The Vikings gather at midfield to hoist the championship trophy after defeating Springfield 38-22 in the Minnesota Class A Football Championship game at U.S. Bank Stadium on Friday morning.

MINNEAPOLIS — Scoring three consecutive touchdowns in the second half to erase a 13-10 halftime deficit on Friday, the Minneota Vikings picked up a 38-21 win over the Springfield Tigers in the Class A State Football Tournament Championship game at U.S. Bank Stadium.

It was the eighth state football championship for Minneota total and the fifth for head coach Chad Johnson. He also earned his 200th career win with the victory.

“You look down the line, and over the years, lot of these kids have had parents playing in the Prep Bowl and that tradition means a lot to me to be able to say that there has been no downslide in this program since the 80s,” coach Johnston said. “Kids have worked hard to keep us on the map and credit goes to the kids, really does.”

Minneota was able to pile up 243 yards rushing in the win and held the Tigers to 27 yards rushing.

Zack Fier led the Vikings on the ground with 30 carries for 133 yards and two touchdowns.

Fier said he first started gaining confidence late in the third quarter.

“I felt like deep in the third quarter, just because we’ve been in this situation,” Fier said. “Last year, we lost it. It sucks, and we were determined that we weren’t going to let it happen again. Our offensive line kept getting holes and wearing people out and the holes just started getting bigger and bigger and it eventually wore them out.”

Ryan Meagher added eight carries for 73 yards and a touchdown, while Lucas Rybinski rushed for 13 yards and two scores on 13 carries.

Minneota quarterback Isaac Pohlen completed 5 of 7 passes for 97 yards and an interception. Maxwell Rost had two catches for 75 yards for the Vikings.

While the first half looked like the game would come down to who had the ball last, everything seemed to click for the Vikings in the second half as they got touchdown runs from Fier (1-yard), Lucas Rybinski (4-yard) and Fier (1-yard) to take a commanding 31-13 lead early in the fourth quarter.

The Tigers ended the first half in front 13-10 after quarterback Jakob Nachreiner found Carter Olson in the end zone for a 16-yard score. The PAT was no good.

Before that, the Vikings appeared to be headed into halftime with a 10-7 lead after a 36-yard field goal try from Peyton Gillund was good with just 1:14 left in the half.

But Nachreiner completed four passes after that field goal to put the Tigers back in front before the half.

Nachreiner completed 20 of 24 passes for 339 yards in the state semifinals against Deer River but was held in check by the Minneota defense Friday as he completed 11 of 21 passes for 182 yards, two scores and an interception.

The Minneota defense was also able to put some pressure on Nachreiner, led by Sawyer DeSmet’s two sacks. Hudson Scholten and Anthony Rybinski also each had a sack for the Vikings.

Coach Johnson said that with having to make some adjustments on defense coming into this season, he was extremely happy with how his guys played and limited Nachreiner.

“We had to make some personnel changes to solidify our defensive backfield,” Johnson said. “And we saw Fillmore Central do some great things to us in a hurry two weeks ago, so there was kind of some doubts, but I think, again overall, I was extremely happy that some kids got moved around, got shuffled.”

“We were able to get a little bit of pressure on [Nachreiner] at times. I think it helps us a little bit when you know they’re in passing situations. You get a little bit of a lead, and you know they’ve got to throw it, but extremely happy with our kids … That’s a talented team, lot of weapons. I told the guys they were going to make big plays, you’ve just got to stay focused and understand that and just realize that we’ve got to stick to our game plan.”

Both defenses made their mark early in the first quarter, with Minneota flexing its muscles first. The Tigers first drive went nowhere as they were forced to punt from their own 6-yard line after a sack by Anthony Rybinski on third down and a false start by the Tigers on fourth down.

Minneota then drove down the field and got into the red zone before Sam Pidde intercepted a pass and took it 27 yards to the Springfield 29-yard line to give the Tigers their second drive.

On the first play of that drive, a 41-yard catch by Olson deep down the left side of the field set the Tigers up at the Vikings’ 30. After seven plays got the Tigers to the 1-yard line, Ashtin Johnson punched the ball in to give the Tigers the first lead of the game with 3:35 left in the first quarter.

Ashtin Johnson, who was dealing with a sprained ankle from the semifinals win over Deer River, finished the game with eight carries for 14 yards.

The Vikings tied the game on their next drive with an 8-play, 46-yard drive that was finished off with a 9-yard TD run by Ryan Meagher early in the second quarter.

Late in the second quarter, Pohlen completed a 37-yard pass deep down the left sideline to Maxwell Rost to set the Vikings up at the Springfield 38. After running the ball into the red zone, the Vikings settled on the field goal to lead 10-7.

Sam Pidde gave Springfield some hope early in the fourth quarter, catching a 37-yard TD pass to trail 31-19. A 2-point conversion catch by MaCoy Krick made it a 31-21 game.

But Minneota was able to punch in another touchdown with 3:29 left to play on a 1-yard run by Lucas Rybinski.

Ashton Toll rushed for 20 yards on two carries also for the Tigers, while Olson had three carries for 15 yards.

Olson also caught five passes for 74 yards, while Toll had two receptions for 24 yards.

Minneota had 340 total yards of offense, while Springfield finished with 209 yards of total offense.

Minneota 38, Springfield 22

MIN 0 10 14 14

SPR 7 7 0 8

SCORING SUMMARY

FIRST QUARTER

SPR: 1-yard run (kick is good)

SECOND QUARTER

MIN: Ryan Meagher 9-yard run (Gillund kick)

MIN: Gillund 35-yard field goal

SPR: 16-yard pass (kick is good)

THIRD QUARTER

MIN: Zack Fier 1-yard run (Gillund kick)

MIN: Lucas Rybinski 40-yard pass from Isaac Pohlen (Gillund kick)

FOURTH QUARTER

MIN: Zack Fier 1-yard run (Gillund kick)

SPR: 42-yard pass (2-point conversion)

MIN: Lucas Rybinski 1-yard run (Gillund kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Passing (Att-Yds-TD-Int): Minneota (Pohlen 6-8-1-1)

Rushing (Att-Yds-TD): Minneota (Z. Fier 29-123-2; Meagher 8-73-1; A. Rybinski 4-17; Destin Fier 1-16; L. Rybinski 3-9-1)

Receiving (Rec-Yds-TD): Minneota (Max Rost 1-42; L. Rybinski 1-40-1; Gillund 2-19; Meagher 1-5; Ryan Dalager 1-4)

Defensive (total tackles): Minneota (Scholten 4; Rost 3; DeSmet 3; Alex DePestel 2; Andrew Lipinski 2)