mahnomen/Waubun. Minneota and Springfield have met in each of the last two state championship games.