TRACY — The No. 3 Springfield Tigers scored touchdowns on five of their first six possessions on Saturday afternoon to end No. 2 Tracy-Milroy-Balaton’s season by a score of 50-14 in the Section 3A Semifinals on Saturday afternoon.

Jacob Nachreiner threw touchdown passes for the Tigers on each of the first two possessions of the game. He hit Carter Olsen for a 12-yard gain to cap off the first drive and connected with Braden Sturm for a 49-yard gain to go up 14-0 in the first quarter.

The Panthers came out of the gates slow. They punted the game’s opening drive, were picked off by Lucas Milbrath on the second drive and turned the ball over on downs on their third possession. 

Ashton Squires recovered a fumble at the Springfield 14-yard line on the Tigers’ next possession to set up an Alex Schuh touchdown for the Panthers, but Springfield marched back down the field and Sam Rummel ran the ball for an 11-yard touchdown to make it a two-possession game again at 20-6. 

Trevor Smith was picked off on the first play from scrimmage on TMB’s next drive and Olsen ran for a touchdown shortly thereafter to make the score 26-6 in favor of the Tigers.

On TMB’s next possession, Smith connected with Griffin Zick for a 19-yard touchdown pass and Zick ran for the conversion after, but Springfield responded once again with a 30-yard touchdown pass from Nachreiner to Ashton Toll to go up 34-14 at the break.

Springfield’s momentum didn’t stop in the second half. Sturm and Noah Neperman each came away with an interception for the Tigers. On the offensive end, Springfield punted on its first possession after the break but scored on each of the next two to go up 50-14.

Smith finished the game with 229 passing yards for the Panthers on 25 attempts while Zick and Jaret Ankrum led TMB in receiving yards with 91 and 86 respectively. Schuh led the Panthers on the ground with 30 yards on six carries.

For the Tigers, Nachreiner threw 13 passes for 264 yards. Sam Pidde led the team with 92 receiving yards while Sturm, Toll, Olsen and Grant Kuehn each had another 30 or more.

David Schuh and Ashton Squires led the TMB defense with nine and seven total tackles respectively while Alex Schuh added another six. 

Springfield scored a touchdown on seven of its nine possessions in the game, excluding its kneel-downs at the end.

Tracy-Milroy-Balaton finishes its season at 7-2. Prior to Saturday’s loss, the Panthers had been on a six-game win streak since a Week 2 loss to Sleepy Eye United and were ranked No. 10 in Class A.

Springfield improves to 8-1 and will face top-seeded Sleepy Eye for the 3A Championship at Southwest Minnesota State on Friday at 7 p.m. A win would give the Tigers their second consecutive section championship a year after losing in the Class A state championship to Minneota. 

B.O.L.D. 40, Dawson-Boyd 7

OLIVIA — The No. 3 Dawson-Boyd football team didn’t fare much better in its rematch against No. 2 B.O.L.D. in the Section 5A Championship game than it did in its regular-season matchup. After the Blackjacks lost 69-0 to the Warriors back on Sept. 29, Dawson-Boyd’s season came to an end with a 40-7 loss on Saturday afternoon.

B.O.L.D. scored each of the game’s first six touchdowns to go up 40-0 through three quarters. The Warriors’ lone first-quarter touchdown came on a 45-yard punt return. From there, however, they capitalized on a pair of long touchdown runs and a 7-yard touchdown pass to lead 27-0 at halftime.

Parker Bothun scored Dawson-Boyd’s touchdown in the fourth quarter on a three-yard run. He finished the day with nine carries for 61 yards.

Nathan Hansen threw the ball 15 times for 46 yards and a pair of interceptions while Carson Stratmoen threw another two passes for 17 yards. Drew Hjelmeland led the team with three catches for 34 yards.

Hansen and Elijah Olson each recovered a fumble for the Blackjacks. Hansen also tied Bothun and Kameron Sather with a team-high seven total tackles. 

Dawson-Boyd finishes its season at 5-5 while B.O.L.D. will take on top-seeded Minneota in the section championship at Southwest Minnesota State on Friday at 4:30 p.m.