Week 3 Minnesota Matchups to Watch: 1-on-1 Positional Battles

As we head into Friday and Week 3 of the 2021 Minnesota high school football season we once again have a full slate of prime matchups from Class 6A down to the 9man ranks. I took a look at MNFootballHub’s weekly team rankings as well as their always updated game schedules and identified some of my favorite contests, only with a twist. Within each of these games I pinpointed a 1-on-1 positional battle between two different players - one from each squad- that will be seeing a lot of each other throughout the game, and who I believe will have a significant impact on which team comes out on top. From Bemidji down to Fairmont, check out which games and names you need to know below. Thanks for reading! Lakeville South (6A #2) vs. Eden Prairie (6A #2) The passing attempts between the two top ranked 6A schools in MN will come few and far between later today, so I believe the Eden Prairie linebackers and the Lakeville South running backs are going to be the key position groups in tonight’s heavyweight battle. That means that [player_tooltip player_id="18455" first="Bennett" last="Larson"] (5’10, 205), Noah Ekness (6’, 210), Danny Frischmon (6’2, 205) of Eden Prairie vs. [player_tooltip player_id="112043" first="Carson" last="Hansen"] (6’1, 195-2023), Payton Schulz, and Josh Jacobson (6’, 195) will be my three 1-on-1 positional battles to watch. The Eagles are coming off of a tight 37-29 victory over a feisty Farmington squad, so I think if Eden Prairie wants to come out on top they are going to have to hold off the onslaught of the T-formation rushing attack of the Cougars, and with EP’s offensive line and LS’s defensive line both mechanically sound and strong enough to not get overwhelmed, I believe it’s going to come down to the RBs and LBs making plays in space. If the perennial title contender Eagles can limit the big plays of the Lakeville South, I think they have the fortitude, athleticism, and toughness to take down the Cougars. Murray County Central (1A #2) vs. Tracy-Milroy-Balaton (1A #9) We got an exciting one down in Southwest Minnesota as two Class A brawlers go head-to-head at Tracy High School tonight. Unfortunately, MCC doesn’t have a lot of film available on Hudl and only one game of offensive stats uploaded to MNFootballHub, so it’s hard to get a complete read on their team. However, I think the big matchup tonight won’t have anything to do with TMB’s massive and athletic Golden Gopher commit [player_tooltip player_id="116188" first="Tony" last="Nelson"], and I don’t even know if these players will be seeing much of each other tonight, but I believe the RBs on either side will have a big say in who comes out on top tonight. For Murray County Central, junior RB Jaden Deacon averaged 9.4 YPC in a big win against MACCRAY while his counterpart Ayden Horner of TMB had himself a game a couple of weeks ago against Lac qui Parle Valley as he posted 12 attempts for 202 yards and 4 TDs. With these two stat monsters leading their respective teams offensively, I have a feeling that whichever RB has a better Friday night will also be on the winning side. St. Michael-Albertville (6A #3) vs. Wayzata (6A #5) Another important big school matchup goes down in Plymouth tonight as the #3 ranked Knights head south to take on of one of MN’s heavyweights in the Wayzata Trojans. Both rosters are stacked with potential college football talent, and across the the D1, D2, and D3 talent I believe an impactful 1-on-1 matchup will come between the Trojans WR [player_tooltip player_id="18442" first="Drew" last="Berkland"] and the Knights CB and recent UMD commit Jarrett Bennett. The former is a Minnesota Golden Gopher baseball commit who has started in the Wayzata secondary since he was a sophomore but has made the switch to WR for his last year playing football. He’s a phenomenal athlete who is a three-sport star at Wayzata and has put up some good film in the first two games of the season against <a href="https://www.hudl.com/video/3/11409145/613d2d05da512a068882170a">Roseville</a> and <a href="https://www.hudl.com/video/3/11409145/613e78636e81cc0534268725">Champlin Park</a>, including a sweet one-handed catch, some nifty moves in the open field, and a couple TD receptions. He lines up all over the place, but I do think it’ll come down to Bennett corralling the WR at the end of the day, and with the STMA athlete’s aggressive tackling style and comfortability in coverage he has the potential to take away the Trojans biggest weapon. It’s got the makings of a good one tonight at Wayzata High School. Annandale (3A #3) vs. Dassel-Cokato There isn’t a lot of available film or stats for either team in this 3A matchup that features the Top-3 ranked Annandale Cardinals taking on the explosive offense of Montana Grizz commit [player_tooltip player_id="22923" first="Eli" last="Gillman"] and the Dassel-Cokato Chargers. DC has put up over 40 points per game in their first two matchups, while Annadale faced a tough Week 1 Zimmerman opponent who they beat by 11 and followed it up with a 41-0 pounding of Glencoe-Silver Lake. A little bit like the Eden Prairie vs. Lakeville South analysis above, I think they key to Annandale’s potential victory is playing solid, assignment sound team defense and not giving one of Minnesota’s best playmakers in Gillman any mistakes or missed assignments to work with. The 2022 6’, 195 lber. Gillman is a chunk of muscle, with vision, contact balance, and quick feet plus the speed to burn by pursuit angles, so the Cards are really going to have their hands full tonight. Mountain Lake Area (9man #1) vs. Edgerton/Ellsworth (9man #10) A Top-10 showdown with two undefeated opponents always makes for an intriguing football game, so I wanted to give our readers a little heads up about this small school SW Minnesota contest before Friday night kicks off. Unfortunately, there isn’t much in terms of names, stats, or film to choose from here, but Mountain Lake Area is legit and is coming off another Top-10 game last week when they beat Renville County West. Edgerton/Ellsworth put up 62 points in their Week 1 win against Madelia, so if they can find a way to put up those kinds of numbers again they would have a good chance to upset the 9Man #1. Fairmont (3A #9) vs. Jordan Both teams are 2-0 heading into this Southern MN contest and both teams have balanced rosters with good football players on either side of the ball. Fairmont’s QB [player_tooltip player_id="49827" first="Zach" last="Jorgensen"] has been electric through the air and on the ground so far this season, and I heard his performance caught the eye of Gophers coach Matt Simon, who was at their game vs. Marshall to see [player_tooltip player_id="49820" first="Deylin" last="Hasert"], and earned Jorgensen a game day invite and potential PWO to the Gophs. In order to contain him in tonight’s Jordan game though, I think 2023 DB Mack Schmidt will need to make some plays, as he’ll be dealing with Jorgensen through the air and on the grass throughout their 60 minutes. Schmidt was named the team’s Week 1 Defensive Player of the Game after recording 18 tackles, so I think the junior has it in him to shut someone down defensively. Good luck tonight, fellas! Benilde-St. Margaret’s vs. Chaska Although neither team is ranked I think this game has the potential to be a competitive, close scoring affair that would be fun to watch on a beautiful Minnesota fall night. I like the idea of Red Knight’s well-built LB Ryan Sever seeing a lot of the productive Chaska Hawks RB Jack Boyle throughout the night, and both bring some noteworthy athleticism to the table at their size which makes me think they will be creating some big collisions during the Chaska run game. If Sever and BSM can stifle that rushing attack of the Hawks I think they can pull off a victory. Bemidji vs. Moorhead (5A #2) Two familiar Northern MN foes battle it out tonight as the Bemidji Lumberjacks head 2 hours, 20 minutes Southwest to see the #2 ranked 5A squad and defending "mythical" state champions Moorhead. Despite Bemidji not being ranked, they have a roster that I am a big fan of, with a ton of 2022 talent that can all easily play scholarship football at the next level, and I think WR and North Dakota State commit [player_tooltip player_id="18428" first="Jacob" last="Kelly"] versus Moorhead’s 2022 North Dakota DB commit [player_tooltip player_id="116251" first="Jamal" last="Dixon"] has the makings for a very exciting 1-on-1 positional battle that could stay busy all night long. Additionally if the Spuds tackles [player_tooltip player_id="19020" first="Elinneus" last="Davis"] (6’3, 295-2023) and #75 (don’t have a name) can handle the pass rush of Lumberjacks [player_tooltip player_id="116207" first="Nate" last="Schwinghammer"] and [player_tooltip player_id="18559" first="Jack" last="Twelvetrees"] they should be in good shape. Other Games to Watch Owatonna vs. Mankato West (5A #1) A couple of 5A big boys will go at it tonight in Southern MN as the Owatonna Huskies travel to Mankato to face the Scarlett of Mankato West. I would love to watch OHS 2023 RB [player_tooltip player_id="112072" first="Conner" last="Grems"] as he tries to shake Brown University commit and West LB [player_tooltip player_id="49868" first="Ryan" last="Haley"] tonight as he attempts to go sideline-to-sideline with the Huskies playmaker. North Woods vs. Deer River There are two legit football players for both of these teams in North Woods stat monster RB/DB [player_tooltip player_id="49841" first="TJ" last="Chiabotti"] and Deer River’s destructive lineman and UMD commit Tait Konjsjord. Mr. Kongsjord will most likely be chasing Mr. Chiabotti all around the field tonight, so I think this counts as a 1-on-1 positional battle enough to make it into this article. St. Thomas Academy (5A #6) vs. Cretin-Derham Hall The two East Metro, Catholic, private schools in and around St. Paul haven’t squared off since 2004 but reignite their rivalry tonight in CDH’s first season playing 5A football. In an interesting note I just found out while looking at MNFootballHub for this game is that former Cretin-Derham Hall RB [player_tooltip player_id="105372" first="Savion" last="Lopez"], who was profiled by Tom Lemming as a freshman, transferred to St. Thomas Academy this offseason and is the Cadets leading rusher so far this season. Despite that, I think a 1-on-1 matchup worth mentioning is STA’s [player_tooltip player_id="116271" first="Leo" last="Bluhm"], who plays both DL and OL for the Cadets, vs. massive CDH lineman [player_tooltip player_id="116284" first="James" last="Morrison"]. Those are two big boys that could be going at it in the trenches, and I also like to imagine that STA’s leading tackler in Jackson Cercioglu will be instrumental in containing the best athlete in the state in Tre Holloman, who plays just about everywhere offensively for the Raiders. Welcome to 5A, Cretin!