Photo by Jake McNeill: Murray County Central quarterback Teague Meyer (8) celebrates with teammate Jordan Sturges after Meyer ran in a long touchdown during the Rebels' Class A quarterfinal win over Fillmore Central in Rochester on Friday.

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ROCHESTER — A trio of touchdowns from Teague Meyer and a lockdown defensive effort in the first half set the tone for the No. 3S Murray County Central football team as they defeated No. 2S Fillmore Central for their first state tournament win since 2000. The Rebels stormed out to a 21-0 lead and held off a furious comeback effort from the Falcons to advance through the Class A quarterfinals, 29-26.

Meyer had a 1-yard punch-in and a long touchdown run from midfield to give the Rebels a 14-0 lead, and Lewis ran in another touchdown from the 11 to give MCC each of the game’s first 21 points. Still, a long run from Bridon Bahl set up a 23-yard touchdown pass from him to Cody Serfling to cut the deficit to 21-6 at halftime.

Joseph Otto recovered a fumble for the Falcons in the second half, which eventually turned into Bahl connecting with Quinci Kaase for another long touchdown. Still, Carson Lewis came up with a big stop on the 2-point conversion attempt to keep the Rebels’ lead at multiple possessions.

Jordan Sturges broke off a run from the MCC 36 to the Fillmore Central 37 to start a drive late in the third quarter, and Gabe Tentinger lept up and made a contested grab over a defender to move the Rebels into the red zone. Meyer then punched in his third touchdown of the day, and the Rebels ran a direct snap to Sturges to go up 29-12 with 11 minutes to play in the game.

Still, the Falcons weren’t giving up yet. Kaase got a reverse, faked a double reverse and took it himself from the 14 to the 49, and he caught another deep touchdown with nine minutes left to cut further into the deficit. Still, Meyer made the tackle on the 2-point conversion attempt to keep MCC’s cushion at 9 points.

Fillmore Central stopped the Rebels on fourth down to get the ball back with time winding down. The Falcons advanced deep into MCC territory despite a pair of sacks by Quintin Lewis. Yet, a pass interference call gave the Falcons new life and they capitalized with a touchdown pass to Grant Daniels and a 2-point conversion to Davis Penhollow, cutting the deficit to 3 points. Still, MCC recovered the onside kick and was able to clinch the win after kneeling out the clock.

MCC improves to 9-2 on the year after earning its ninth consecutive win and will take on the North’s top-seeded Breckenridge in the state semifinals at US Bank Stadium on Saturday at 11:30 a.m.