The undefeated Worthington Trojans boys soccer team drew a No. 5 seed in the upcoming eight-team Class AA state tournament and will face No. 4 Willmar on Thursday.
The Trojans, who blanked Mankato West 4-0 on Thursday night to win the Section 2AA title, are 19-0 on the season and will face the Section 6AA-champion Cardinals at 5:30 p.m. Thursday in Waconia. Willmar advanced to state by rallying from a two-goal deficit in the final four minutes in regulation and beating Princeton 4-3 in overtime.
The winner of the Worthington-Willmar match will play in the state semifinals at 12:30 p.m. Nov. 3 in U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. The championship match is set for 3:30 p.m. Saturday, also at U.S. Bank Stadium.
**
The top-seeded and No. 1-ranked Marshall girls volleyball team will host eighth-seeded Worthington on Wednesday in the opening round of the Section 3AAA tournament.
The Tigers, who are 27-2 this fall, will take on the 15-14 Trojans in a match scheduled to start at 7 p.m. at Marshall High School.
**
Pairings were released Saturday morning for several upcoming Iowa high school football games.
Among them: Sioux Center will play at Boyden-Hull/Rock Valley; Spirit Lake will play at West Lyon in Inwood; Central Lyon/George-Little Rock will host Clear Lake; Western Christian will play at Underwood; and Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn will entertain North Butler. Those games will each take place at 7 p.m. Friday.
**
In Iowa high school football Friday night, it was:
Boyden Hull Rock Valley 48, Sioux City Heelan 9 Sioux Center 17, MOC Floyd Valley 14 Okoboji 23, Forest City 0 Hartley Melvin Sanborn 70, Tri-Center 54 Western Christian 21, Carroll Kuemper 7 Southeast Valley 46, Sheldon 7 West Lyon 42, Garner Hayfield Ventura 8 Spirit Lake 46, Osage 20 Central Lyon George Little Rock 38, Estherville Lincoln Central 23 Kingsley Pierson 30, Harris Lake Park 13
**
The Minnesota West women’s volleyball team played a pair of home matches over the weekend, defeating Ridgewater 3-1 on Friday and falling to Minnesota State Fergus Falls 3-2 Saturday.
Game scores against Ridgewater were 17-25, 25-14, 25-23, 25-16. Kennedy Buckneberg had 15 kills to pace the Lady Jays offensively, while Emily Dunlop added eight kills and Shelby Christensen had seven. Julia Russel led the way in digs with 26; Christensen had 22 and Buckneberg 14. Emma Keith topped Minnesota West in set assists with 26; she also went 18-for 19 serving. Taya Mason was 20-of-22 serving for the Jays.
Against Fergus Falls, game scores were 25-12, 25-27, 23-25, 25-13, 15-5. Buckneberg had nine kills and 14 digs and was 15-for-15 serving. Dunlop had 10 kills. Russel had 25 digs and Christensen 20. Mason led in set assists with 21; Mallory Thorson was 17-of-17 serving and had two aces.
**
Kendrick Gordon’s interception return for a touchdown capped a second-half Minnesota West comeback as the Bluejays rallied to edge Rochester, 29-28, in an MCAC playoff quarterfinal game Sunday afternoon in Rochester.
Minnesota West trailed 28-8 at halftime, but overcame that deficit in the final two quarters.
Quarterback Brock Starley, who replaced Willard Carl Holm at halftime, connected with Ian Stamer from 14 yards out with 5:08 left in the third to make it 28-15 following Mike Peralta’s point-after kick. The Jays closed to within 28-22 when Starley hooked up with Bailey Cowell for a five-yard TD with 10:49 to go in the game.
Then, with 6:58 to go, a Rochester pass from near its own goal line was tipped by Louis Johnson, picked up by Gordon and returned five yards for a touchdown. Peralta’s PAT kick made it 29-28, and that wound up being the final score.
Starley completed 7-of-16 throws for 91 yards and two TDs to lead the Bluejay passing game. Rashard Anderson, Stamer, Cowell and Tommy Lais each had three receptions; Anderson had a team-best 41 yards rushing and Starley added 38. Minnesota West managed 194 yards in total offense, compared to 222 for Rochester.
Defensively, Kent Lais had 14 total tackles (four solo, 10 assisted) to lead the Jays. Gordon had 13, Johnson 12 and Duvaughn Willliams 10. Izaya Atkinson recovered a pair of fumbles.
Minnesota West will play at Itasca next Sunday in the MCAC semifinals.
