Photo by Jake McNeill Minneota running back Ryan Meagher (20) runs through a Lakeview defender during the No. 1 Vikings’ win over the No. 8 Lakers in the opening round of the Section 5A tournament in Minneota on Tuesday night.

MINNEOTA — The top-seeded Minneota football team left few points on the table in their Section 5A tournament first-round matchup against the No. 8 Lakers on Tuesday night. The Vikings scored each of the game’s first 70 points and went on to advance past Lakeview 70-8.

Ryan Meagher was a big part of Minneota’s early offensive success. He scored a pair of first-quarter touchdowns, 19 and 3 yards respectively, to help the Vikings get off to a 20-0 lead and finished the game with 87 yards on 10 carries.

Sandwiched in between Meagher’s first-quarter touchdowns was a 24-yard passing touchdown from Ryan Dalager to Sawyer DeSmet. Dalager threw for 186 yards on three attempts on the day.

Lakeview’s lone touchdown came on a 29-yard pass to Ethan Staab in the fourth quarter and was followed up with a successful 2-point conversion. Staab also had a game-high nine total tackles.

The Lakers had no answer for the Minneota defensive line. Eli Gruenes, DeSmet and Kayson Arndt each had a sack on the day and the Vikings totaled nine tackles for loss as a team. Gruenes and Brock Fier led the team with five total tackles each.

The Lakers didn’t stop the Vikings for their first three possessions of the game. On their fourth possession, starting in the first quarter and ending in the second, the Vikings reached the goalline but turned the ball over on downs with consecutive incompletions.

After Meagher was done doing damage to the Lakeview defensive interior, Destin Fier came in and continued to wreak havoc. He took seven carries for 80 yards on the day, including a 36-yard rushing touchdown and a 33-yard receiving touchdown in the second quarter.

Max Rost was the Vikings’ leading receiver on the day with five catches for 113 yards. Among those receptions was a 35-yard touchdown to open the second quarter. Meagher ran for the 2-point conversion after.

Andrew Lipinski, Joey Lacek and Kellen Bradley each ran for a touchdown in the fourth quarter while Easton Johnston caught a pass from Carson Javers for a score in the frame. Javers was the third of four Minneota players to attempt a pass in the game.

Tyden Marczak threw 19 passes for 39 yards for the Lakers. As a team, Lakeview accumulated 65 rushing yards on 25 attempts, led by Garrett Schafer’s 47 yards.

Lakeview and Minneota met in last year’s section championship game. The Lakers had beaten the Vikings earlier in the season, 30-13, but Minneota took the postseason matchup 28-6. With many of last year’s key pieces graduating, the Lakers were unable to carry the momentum into 2023.

After winning its season-opener against St. James Area, a string of losses leaves the Lakers with a 1-8 record on the season.

Minneota (9-0) will host No. 4 Canby on Saturday at 3 p.m. Canby gave the Vikings their second-closest game of the season when they met on Sept. 22. Still, Minneota walked away with a 28-6 win.