Jackson County Central, Hills-Beaver Creek to play for Prep Bowl crowns

Jackson County Central will look to finish off a repeat as Minnesota Class 2A football champions when it takes on Goodhue in the state title game at 4 p.m. Friday at U.S. Bank Stadium.

The unbeaten Huskies are 12-0 this season and are the top-ranked Class 2A team in Minnesota. The Huskies have consistently dominated their opponents throughout the fall, and there was no exception to that in last week's semifinals. Paced by four touchdowns rushing and two passing from senior quarterback Roman Voss, the JCC overpowered Eden Valley-Watkins and by a score of 38-0 — which was also the score at halftime.

The Huskies are averaging 51.8 points per game this season while allowing just 9.9 points per outing. In Goodhue, JCC will playing a team with a stingy defense of its own, as the Wildcats have given up just 9.1 points per game. Goodhue is also 12-0 and ranked fourth in the state; they score an average of 38.6 points per contest.

In last week's semifinals, the Wildcats knocked off Holdingford — which had been ranked second in the state — 24-7.  Senior quarterback Luke Roschen ran 86 yards for a touchdown for Goodhue and finished the game with 141 yards on the ground; he also threw a TD pass.

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The Hills-Beaver Creek football team advanced all the way to the Minnesota 9-Man state title game last year, only to suffer its lone loss of the season and fall 20-8 to Fertile-Beltrami.

This year, the Patriots will look to do 2024 one better and bring home a championship as a result. H-BC, with a record of 12-0 and the state's No. 1 ranking, will face No. 5 Hillcrest Valley Lutheran — which is also undefeated and 12-0 — at 10 a.m. Saturday at U.S. Bank Stadium.

In a rematch of last year's 9-Man title tilt, the Patriots got a small measure of revenge by knocking off Fertile-Beltrami 30-14 in the semifinals. Up 16-14 in the second quarter, H-BC's Eduardo Wegener broke loose for a 69-yard touchdown run and Micah Bush then got in for the two-point conversion for a 24-14 advantage. Bush then added a TD before the half was over.

Hillcrest Lutheran Academy, meanwhile, built a 27-6 lead in its semifinal game against Kittson County Central before fending off a rally and winning 27-21. It was the second consecutive narrow victory for the Comets, as they eked out a 40-38 triumph over Mabel-Canton in the quarterfinals. 

Hillcrest Lutheran Academy is scoring an average of 44.7 points per contest and surrendering an average of 15.6. For H-BC, the averages are 49.8 points for and 9.6 points allowed.