Rogers shuts out Park Center, advances to Class 5A football section final

Turns out, Rogers lost more in the regular-season finale to Mankato West than just the game. The starting and backup quarterbacks were injured, too.

So Rogers handed the ball to 6-4 junior JV quarterback Josiah Matthews for Saturday afternoon's Class 5A, Section 6 semifinal at Rogers High School. The fifth-ranked Royals came away with a 25-0 victory over Park Center.

The change in personnel narrowed the Rogers playbook, resulting in an offense that wasn't what Royals fans were used to seeing all season.

"It's not what you plan for, but I loved how Josiah Matthews prepared," Rogers coach Marc Franz said. "I loved how the team rallied around him."

The Royals (8-1) grabbed a 10-0 lead early in the game with a field goal and fumble recovery for a touchdown. Rogers capitalized on Park Center turnovers, including a fumble on the first play of the second half that led to the first offensive touchdown of the day for Rogers.

The game plan shifted, but junior running back Kalvin Eull remained important; he's amassed about 1,400 yards this season. He rushed for 74 yards on 17 carries Saturday, including his 18th touchdown of the season.

"The first half, we started off slow. We couldn't get a push going," Eull said. "The second half, we got a game plan … we made the adjustments and it started to open up a little bit more.

Rogers has won the past three meetings with Park Center (4-6), going back to the 2021 section title game, a 55-12 victory. Rogers shut out the Pirates 31-0 during the regular season.

Matthews took over for senior Reece Dawson, who has passed for 993 yards this season. Dawson injured a shoulder against Mankato West. Second-string junior Landen Holterman also "got dinged up" in that game, Franz said. Dawson didn't practice last week, but his shoulder is getting healthier, Franz said. Rogers is "keeping our fingers crossed" Dawson will be back for the section title game, when Rogers will try to win its fourth section championship in a row.

To make the injury matters worse, Rogers senior Wyatt Gilmore, committed to Oklahoma for college, left Saturday's game early with an injury, but not until after he rattled off a 35-yard run on the game's opening drive. Franz wasn't sure about Gilmore's status for next week.

"I'm hoping a lot of these guys are back next Friday," Franz said. "It's not the opportune time for this stuff to be happening."

*To see the section tournament brackets in six classes and the state tournament bracket in Class 6A, click here.