Class 5A Section Championships Preview

Section 5A has some fun matchups as we head into the final week of the playoffs. Check them out! Owatonna(6-3) vs #6 Rochester Mayo(8-1) Mayo already has a win this season over Owatonna however that was the first game of the season and as many of you know, things can change within a season. Owatonna relies on senior RB Dylan Maas and senior WR Nick Williams as the two have combined for 9 TD over the course of the season. Mayo has 21 sacks defensively junior Eathan Kramer with 5 solo. Keep an eye out for him trying to make his way to the backfield. Senior QB [player_tooltip player_id="116270" first="Bennett" last="Ellsworth"] for Rochester has 21 TD and over 1,200 passing yards. Easy to say they like him under center. #4 Chaska(9-0) vs #1 Mankato West(9-0) This in my opinion could be one of the best games to watch out of the 5A games. Two undefeated teams go head to head in a win or go home situation. The hawks will trek down to Mankato and try and stop the scarlets and senior WR [player_tooltip player_id="18425" first="Mekhi" last="Collins"]. The NDSU commit has 525 yards with 12 TD. Ranked as the 8th best player in the state, I believe the hawks defense will pay most of their attention to him. Don’t sleep on Chaska though. Their defense is good and they have a good offense to go with it. Whether it’s in the air with Karver Miller or [player_tooltip player_id="49909" first="Colin" last="Dussault"] or on the ground with Jack Boyle. Either way, the offensive line gives QB Braden Sanders time to make choices. Hastings(7-2) vs #2 SMB(6-3) Hastings comes into this game as underdogs however with only two losses on the season. Their D has racked up 7 INT but only 1 sack. QB Axel Arnold has 17 TD but just under 1k passing yards. Lead RB <a class="" title="View Brenden Freiermuth’s Player Profile" href="https://www.mnfootballhub.com/roster_players/49122985">Brenden Freiermuth</a> has 688 yds and 9 TD averaging just under 100 YPG. Defensively for SMB, they have 25 sacks and 11 INT making them a force anywhere on the field. They mainly use the running game offensively. [player_tooltip player_id="116250" first="Sanjay" last="Redd"] has 1,254 yards and 15 TD on the year. Hastings will try and not let him add to that total too much. Tartan(3-7) vs Mahtomedi(7-2) Mahtomedi is hoping this matchup goes how it went in the regular season. The Zyphers won that game 31-0 however Tartan is on a 2 game winning streak after only winning 3 in the regular season. Tartan needs to focus on slowing down the run game as the Zyphers average over 100/game. Despite being 7-2, Mahtomedi doesn’t put up the stats you’d think. Their QB has just over 200 yds and their top RB with over 400 yds. This game should be closer than the regular season matchup. Armstrong(6-3) vs #10 Cooper(7-2) These two teams meet yet again this season. Armstrong lost their last 2 regular season games before beating SLP in round 1. Cooper beat them the first time they met 49-14. Cooper is lead by 4-star junior [player_tooltip player_id="19001" first="Jaxon" last="Howard"]. He plays any position you tell him to. He’s a force on the defensive end with 34 tackles and 5 sacks and offensively, he’s caught for 100 yds. Armstring’s goal is to slow him down. Armstrong loves passing the ball. Over 1,800 yds in the air and 23 TD, [player_tooltip player_id="112064" first="Jamen" last="Malone"] will try and help out his team in the championship. Park Center(8-1) vs #5 Rogers(8-1) We’ve all heard about Park Center’s basketball team, but don’t sleep on their football team. 8-1 this season and not finished yet. One of their toughest matchups in Rogers to decide it all. Rogers hasn’t recorded a sack all season but has 9 INT. Offensively, they love the run game. Over 1,100 yds between 3 RB’s along side 866 yds in the air. Park loves both sides to the offense. QB [player_tooltip player_id="116479" first="Marcus" last="Freeman"] has 1,565 yds with 19 TD, 7 of them to <a class="" title="View [player_tooltip player_id=" href="https://www.mnfootballhub.com/roster_players/49153010">[player_tooltip player_id="116212" first="Austin" last="Ayobamidele"]</a>. Rushing they have over 1,150 yds with 23 TD between 3 guys. The defense loves getting to the backfield with 15 sacks so watch out! #7 Elk River(7-2) vs #3 Andover(9-0) Andover is one of the best teams in the state, no matter what class. However Elk River won’t go down easily. Despite losing their first meeting by a score, Elk River wants to move on. Elk River is a run heavy team. And I mean HEAVY. Almost 400 YPG as a team. They only have 2 passing touchdowns all year. Senior Dylan Rogers has the most with 17 TD, 1,363 yds. However, Andover’s 20 sacks and 9 INT may be intimidating for that backfield. Meanwhile for Andover, they split it up offensively. Roughly 190 yds passing and rushing per game. QB <a class="" title="View [player_tooltip player_id=" href="https://www.mnfootballhub.com/roster_players/48801954">[player_tooltip player_id="116449" first="Connor" last="Develice"]</a> has over 1,500 passing yards and 22 TD while RB <a class="" title="View Caden Wheeler’s Player Profile" href="https://www.mnfootballhub.com/roster_players/48801967">Caden Wheeler</a> has over 1,100 yds and 21 TD. They are a force to be reckoned with as Elk River’s D only has 5 sacks and 5 INT. Another fun matchup to watch. Alexandria(5-5) vs Bemidji(6-3) Coming off a 3 point win in Moorhead, Alexandria has good spirits. They beat Bemidji earlier in the season so the hope to make it further in the playoffs is still high. Lead by Seniors Carter Steffensmeier and Minnesota Gopher commit [player_tooltip player_id="116189" first="Kristen" last="Hoskins"], the connection between the two is tough to guard. Bemidji however has 17 INT and 21 sacks. Yet another run heavy offense, Bemidji is averaging over 250 YPG on the ground. Alexandria needs to play at their top if they want to knock out Bemidji and Bemidji will put up a great fight.