Dawson-Boyd will host Minneota tonight at 7 p.m. in what could be the most pivotal game of the regular season. Winning and losing could prove to be the difference between the top seed and the fourth seed in the 5A section tournament starting Tuesday.

While both Dawson-Boyd and Minneota come into the game at 6-1 on the season, Dawson-Boyd may be the hottest team in the section. Since their opening-week loss to Minnesota Valley Lutheran, in which they fell 34-28, the Blackjacks have won six in a row. With the exception of a 16-8 road win over Lakeview, Dawson-Boyd has won all of those games by 20 points or more. They won their last game on the road against MACCRAY by 52 points.

The offensive duo of Holt Larson and Brayson Boike has been particularly effective in helping DB to put points on the board. Boike’s height and speed allow him to make explosive plays downfield that spread the defense and open up the run.

“We’ve just got to do our best to stop Boike from making a big catch for a touchdown,” Minneota head coach Chad Johnston said. “He’s going to have some, but we’ve just got to limit it.”

Boike has caught six touchdown passes and has racked up 523 receiving yards so far this year, averaging over 20 yards per reception.

On the ground, Holt Larson has caused problems for opposing front sevens all season. Larson has found the end zone 12 times, but his value goes beyond goal-line carries.

Sitting at 880 rushing yards on the season while averaging over eight yards per carry, Larson certainly has the possibility of eclipsing the 1000-yard mark this week, particularly when considering he’s rushed for 200 yards in a single game already this season in the Blackjacks’ comeback win over Yellow Medicine East in week 3.

Regardless of offensive firepower, the key to the Blackjacks’ success is their take-nothing-for-granted mentality, Dawson-Boyd head coach Cory Larson said.

“It’s by no means going into games thinking it’s going to be a blowout, you play every possession,” Larson said. “I think we’ve got a group of kids that don’t look ahead, don’t look back, that ‘this possession matters’ mentality.”

The Vikings, like the Blackjacks, have consistently blown teams out of the water this year. Minneota lost 30-13 at home to Lakeview in their fourth game of the season, but have won each of their other six games by at least 30 points. Only YME and Canby have scored more than once against the Vikings in those six wins, with both opponents being held to 12 points.

As far as their ability to pull away offensively, Zack Fier has been on a tear for Minneota. He’s been a capable running back all season, but his growth in the passing game brings a new dimension to Fier’s ability to impact the game. He has led the Vikings in receiving each of the last three games. Fier had 70 yards and two touchdowns as both a rusher and as a receiver last week against Canby.

Fier has 581 rushing yards on over six yards per carry and a total of 17 scrimmage touchdowns on the season.

Peyton Gillund makes things harder on opposing secondaries by giving the Vikings an extra receiving option to worry about. With 453 receiving yards and seven touchdowns on the season, Gillund is a particularly dangerous target in the red zone.

“It comes down to certainly making sure that its a team effort,” Larson said of limiting the Minneota playmakers. “Try not to give any one person that responsibility. You want to not eliminate their playmakers, but you need to contain them.”

The main focus for Minneota is going to be limiting mistakes. The Vikings threw three interceptions and had a fumble in their lone loss of the season. Johnston said that the Vikings haven’t been making those kinds of mistakes since, but that they also can’t afford to regress back and expect to beat a good team like Dawson-Boyd.

A win for the Rabbits would secure them at least the No. 2 seed in the section tournament, with a BOLD loss giving them the top seed. Minneota would secure the third seed with a win but would need losses from Lakeview and BOLD to move up to the top seed.