Football playoff pairings set for next week

With the end of the regular season earlier this week, teams around Steele County will prepare for the section tournament beginning on Tuesday.

Blooming Prairie and Medford will highlight the area’s first local showdown of the playoffs, while NRHEG will fend for its playoff life against Maple River and Owatonna will reap the reward of an opening-round bye.

Blooming Prairie hosts Medford

After narrowly beating Medford 19-18 on Wednesday, Blooming Prairie will prepare to go to battle against the Tigers again this coming Tuesday at home again.

It will be the second year in a row that the Awesome Blossoms and the Tigers clash in the opening round of the section tournament with Blooming Prairie taking home last year’s matchup 43-0.

This year’s tournament matchup will have more at stake as the Tigers are on the upswing having won two games after going winless a season ago.

Blooming Prairie has shown vulnerability on offense after being the Mid-Southeast White Division’s highest-scoring offense last year, and faces a Medford defense that has held its teams in games all season long.

As was seen by the 19-18 finish this week, offense will be at a premium and the victorious team will be quicker to crack the code of the opposing defense.

NRHEG at Maple River

After being given the No. 6 six seed in its conference, NRHEG will face the tall task of upsetting No. 3 Maple River on the road to open its section tournament.

The Panthers most recently faced the Eagles in 2019 and were handed a 40-7 loss with no opportunity to exact their revenge after the two teams’ game in 2020 was canceled.

Two years later, and NRHEG finally has its shot to even the score.

Maple River will enter the game on a two-game winning streak, totaling over 40 points in each game.

The Eagles have shown vulnerability on defense, but if the Panthers hope to win, they will have to slow down the team’s high power offense.

NRHEG was able to score 40 points against a winless WEM squad on Wednesday, but only time will tell if head coach Marc Kruger’s squad has found its stride heading into playoff season.

Owatonna

After finishing the regular season 4-4 overall and coming off of a 28-21 loss to Kasson-Mantorville, Owatonna earned a No. 2 seed in the Section 1AAAAA tournament and was given a first-round bye.

With the bye, Owatonna will be able to prepare to face the winner of Rochester John Marshall and Northfield; both of whom the Huskies beat during the regular season.

Owatonna would surely prefer to play the Rockets, whom they have beaten 271-13 over the last six meetings.

However, if the No. 3 Raiders do beat the No. 6 Rockets, Owatonna will still be in good shape.

The Huskies beat the Raiders 21-19 in the regular season and have a healthy roster ready to prove that they are indeed worthy of their high seeding.