Photos by Samantha Davis: Minneota senior Kellen Bradley (right) brings the Section 4A championship trophy to the team after the Vikings defeated Dawson-Boyd Friday morning, marking Minneota's sixth-straight section title and return to the Class A State Tournament. Below: Minneota's Kellen Bradley dives into the end zone for a touchdown in the second quarter. Below: Minneota's Brock Fier (35) motions for a touchdown as Sam Myhre (7) runs into the end zone in the fourth quarter. Below: Dawson-Boyd's Gunner Liebl looks to rush through the defense. Below: Minneota captains Kellen Bradley (34) and Kyson Arndt (64) bring the section trophy back to the team.

MARSHALL — Breaking through in the third quarter behind a trio of touchdowns, the No. 1 Minneota football team claimed its sixth-straight section title to clinch its return to the Class A State Tournament with a 42-16 win over No. 2 Dawson-Boyd Friday morning in the Section 4A championship at Southwest Minnesota State University’s Mattke Field. The Blackjacks finish their season 8-3 overall.

“The feeling never gets old,” Minneota senior Easton Johnston said of returning to state. “We’re always excited. The amount of determination and effort we put in all offseason to now, it just never gets old.”

“We had no doubts in the game,” senior Kyson Ardnt added. “We had no doubts we were [not] going to lose. It may not have gone our way the entire time, but we all are familiar with this [situation].”

The Vikings are now on a quest to defend their state title, looking to claim their fourth straight championship after another undefeated regular season and section tournament. This is Minneota’s fifth consecutive year making the trip to state, and 18th in program history, as there was no tournament held in 2020.

“Credit goes to Dawson … I think that was a very physical game. Both teams were a little banged up a little bit after that, but I was happy with our guys,” Minneota head coach Chad Johnston said. “Couple things just didn’t go our way … Sometimes it might be a call that doesn’t go in your favor, it could be a play that goes in their favor, and that happened a few times today. I’m happy that our kids still believed in themselves.”

Kellen Bradley had two touchdowns for the Vikings, along with one each from Brock Fier, Easton Johnston, Tristen Sussner and Sam Myhre. Elijah Olson and Colten Bothun each had Dawson-Boyd’s two scores, Bothun’s being a 90-yard punt-return touchdown.

“I am super proud of the effort that they [Dawson-Boyd] played with. You understand that you always want that to pay off with victory, but sometimes it doesn’t happen. I keep preaching to them that, to be a champion, it really doesn’t mean anything about hoisting a championship trophy. It’s more about who you are as a person,” Dawson-Boyd head coach Cory Larson said. “I am super, super proud of our group of kids that just went out and fought … Hats off to them [Minneota]. Very deserving, their kids played hard.”

Sussner had 178 passing yards with three touchdowns, on six complete passes of 10 attempts. Bradley led the game with 161 rushing yards on 26 carries, while Fier had a team-high 75 receiving yards on one catch. Minneota had 399 total offensive yards, with 221 rushing, to the Blackjacks’ 150 yards, 127 of which were passing.

For Dawson-Boyd, Gunner Liebl had 107 passing yards on 10 complete passes of his 25 attempts, while Colten Bothun led with 51 receiving yards on five catches. Kameron Sather had a team-high 24 rushing yards on five carries.

The third quarter ultimately decided the game with three Minneota touchdowns and a recovery off a bad snap, who held a 14-3 halftime lead. Dawson-Boyd, however, kept up the defensive pressure with Mason Bothun’s second interception of the day, along with Colten Bothun’s touchdown.

The Blackjacks opened the half with a 33-yard passing touchdown from Liebl to Olson into the front right corner of the endzone, along with an Elvis Bellefeuille kick, to cut into a 14-10 deficit.

Minneota found a quick response with a 29-yard gain by Bradley from Minneota’s 38-yard to Dawson-Boyd’s 23, with the help of a big block from Joey Lacek. Sussner passed to Easton Johnston on the next play for a receiving touchdown and a 21-10 lead.

Yet, Colten Bothun brought the Blackjacks immediately back within a score with his returning kickoff touchdown after splitting the defense through the middle, before breaking off on his own up the left side of the field.

On Minneota’s next drive, Mason Bothun caught an interception to take possession, although the Blackjacks over-snapped the ball a few plays later to give the Vikings’ the ball back on Dawson-Boyd’s 4-yard.

Sussner eventually ran in to give Minneota a 28-16 lead, which extended quickly to 35-16 after Quinton Anderson intercepted the ball, leading to a large rush by Lacek to put the Vikings on the yard line. Bradley finished the drive off with a push into the end zone, creating a cushioned 35-16 lead going into the final quarter.

“They’ve [Dawson-Boyd] got a great coaching staff, and they got [great] athletes,” Easton Johnston said. “We’ve been with each other forever, so we’re always able to pick each other back up, especially Kellen Bradley. He’s fumbled a couple times against this team, but we’re always there to pick him back up, and we’re always there to pick people back up.”

The Vikings put the dagger on the win with a 36-yard receiving touchdown by Sussner and Sam Myhre with 3:45 to go, followed by a Landon Esping interception in the final seconds.

The Vikings struggled with penalties, while Dawson-Boyd faced challenges taking advantage of offensive opportunities, despite a strong defensive effort. Minneota finished with seven penalties for 40 yards.

“Short term memory, move on,” Arndt said regarding Minneota cleaning up their penalties.

“He’s right. You got to work past it and just go out on the next play,” Easton Johnston added.

Minneota’s Bradley had seven total tackles, while Hudson Thostenson followed with six. Fier and Randy Sorensen each had a sack on the day. Aedyn Dahl led the Blackjacks with eight tackles, while Holland Schacherer had a sack.

After a scoreless first quarter, Dawson-Boyd’s Colten Bothun blocked the Vikings’ punt to recover the ball on the 34-yard line to open the second.

But, the Vikings again made up for their mistake by forcing another turnover on downs after Adam DeVlaeminck broke up a pass attempt on fourth down.

“I think we did a great job [fighting through the Blackjacks’ defense],” coach Johnston said. “A couple of times, we put ourselves in bad positions … We could have easily collapsed mentally and broke down, but we [picked ourselves back up].”

The Blackjacks’ defense battle-tested Minneota, with a fumble recovery from Colten Bothun on the Vikings’ 30-yard line.

Dawson-Boyd continued to look at Colten Bothun on the drive, with a trio of passes to break into the red zone on the 8-yard. But, Minneota returned the favor defensively with two sacks on Liebl, between Bradley, Fier and Arndt, to put the Blackjacks on the 15-yard line on fourth down.

Bellefeuille kicked the field goal to get Dawson-Boyd on the board with less than a minute in the half to go, down 7-3.

Minneota took advantage in the waning moments of the first half with a Sussner and Fier connection for a 75-yard receiving touchdown, along with another good kick from Ian Myhre, to give the Vikings a 14-3 edge with 37 seconds left.

“Our defense has been really, really good all season. To be in that position, to hold that team to 14 points in a half is a really good effort,” Larson said. “They’re not a team that turns it over a lot, to force those couple of turnovers in the first half, that was big. Would have liked to execute better and turn that more into points … It was 21-16, and we had the ball and went three-and-out, then backed it up with a snap, which you can’t make those mistakes against a team like Minneota.”

Being rivals as continuously two of the top teams in the section, and both ranked in the state, Minneota and Dawson-Boyd met to end the regular season. The Blackjacks held the Vikings to their lowest scored points of the season in the game in a 34-3 loss.

Minneota and Dawson-Boyd have been ranked top-10 in the state throughout the season, with the Vikings holding No. 1 and the Blackjacks entering Friday No. 9.

Dawson-Boyd graduates seniors Liebl, Nathan Hansen, Olson, Holland Schacherer, Evan Mork, Sather, Ryder Kittelson, Hudson Giese and Laiken Johnson-Crosby.

“It’s a great group of kids … They stepped into that [leadership] role, and you hope each year that they follow suit and learn from those in front of you,” Larson said. “It’s fun for me to watch them grow, sometimes year-to-year, but from junior high kids to seniors. Certainly always brings me some heartache when you got to say goodbye to them.”

Minneota (10-0) will next prepare for the Class A state tournament with quarterfinals beginning on Thursday, with location, opponent and times to be announced over the weekend along with seeding.

“We got to be ready. Some of these teams, we’ve never seen before, and that’s what you always got to be ready for,” Easton Johnston said. “You got to be ready for unexpected things. Our coaches are great at being able to prepare us for those games.”