Springfield, Minneota to meet again in Class 1A Prep Bowl following state semifinal wins

At halftime of the Class 1A state semifinals Saturday, players on the Springfield football team looked like they might have overslept their 6 a.m. alarms.

They were shut out, and down two scores to Mahnomen/Waubun.

But the Tigers rose and shone, just in time. In the fourth quarter, four consecutive touchdown drives for an unanswered 30 points gave Springfield the win, 30-16, over the Thunderbirds.

The victory booked Springfield (12-0) a spot in Friday’s Class 1A Prep Bowl against Minneota — its third consecutive trip to the title game. The Tigers finished runner-up to Minneota the past two seasons.

After the game, Tigers players agreed they “absolutely” wanted Minneota to win its semifinal against Parkers Prairie, setting up the chance for an even sweeter victory if Springfield wins its first state title since 2005.

“The last two have been personal,” Tigers sophomore tight end Aiden Moriarty said.

Mahnomen/Waubun (11-1) looked on its way to rewriting the story of last year’s 36-12 state semifinal loss to Springfield. In the first half, junior quarterback Blake McMullen’s 129 rushing yards were more than Springfield’s entire offensive production of 104 yards.

McMullen scored two first-half rushing touchdowns, with two successful two-point conversions, and led 16-0 at halftime. Gritty first downs kept the ball out of Springfield’s hands.

“We run the ball and play defense,” Mahnomen/Waubun head coach John Clark Jr. said. “Part of our game plan was to keep the ball from them because we know they have an explosive offense.”

In the first half, Springfield sophomore quarterback Parker Kuehn, who entered the game with 1,948 passing yards, and standout senior running back Gavin Vanderwerf had little success. But in the second, the Tigers upped the tempo and skipped the huddle.

“In the first half, we’re still trying to learn the team,” Vanderwerf said. “We base our second half off what we see in the first half, what plays work, what plays don’t work.”

Kuehn finished 21-of-29 for 197 yards and two passing touchdowns. He found freshman receiver Madden Lendt in the end zone to start the fourth quarter and the Tigers’ scoring spree.

After a 3-yard rushing touchdown from Moriarty, Keuhn connected with Lendt again, giving Springfield its first lead, 22-16, with three minutes left.

“We can struggle to finish sometimes, and if you see that first one go in, it just takes off from there, especially when we know we have pace on these guys,” Moriarty said.

An interception by junior defensive back Isaac Fredin set up a short field for the Tigers’ final dagger — a rushing touchdown from Vanderwerf.

A late fourth-down stuff by Springfield junior linebacker Aidel Trevino and senior defensive back Russell Beers, plus a pass breakup by senior defensive back Brayden Sturm, kept the Thunderbirds from finding the end zone.

“[A slow start is] something we’ve got to fix before next week,” Springfield head coach Adam Meyer said. “You want to play well from the very first kick. … As a play caller, I know I need to be a little bit more aggressive early.”

Defending Class 1A state champion Minneota seemed to welcome Parkers Prairie to the latter program’s first Class 1A state tournament semifinal at U.S. Bank Stadium.

Shortly after figuratively extending its right hand to greet the upstart Panthers, however, the Vikings let go and the joke was on . Minneota clobbered Parkers Prairie early and often and rolled to a 45-0 victory, remaining undefeated (12-0). The Vikings advance to face Springfield for the third consecutive time in the Class 1A Prep Bowl, this one set for 10 a.m. Friday at U.S. Bank Stadium.

“We have had a couple games lately where we started fast but got away from executing like we want to,” Minneota coach Chad Johnston said. “Today, we set the tempo right away and we pretty much stuck with it.”

Senior running back Ryan Meagher, absent from the Mr. Football nomination list announced earlier this week, ran 14 times for 132 yards and two scores in the first half. Senior Lucas Rybinski added 52 yards on the ground and junior Destin Fier added 43 rushing yards and a touchdown as the Vikings took a 35-0 lead into halftime.

“There are a lot of good kids out there,” Johnston said of Meagher’s exclusion. “I’m a little surprised. But we had another guy in our section [BOLD’s Hudson Vosika], and those two have been battling for celebrity a little bit.”

Meagher said, “I’d rather worry about winning football games.”

Parkers Prairie (9-4) struggled to stop Minneota’s surging ground game.

“What a great team they have,” Panthers coach Mike Johnson said. “We knew it would be a big challenge for us. We knew it was going to be a battle, and our goal was to play our best football and see where the chips fall.”