Friday Night Spotlight

A rundown of High School Football

*Rankings conducted through high school coaches poll

by BRYAN ZOLLMAN

Co-Publisher, Let’s Play Football

RANKINGS

9-Man 1. Hancock (6-0) 2. Verndale (6-0) 3. Lanesboro (6-0) 4. Fertile-Beltrami (6-0) 5. Mountain Iron-Buhl (5-1) 6. Grand Meadow (5-1) 7. NCE-UH (5-1) 8. Sleepy Eye-St. Mary’s (6-0)

9. Wheaton-Herman-Norcross (5-1) 10. Mountain Lake Area (5-1)

9-MAN

Offenses eupt in 9-Man

The top five teams in 9-Man football scored a combined 302 points last week as the offenses were rolling in Week 6.

Hancock stayed undefeated at the top with a 70-36 win over Ortonville. Verndale roughed up Bertha-Hewitt 5826 and Lanesboro notched 64 points in a 64-20 win over Nicollet.

Not to be outdone, No. 5 Mountain Iron-Buhl beat North Central 76-12.

No. 4 Fertile-Beltrami wasn’t so lucky as they had to face No. 7 NCEUH, but they held them off with a 34-12 win to stay unbeaten at 6-0.

Hills-Beaver Creek dropped out of the top 10 this week after a 24-6 loss to Mountain Lake Area. Meanwhile, Mountain Lake Area jumps in at No. 10 at 5-1.

Sleepy Eye-St. Mary’s stayed unbeaten with a close 18-16 win over Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart.

This week’s big match up will be No. 2 Verndale against No. 9 Wheaton-Herman-Norcross.

Scores from last week’s top 10 teams:

PHOTO BTY JOSH MUNTIFERING Grand Rapids running back Aiden Chandler scoots past a Duluth East defender in the ThunderHawks 56-28 win last Friday night.

No. 1 Hancock 70, Ortonville 36 No. 2 Verndale 58, Bertha-Hewitt 26 No. 3 Lanesboro 64, Nicollet 20 No. 4 Fertile-Beltrami 34, No. 7 NCE-UH 12 No. 5 Mountain Iron-Buhl76, North Central 12 Mountain Lake Area 24, No. 6 Hills-Beaver Creek 6 No. 8 Grand Meadow 35, Southland 0 No. 9 Sleepy Eye-St. Mary’s 18, Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart 16 No. 10 Wheaton-Herman-Norcross 2, Clinton-Graceley-Beardsville 0

RANKINGS

Class A 1. Minneota (6-0) 2. Murray County Central (6-0) 3. Rushford-Petyerson (6-0) 4. BOLD (6-0) 5. Ottertail Central (6-0) 6. Mayer Lutheran (5-1) 7. Ada Borup-West (5-1) 8. Martin County West (5-1) 9. Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop (5-1) 10. Lakeview (5-1)

CLASS A

Murray holds off Martin in top 10 clash

Murray County Central, ranked No. 2 in Class A, had their hands full with No. 9 Martin County West as both undefeated squads clashed last Friday. But it was Murray who came out on top with a 24-18 win. It took a 9-yard touchdown catch from Chant Mitchell from QB Abe Paulzine with just 38 seconds left to secure the win and keep Murray County Central unbeaten.

Martin County West, of course, is right there with the top teams in the state in Class A after a stellar performance Friday.

Pine River-Backus tripped up No. 3 Ada Borup-West 35-26 to improve to 5-1. Rushford-Peterson continues their season dominance with another lopsided win, this time 47-8 over Randolph.

No. 6 G-F-W dropped three notches after a lopsided loss to 2A Blooming Prairie 54-8. The Awesome Blossoms from Blooming Prairie are ranked in the top 5 in Class 2A.

BOLD, OTC, Mayer Lutheran and Lakeview all won their games handily to maintain a spot in the top 10. Scores from last week’s top 10:

No. 1 Minneota 50, MACCRAY 0 No. 2 Murray County Central 24, No. 9 Martin County West 18 Pine River-Backus 35, No. 3 Ada Borup-West 26 No. 4 Rushford-Peterson 47, Randolph 8 No. 5 BOLD 36, Benson 9 Blooming Prairie 54, No. 6 Gibbon-Fairfax-Wnnthrop 8 No. 7 Ottertail Central 47, Staples-Motley 12 No. 8 Mayer Lutheran 49, United South Central 12 No. 10 Lakeview 54, Yellow Medicine East 12

RANKINGS

Class 2A 1. Minneapolis North (5-1) 2. Blooming Prairie (6-0) 3. Pipestone Area (6-0)

4. Moose Lake-Willow River (5-0) 5. Kimball Area (6-0)

6. West Central Area/Ashby (6-0) 7. Royalton (5-1) 8. Maple River (5-1) 9. Eden Valley-Watkins (5-1) 10. Blue Earth Area (5-1)

CLASS 2A

Maple River upsets topranked Blue Earth Area

Blue Earth Area was one of two No. 1-ranked teams to be upset this week (Litchfield also got beat in Class 3A). The Buccaneers lost 21-7 to Maple Lake. Both teams are now 5-1.

The loss by Blue Earth dropped them all the way down to No. 10 in our weekly rankings. Quite the dip for a team that got off to a great start, but chances are the loss to Maple River was a blip on their radar and they will be back to winning this week when they take on Norwood-Young America. The Buccaneers will get another test in Week 8 when they battle Fairmont, currently ranked second in 3A.

Minneapolis North takes the top spot this week as they doubled up on Minneapolis South 28-14. They edged out Blooming Prairie by two points in voting for the No. 1 ranking. The Awesome Blossoms at No. 2 have been, well, awesome as usual, improving to 6-0 with a convincing win over top-10 ranked Class 2A squad G-F-W, 54-8.

Moose Lake-Willow River, Kimball Area and West Central Area/Ashby all remained unbeaten as well.

Royalton jumps all the way to No. 7 after a trouncing of No. 2 Eden Valley-Watkins 30-8.

There is still lots up in the air in Class 2A as the top teams are emerging, but it appears anyone can beat anyone on any given night.

Some teams to watch for, however, are St. Agnes (5-1), Rush City (6-0), Osakis (5-1) and Chatfield (5-1).

Scores from last week’s top 10:

Maple River 21, No. 1 Blue Earth Area 7 Royalton 30, No. 2 Eden Valley-Watkins 8 No. 3 Blooming Prairie 54, G-F-W 8 No. 4 Minneapolis North 28, Minneapolis South 14 No. 5 Pipestone 20, Luverne 16 No. 6 WCA/Ashby 42, Breckenridge 27 No. 7 Kimball Area 50, K-M-S 6 No. 8 Moose Lake-Willow River 49, Braham 0 Perham 29, No. 9 Osakis 28 No. 10 Rush City 62, Mesabi East 32 No. 10 Chatfield 40, Goodhue 15