Photo by Samantha Davis: Minneota's Kellen Bradley (34) celebrates after scoring a touchdown in the second quarter while Kyson Arndt (64) and Dalton Orvis (back) come up to congratulate in the Vikings' 28-14 win over Mahnomen/Waubun Saturday morning in the Class A state semifinals. Minneota is returning to the prep bowl for the fifth straight year on a quest for its fourth consecutive title.

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MINNEAPOLIS — Powered behind a pair of Tristen Sussner rushing touchdowns, the top-seeded and top-ranked Minneota is returning back to the Class A prep bowl for the fifth-straight season, one win away from a fourpeat and its third consecutive undefeated season. The Vikings defeated No. 2 Mahnomen/Waubun Saturday morning in the semifinals 28-14 in a battle of two undefeated teams, who both entered the game 11-0 on the season.

Minneota had a slight edge on total offensive yards on the day with 242 to M/W’s 240, but the Vikings run game was too much for the Thunderbirds with 215 rushing yards while M/W rushed for 170 yards.

Saturday was the closest margin of victory for the Vikings since Minneota defeated Class 2A Eden Valley-Watkins by 7 points in the second game of the season.

Sussner, Minneota’s junior quarterback, ran in his two touchdowns between the second and third quarter, and finished with 27 passing yards on two complete passes on five attempts.

Senior Kellen Bradley had a team-high 146 rushing yards along with a touchdown in the second quarter on 27 carries. Senior Easton Johnston scored the first touchdown of the day in the opening quarter and sealed the Vikings’ win with a fourth-quarter interception with just over a minute to go.

The semifinals matchup was also a battle between top-5 Class A ranked teams, as Minneota has held the No. 1 spot all year while M/W was most recently tabbed No. 4 in the final regular season coaches poll. This is also the Thunderbirds fifth-straight state tournament experience.

The Vikings opened state play with a comfortable 42-6 win over No. 4 Lester Prairie in the quarterfinals last Friday, as the Thunderbirds did the same over No. 3 Upsala/Swanville, 17-8.

M/W received the ball first, but was not able to break into Minneota territory following tackles from Adam DeVlaeminck, Caleb Bottelberghe and Kyson Arndt to hold the opening drive to just 17 yards and the Vikings took over on the Thunderbirds’ 42-yard line.

Defensively, Bradley finished with a team-high 19 tackles, while Ian Myhre, Randy Sorenson, DeVlaeminck and Bottelberghe followed with six each.

A pair of carries each from Bradley and Sussner put Minneota on the 24-yard line, followed with a big gain by Bradley for 17 yards to bring the Vikings in the red zone on M/W’s 7-yard line.

Johnston rushed right on the next play into the corner of the end zone for the game’s first score. Myhre’s kick was good to give the Vikings a 7-0 lead.

Both teams traded turnovers on their next drives, but M/W turned things around on its first drive of the second quarter after getting to the 1-yard line with a string of carries by senior quarterback Blake McMullen.

McMullen pushed into the end zone, and also completed the 2-point play afterward to put the Thunderbirds ahead, 8-7, with just under nine minutes to go in the half.

Yet, the Vikings only allowed their deficit to last about five minutes as Bradley broke through for a 3-yard rushing touchdown on the next drive to give Minneota back a 13-8 lead.

Minneota marched down the field from their own 19-yard on the drive, powered by carries by Bradley, Joey Lacek and a 27-yard pass from Sussner down to Landon Esping.

The Vikings tried for 2 after the touchdown, but Johnston fell just short of the end zone on the attempt.

Arndt came up big defensively, shifting the momentum, blocking the Thunderbird’s punt to immediately take the ball back on their 22-yard, after forcing a turnover on downs.

Following another pair of carries by Bradley, Sussner broke through himself for a 15-yard rushing touchdown up the middle, also completing the 2-point conversion to build the Vikings’ lead to 21-8 as the half came to a close.

The Vikings had 147 total offensive yards to M/W’s 110 in the first half, with 120 rushing yards. Bradley also tallied seven first-half tackles to Bottelberghe’s five.

Sussner kept the stride going, opening the first half with his second touchdown of the day on a 2-yard rush following carries by Brock Fier and Bradley to get into scoring position in the red zone just short of goal. The Vikings extended to a 28-8 lead, beginning to pull away.

In continuing tradition, Minneota held onto its lead the rest of the way while holding the Thunderbirds off defensively, cheering with one another following the win after officially punching its ticket back into the championship with the help of Johnston’s interception to close the game.

While this was the first meeting between the two since the Class A quarterfinals in 2021, where the Vikings came away with a 34-0 win, the two programs have combined for decades of section championships and state tournament experience.

Mahnomen and Waubun combined teams in 2018, the same year the Thunderbirds won the state championship for the first time as a merged program, and has been in the tournament every year since 2021. Prior to the two programs coming together however, Mahnomen had 26 state appearances with eight championships, while Waubun’s nine-player team had four state berths and one championship in 2007.

The only team that has gotten in M/W’s way the past two years of reaching the championship has been Springfield, who did not make it to state this year after a defeat to Murray County Central in the Section 3A championship.

Minneota (12-0) returns to the state championship next week, and will face the winner of No. 3S Murray County Central and No. 1N Breckenridge, who are currently playing. The Vikings are looking to bring home their 11th overall championship during its 18th tournament run.

The prep bowl is slated for Friday back at US Bank Stadium with a 10 a.m. kickoff.