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With every game, the task gets just a little bit tougher for southwest Minnesota high school football teams maneuvering through their section tournaments.
The semifinal rounds take place today (Saturday) in 3 p.m. starts.
In Section 3AA, it’s top-seeded Jackson County Central hosting Redwood Valley (4) and Pipestone Area (2) hosting Minnesota Valley Lutheran (3). In Section 3A, it’s Tracy-Milroy-Balaton (1) hosting Murray County Central (4) and Springfield (2) hosting Martin County West (3). And in Section 3 9-Man, it’s Mountain Lake Area (1) hosting Edgerton (4) and Hills-Beaver Creek (2) hosting Red Rock Central (3).
In Section 3AAA, Worthington bowed out in the first round Tuesday with a 40-13 loss to Tri-City United. In today’s semifinals, Tri-City United (4) is at Waseca (1) and Luverne (3) is at Fairmont (2).
Fairmont owns a 28-6 regular season win over Luverne.
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Jackson County Central is 9-0 and coming off a 62-28 victory over Windom Area in a game that head coach Tom Schuller said was a bit sub-par from the Huskies’ point of view. Still, the Huskies are No. 4 in the Minnesota state Class AA rankings and already own a 35-0 regular season win over Redwood Valley (4-5).
Pipestone Area (7-2) and Minnesota Valley Lutheran (6-3) did not meet in the regular season.
Murray County Central (7-2) will get its rematch with Tracy-Milroy-Balaton (7-1). On Sept. 16, T-M-B beat MCC -- which competed in the state Class A tournament last season -- 25-8 in Slayton.
On Tuesday, the Rebels opened section play with a 34-14 victory over Adrian/Ellsworth in a game where quarterback Abe Paulzine threw for three touchdowns and Carter Benda, returning from an injury, rushed for 199.
In the Section 3 9-Man tourney, today’s games will see a 7-2 Hills-Beaver Creek team attempting to win again over Red Rock Central, which is 6-3. In an Oct. 14 regular season game, H-BC beat RRC 22-0.
Edgerton is 5-4 going against 7-2 Mountain Lake Area. Edgerton lost to MLA 18-14 on Sept. 16.
MLA lost its first two games of 2021 33-6 to RRC and 21-6 to Renville County West. But the Wolverines have since win seven straight.
