Photo by Jake McNeill: Minneota’s Destin Fier celebrates with his teammates after scoring a go-ahead punt return touchdown in the Section 5A football championship game against BOLD on Thursday at Mattke Field in Marshall. The Vikings defeated the Warriors 34-28 to clinch their fifth consecutive section title

This story will be updated with statistics, quotes and details.

MARSHALL – Prep football fans in southwestern Minnesota don’t often see the Minneota Vikings behind them. That was the case Friday night, when the Vikings fell into a 21-7 hole after the first half of the Section 5A Championship against BOLD. However, the four-time reigning section champions put up 21 unanswered points to advance before posting a 34-28 victory to return to the state tournament.

It didn’t take long for BOLD’s offensive to get underway. On the first play from scrimmage, Jack Gross dropped back and hit Hudson Vosika on a thin post between the marks for a 70-yard touchdown, taking a 7-0 lead just 29 seconds into the game.

Minneota did not allow BOLD to maintain its lead for long. Fier picked up the kick and returned it 20 yards to the Minneota 49-yard line. Meagher took control from there, running the ball on seven of the Vikings’ eight plays before eluding a series of tacklers for an 8-yard touchdown that tied the game just over three minutes later.

The opening minutes of the game marked a radical change from last year’s section championship between the two teams, in which the Vikings defeated the Warriors 14-6. Meagher scored a 1-yard touchdown to give Minneota a 7-0 lead in the second quarter of that game and Destin Fier scored the dagger with a 62-yard score in the third quarter.

From there, however, Minneota’s offense stagnated for the rest of the first half. They punted every subsequent drive before halftime except the last one, in which they converted a fourth-and-1 before racing down the field in the final minute. With one second left on the clock, Larson took the ball from the 14-yard line, but his pass to Eli Gruenes in the corner of the end zone was intercepted by Vosika and returned 99 yards to the end zone for a 21-7. halftime advantage.

BOLD’s second score of the day came on their second possession. Gross found Colton Baumgartner running down the sideline for a 44-yard gain to the Minneota 10-yard line. On the next play, Vosika beat a Minneota defender just inside the pylon to make the score 14-7 in favor of the Warriors with just over a minute left in the first quarter.

Despite facing a rare halftime deficit, the Vikings wasted no time hanging their heads to start the second half. Meagher helped Minneota show signs of life with a 13-yard run and a 10-yard run on consecutive carries to push the Vikings into BOLD territory. Facing a third-and-8 on the next series of downs, Larson faked a handoff to Meagher before turning around and hitting Brock Fier with a screen pass for an 11-yard gain to keep the chains moving.

Meagher made another 8-yard run, unable to evade the last defender, but set up Minneota with a first-and-goal from the 8. He was blocked on the next carry, but made a throw to the left on the second down and blocked his pass. a tackler before scoring a touchdown to cap the 5 1/2-minute drive.

Destin Fier came up with a six-yard tackle for loss on an option thrower to set up a third-and-15 for BOLD and Carson Javers crushed the pass attempt on third down to force a BOLD punt, giving Minneota the ball back with There are three minutes left in the third quarter.

BOLD attempted to take advantage of the fact that Gross is both their quarterback and punter by faking the punt and throwing a pass up the middle, but the ball was deflected and Minneota took control at the 30-yard line.

Once given open field position, Minneota didn’t waste it. Facing a third-and-9, Kellen Bradley made an 11-yard gain to bring the Vikings to the 19-yard line to close the third quarter and Meagher scored the tie with a series of runs from there.

Minneota’s defense continued to crack down on BOLD, forcing another punt from near midfield. Destin Fier, the deep man, said he was told to call for a fair catch, but he saw an opportunity and took advantage. After initially going to his right, he reversed field and ran down the left sideline almost untouched to score the go-ahead touchdown, sending the Minneota crowd into a frenzy.

Still, with almost eight minutes remaining, the game was far from over. The Warriors drove down the field and Kaden Fischer capped the drive with a pair of big runs to tie the game with 5:30 left.

With time running out in the fourth quarter, Minneota’s offense was prepared to go in for the kill. The Vikings got the ball into the red zone with less than two minutes left when BOLD was forced to start calling timeouts. After they burned their final timeout on second-and-goal, Meagher ran the ball for a 34-28 lead with 59 seconds left after the blocked extra point.

The Warriors moved up to midfield with a series of quick passes. BOLD had one last chance to force overtime or win the game, but Kyson Arndt came up with the decisive catch to seal the victory and send Minneota to its fifth straight state tournament.

After surviving the scare, Minneota improves to 10-0 on the season as it advances to the state tournament. The South’s 1st and 4th seeds will play at Jordan High School on Friday at 5:30 pm, while the 2nd and 3rd seeds will play at Rochester Mayo High School on Thursday at 7pm. Seeds will be announced over the weekend.