Class 6A football teams learn their path to the Prep Bowl

The seedings for all 32 teams for the Class 6A football tournament, which begins with first-round games Friday, Oct. 27, were released amid a measure of fanfare Friday morning.

The four 6A tournament brackets were livestreamed as they were released, à la the NCAA basketball selection shows, in a show hosted by KARE-11 anchor and noted high school football supporter Randy Shaver on the station's Prep Sports YouTube channel.

The top four seeds are No. 1-ranked Eden Prairie, No. 4 Lakeville South, No. 5 Centennial and No. 7 Stillwater.

It justified Centennial coach Mike Diggins' belief that his team had clinched a top seed with its hard-fought 9-0 victory over Rosemount on Wednesday.

"I think we clinched a one-seed outright," Diggins said. It wasn't exactly prophetic, since it was based on his team's 7-1 record, but he was spot on.

"Our kids are thriving and they're playing really well," he added.

There wasn't much in terms of suspense in the announced brackets, but there were some things that stood out.

No. 2-ranked Lakeville North, No. 3 Minnetonka, No. 6 Maple Grove and Woodbury all picked up No. 2 seeds.

Lakeville North dropped to a second seed as a result of an early-season loss to crosstown and Section 3 rival Lakeville South. North and South have identical 7-1 records.

Minnetonka suffered a rash of injuries to key players in the second half of the season and lost two of its last three games, both to highly regarded opponents, but still remained a high seed.

Defending state champion Maple Grove lost two games on the season, both by a single point. That was enough to knock the Crimson a spot below Centennial in Section 5 despite beating the Cougars head-to-head in Week 3.

The juiciest first-round matchup comes in Bracket 2, where East Ridge, a No. 6 seed, faces Anoka, which picked up a No. 3 seed. Both teams are known for their talented, highly proficient quarterbacks: Tanner Zolnosky of East Ridge and Peyton Podany of Anoka.

"That's the fantasy football matchup," Maple Grove coach Matt Lombardi speculated during the selection show. "You could see 75 passes in that one."

Here's a look at the top seeds in each of the other larger school classes, as well as the top-ranked teams in each of the smaller school classes.

Class 5A

Section 1: Owatonna (No. 1), Northfield (2) New Prague (3)

Section 2: Chanhassen (1), Mankato West (2)

Section 3: St. Thomas Academy (1), Bloomington Jefferson (2)

Section 4: Mahtomedi (1), St. Paul Central (2)

Section 5: Seeds not yet officially announced

Section 6: Rogers (1), Spring Lake Park (2)

Section 7: Andover (1), Sauk Rapids-Rice (2)

Section 8: Alexandria (1), Brainerd (2)

Class 4A

Section 1: Kasson-Mantorville (1), Byron (2)

Section 2: Hutchinson (1), Marshall (2)

Section 3: Hill-Murray (1), Chisago Lakes (2), Simley (3)

Section 4: Minneapolis Henry (1), Totino-Grace (2)

Section 5: Seeds not yet officially announced

Section 6: Orono (1), Mound Westonka (2)

Section 7: North Branch (1), Duluth Denfeld (2)

Section 8: Becker (1), Detroit Lakes (2), Rocori (3)

The top seeds in Class 3A include No. 1 Stewartville in Section 1 and No. 2 Esko in Section 7. In 2A, No. 1-ranked Barnesville is the No. 1-seed in Section 8, No. 2-ranked Caledonia in Section 1 and No. 3-ranked Eden Valley-Watkins in Section 5.

In Class 1A, Minneota, ranked No. 1 in the state polls all season, is No. 1 in Section 5. In the Nine-Player class, defending champion Mountain Iron-Buhl continued its run at the top of the heap, picking up the No. 1 seed