2 weeks Ago By Jason Feldman
Whew. Take a deep breath after a weekend of roller-coaster, up-and-down high school football playoff games. ADVERTISEMENT The section finals are set, and we'll dig into those matchups later this week.
For now, here are four thoughts from Section Semifinal Saturday: For all the yards and touchdowns Kingsland has piled up over the past two years — it averages 40.9 points per game this season and has scored 32 or more in eight of its 10 games — the Knights' season and the careers of their seniors came down to a foot on Saturday. Specifically, that was the foot of 6-foot, 160-pound Caden Reiter.
Perhaps it's fitting that Reiter booted the 20-yard field goal to give his team a 17-14 overtime win against rival Spring Grove in the Section 1, 9-Player semis. Reiter has done whatever the team has needed this fall, including stepping in at QB for two games when third-year starter Kaaleem Reiland was out. Now, the Knights face their toughest test, a rematch of a Week 1 game against top-seeded LeRoy-Ostrander/Lyle-Pacelli, in the section final at 7 p.
m. Friday in Austin. Two years ago, in Kyle Riggott's first year as head coach at Rochester John Marshall, the Rockets' season ended with a 41-6 loss at Northfield in the Section 1, Class 5A quarterfinals.
JM scored 32 points all season and finished 0-9. But it was evident that the 2022 season was the ground floor to what Riggott and his staff were — and still are — building. Players remained bought-in despite the on-field struggles.
How long ago that season seems now. Just two years later, the Rockets (7-2 overall) have a chance to be champions. They'll play at top-seeded Owatonna — which beat JM 32-22 on Oct.
11 — at 7 p.m. Friday in the Section 1-5A championship game.
It's the first time since 2015 that JM is in the section final. For Fillmore Central, it doesn't really matter how it made it to the Section 1, Class 1A championship game for a third straight year, it only matters that it did make it. The Falcons (9-1 overall) were able to draw on some experience in Saturday's section semifinals.
After watching a 39-20 lead at Blooming Prairie turn into a 39-39 tie with 2 minutes, 32 seconds to go, Fillmore Central went to its bread-and-butter — the passing game. QB Bridon Bahl delivered a 55-yard scoring pass to Josh Haugerud with 1:42 to go, and the Falcons defense then preserved a 46-39 win. It avenged a Week 2 loss at Blooming Prairie in which the Blossoms scored on the final play of regulation to tie the score, then won in OT.
Fillmore Central now gets to meet the only Section 1-1A team it didn't face this season — top-seeded and unbeaten Goodhue — in the section championship game at 7 p.m. Friday in Kasson.
Back in early August, Camden Hungerholt announced his commitment to play college football at Minnesota State University, Mankato, beginning next year. Trevor Carrier, his coach at LeRoy-Ostrander/Lyle-Pacelli, raved first about Hungerholt as a person, his character and leadership, before even addressing his football skills. In that regard, not much needs to be said.
Hungerholt's numbers speak for themselves. And every time we think we've seen it all with the senior QB/defensive back, he outdoes himself. Case in point: In Saturday's 61-28 Section 1, 9-Player semifinal win against Southland, Hungerholt accounted for 586 total yards.
He passed for 262 and four touchdowns, and ran for 324 yards and four TDs. His rushing total came on 12 carries. That's a 27.
0 yards-per-carry average. He and the Cardinals have one more big test to pass — a matchup with rival Kingsland in the section title game, at 7 p.m.
Friday in Austin — in order to get back to the state tournament for the first time since winning it all in 2021..
