Threematch

File photo by Ari Selvey
Springfield’s Brayden Sturm braces for impact after making a catch during the Class A State Football Semifianls against Mahnomen/Waubun on Saturday.

QUICK HITS

• The Minneota Vikings defeated the Springfield Tigers for the Class A state title in 2022 (28-21) and 2023 (43-22). This year will be a record-setting third state title showdown for the two programs.

• Minneota has shut out both of its state tourney opponents this year, defeating Lester Prairie 41-0 in the state quarterfinals and Parkers Prairie 45-0 in the state semifinals.

• Springfield has come back to win both of its state tourney games this year. The Tigers beat Goodhue 20-14 in the state quarterfinals after trailing 14-6 in the fourth quarter. The Tigers then came back from 16 down against Mahnomen/Waubun in the state semifinals last week, scoring 30 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to win 30-16.

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SPRINGFIELD — Springfield and Minneota will make Minnesota Prep Bowl history at 10 a.m. this Friday as they become the first two programs to play each other three consecutive times in the state championship game.

“First of all, we’re very fortunate to have talented players,” Springfield head coach Adam Meyer said. “Without talented kids, getting this far into the postseason just doesn’t happen. Our players and coaches have high standards for how we operate, whether it’s in practice, games, or off the field. The kids work hard to uphold that standard and understand the process it takes to get where we want to be at the end of the year.”

The Tigers have battled through a tough section and state schedule to get to where they are, with different leaders and players from the previous two seasons.

Despite all the challenges, Springfield enters the Class A Prep Bowl with a perfect 12-0 record and has all the momentum in the world headed into the final game of the season.

“I think our team features great balance across the roster,” Meyer said. “We have been able to stop the run defensively without having to commit extra bodies in the box and our pass coverage has been a strength as well all season. Offensively, we have had games where we’ve run for over 300 yards, and we’ve also had games where we’ve thrown for over 400 yards as a team. We’ve had many players step up throughout the season with big games it really demonstrates the depth on our roster.”

Springfield lost its leading passer, rusher, tackler and receiver from a season ago, but players have stepped up in their absence.

Sophomore quarterback Parker Kuehn has now thrown for 2,146 yards and 30 touchdowns, adding 233 yards and five scores on the ground. Gavin Vanderwerf leads the team in rushing (1,481 yards, 10 touchdowns) and tackles (119, including 16 for loss and three sacks), while a series of receivers including Brayden Sturm (638 yards, six touchdowns) and Isaac Fredin (510 yards, 10 touchdowns) have stepped up in the receiving core. Many other players have grown throughout the season, leading to the team returning for a shot at the state title for the third consecutive year.

“The big question for us coming into the season was experience,” Meyer said. “And I think our players that were new to the varsity level have gotten more and more comfortable each week.  We’ve played many teams with different styles as far as how they play, and that’s allowed our guys to get a lot of experience and learn from the successes and areas to improve. That’s also led to the incredible amount of resolve we’ve shown in the last two games, coming from behind and making plays late in games to extend our season to this point.”

However, there is still the other team that has made three consecutive state title games, and Minneota is looking for a three-peat. Once again, the Vikings are the last team standing between Springfield and a state championship. The last two times, Minneota came out as the victor and have had a dominant season again, also bosting a 12-0 record and coming off of 32 wins in a row.

“It’s an accomplishment by itself,” Minneota head coach Chad Johnston said. “To be in a state championship three times in your career is an unusual feat for a lot of people, but now you’re talking about , you’ve had some seniors on this team that will have an opportunity to be state champions three times in their career. It will be a pretty impressive feat if these guys can pull it off.”

Springfield players made it clear coming into the game that they were ready for the rematch after last Saturday’s win over Mahnomen/Waubun.

“The last two times have been personal,” Springfield sophomore Aiden Moriarty said.

Meyer noted that, while the team is motivated and focused, the team knows to take a step back and control what they can about the game.

“The attitude of the team is that we know the challenge a team like Minneota poses, but we also know that if we spend too much time focusing on the opponent, we will lose sight of the things we can control going into this game,” he said. “I think our kids did a great job of getting prepared this week and are focused on playing our best game of the year.”

The Vikings primarily rely on senior running back Ryan Meagher, who has 1,670 yards on 176 attempts, 9.5 a carry, along with 34 touchdowns. Meagher also has 126 yards and a score receiving, adding a dual-threat aspect to his game.

“He’s as good of a running back as I’ve seen,” Meyer said. “He’s a very physical presence in the run game, but also has great agility and speed to break off big runs. He reads blocks very well and sets up cuts that he makes to get into the second level of the defense.”

Despite the changeups for Springfield from last year, Johnston said that Minneota will approach defending the Tigers in a similar way as they did last year.

“We’re going to still treat them a little bit more like they’re pass-first,” he said. “The whole reason for doing that is because we want to try to do our best to take away their big plays, make them grind it out on us. And again, their run game is very effective, and they have two really big backs in the backfield. But that has been one of our strengths on defense this year. So we definitely are challenging that the guys in the backfield, really focus more on the passing game and try not to give up a real big play to their offense, which they’re very capable of doing.”

In order to do that, Minneota might be tempted to throw a lot of different looks at the Tigers’ first-year starting quarterback. However, Johnston said that Kuehn has shown to be capable of commanding the offense and using resources to try to confuse him may not be worth the effort.

“It’s a big game, and you got a sophomore leading their show,” Johnston said. “You know, at our level, I’d love to be able to say, ‘Hey, we’re gonna switch up our coverages, and we’re gonna try to hide some coverages,’ and do all those things that would potentially mess with the young kid. But, you know, you don’t have a lot of time to do that. You’re talking about young kids that you’re trying to hopefully not confuse them in the first place. So we are going to tweak some things that we are going to try to change some things up and try to get maybe in his head a little bit. But, yeah, I mean, he’s a good young quarterback, but hopefully we can get him around a little bit.”

Minneota will have plenty of resources to try to do that, as the team has athletes all over the defense.

“Their defensive front and linebackers play extremely fast and physical,” Meyer said. “They play the run very well and allow the defensive backs to play the pass almost exclusively. They also do a great job of keeping the ball in front of them and limiting explosive plays down the field. We will have to mix it up between run and pass and take advantage of our opportunities when we do get them to make plays down the field.”

One thing that Springfield will have to clean up about their performance the last two weeks is starting slow. The Tigers failed to score in the first half in both games, and a start like that would advantage the run-heavy Vikings. Against a team like Minneota, Springfield may not be able to pull off the last-minute heroics of the last two games.

“It’s hard to nail any one thing down, because I feel like we’ve started off games really well all season until the last two,” Meyer said. “But our focus is avoiding penalties and missed assignments early in the game this week. We know the margin for error is very small against the teams we play in state tournaments, so we need to be sharp from the very first kickoff.”

It will all start and end at the line of scrimmage for Springfield. Opening up passing options with the run game while slowing down the lethal running attack from Minneota will determine the game, according to Meyer.

“Our offensive line is integral to the success of our team, and we knew coming into the season we needed them to play well for us to play late into the season.” he said. “We have three new starters this season, and most games it looks like they’ve been there multiple seasons already. They’ve done a great job opening up gaps in the run game and keeping pressure off our quarterback.

“The line of scrimmage will tell us everything we need to know about this game in my opinion. Whoever can control that area of the game will probably come away with a win.

Jake McNeill of the Marshall Independent contributed to this report.