LAMBERTON — The Red Rock Central and Wabasso football teams each earned first-round byes in the Section 2 9-player tournament, announced earlier this week. The Falcons are in search of their third section championship in four years, while Wabasso looks to continue to turn its program around after moving down from Class A to start this season.

Red Rock Central earned the top seed in the section after putting together a perfect 8-0 regular season. The Falcons last made the section championship game in 2023, falling to Cedar Mountain, and last made the state tournament in 2022 after they defeated Mountain Lake Area-Comfrey in the section title match.

Wabasso enters the section tournament at 7-1 on the season, with their lone loss coming to RRC in Lamberton by a score of 7-1. The Falcons ran away with the rest of their games and looked to be one of the stronger teams in Class A.

Both RRC and Wabasso were ranked in the final Minnesota Associated Press poll. The Falcons enter the postseason ranked No. 4, while Wabasso enters the tournament ranked No. 6. Wabasso was ranked as high as No. 4 before its loss to RRC.

The lone blemish on both Red Rock Central and Wabasso’s resumes is strength of schedule. Each team played just one game against an opponent with a winning record, and it was the game that they played against each other.

With the first-round bye, RRC will kick off its postseason run on Saturday when it hosts the winner of No. 5 Renville County West and No. 4 New Ulm Cathedral at 7 p.m. The Jaguars enter the postseason at 3-5 while New Ulm Cathedral enters at 4-4. The Falcons defeated Cathedral 28-6 in the first week of the season and defeated Renville County West 46-6 two weeks later.

New Ulm Cathedral is scheduled to host RCW on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

On the opposite side of the bracket, Wabasso will host the winner of Tuesday’s game between Cedar Mountain and Westbrook-Walnut Grove on Saturday at 2 p.m.

Cedar Mountain hosts the Chargers in the quarterfinal round in Morgan on Tuesday at 7 p.m. Cedar Mountain earned the No. 3 seed with a 4-4 record on the season, while Westbrook-Walnut Grove enters the tournament at 2-6. The Chargers ended the regular season on a three-game skid, but had three of the eight games they played this year come against teams ranked top 10 in the state.

Wabasso defeated Cedar Mountain 22-0 when the two met in the regular season, but neither Wabasso or Cedar Mountain has faced WWG yet this year.

The Section 2 9-player championship match is slated to be held at Lakeview High School in Cottonwood on Oct. 31 at 7 p.m.