Photo by Samantha Davis: Murray County Central running back Jordan Sturges (21) takes a carry during a prep football game against Tracy-Milroy-Balaton in Tracy on Oct. 3. Murray County Central earned the No. 2 seed in the 3A tournament, giving the Rebels a first-round bye.

SLAYTON — After ending the season on a six-game winning streak, the Murray County Central football team was one of two teams to earn a bye in the 2025 Section 3A tournament. The Rebels earn home-field advantage for their semifinal matchup on Saturday at 3 p.m. and will look to advance to the section championship game for the second year in a row.

Entering the tournament, the Rebels sit at 6-2 on the season. Their lone losses came in the first two weeks of the season, falling to Class A No. 9 Dawson-Boyd 7-0 in the season opener and Class A No. 2 Springfield 33-15 on Sept. 5. Since then, MCC has put together an average margin of victory of 39.5 points per game.

In its semifinal matchup, the Rebels will take on the winner of No. 3 Russell-Tyler-Ruthton and No. 6 BOLD. MCC defeated RTR 44-12 and BOLD 28-8 during the regular season.

RTR will host BOLD in Tyler for the quarterfinals on Tuesday at 7 p.m. The Knights enter the tournament at 6-2 while BOLD enters at 2-6. RTR is looking for its first section tournament win since it defeated Adrian/Ellsworth 18-0 in the 2020 section quarterfinals.

BOLD is looking for its third consecutive section championship appearance. The Warriors have advanced to the section championship match every season but one since 2018, the exception being when they fell to eventual state champion Minneota in the 2022 section semifinals.

When RTR and BOLD faced off in the regular season, the Knights came away with a 33-20 win behind two rushing touchdowns from Tyson Burns and two passing touchdowns from Gavin Schreurs.

On the opposite side of the bracket, No. 4 Tracy-Milroy-Balaton hosts No. 5 Sleepy Eye United in the section quarterfinals on Tuesday at 7 p.m. The Panthers went 4-4 during the regular season with a 42-26 win over Sleepy Eye, while Sleepy Eye went 3-5.

Springfield earned the No. 1 seed in the section with an 8-0 record on the season. The Tigers are looking to return to the state championship game after falling to Minneota in the Class A Prep Bowl each of the last three seasons.

The winner of TMB and Sleepy Eye United’s matchup would head to Springfield for the section semifinals on Saturday at 3 p.m. The section championship game is slated to be played at Southwest Minnesota State University’s Mattke Field in Marshall on Oct. 31 at 12:30 p.m.