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North metro football teams among playoff favorites

By DAVID LA VAQUE, Star Tribune, 10/21/14, 6:53PM CDT

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Football’s second season arrives this week as teams vie for a trip to TCF Bank Stadium for the first outdoor Prep Bowl since 1981.

Football’s second season arrives this week as teams vie for a trip to TCF Bank Stadium for the first outdoor Prep Bowl since 1981.

North-metro schools dot the section playoff landscape as favorites. In Class 6A, which begins Friday evening, Maple Grove earned the top seed in Section 6, followed by No. 2 Totino-Grace, No. 3 Centennial and No. 4 Osseo.

The four teams victorious in the quarterfinal round cross over to play the remaining four teams in Section 4 on Oct. 31 in what are considered the section championship games. Mounds View, East Ridge, Cretin-Derham Hall and Stillwater are the top four seeds in that section.

The other remaining classes — 9-man through 5A — started playing as early as Tuesday.

In Class 5A, three north-metro teams play host to semifinal games at 3 p.m. on Saturday: Spring Lake Park and Robbinsdale Cooper, the top-two seeds in Section 4 and Elk River, the No. 2 seed in Section 6.

 

Volleyball playoffs start

Section playoffs begin this week in volleyball. Section 5 in Class 3A features No. 1 seed Champlin Park, No. 2 Totino-Grace and No. 3 Osseo. All three teams, plus No. 4 St. Michael-Albertville, await the winners of first-round matches played Tuesday after this edition went to press.

In Class 2A, Park Center received the No. 1 seed in the North Division of the bracket. The Pirates play host to No. 8 seed Minneapolis Patrick Henry at 7 p.m. on Thursday.

 

Cross-country performances

The Totino-Grace girls’ cross-country team won the Northwest Suburban Conference championship held Oct. 9 at the Elk River Golf Course. Junior Michaela Brands, senior Amy Gasperlin and junior Maggie Louiselle cemented the Eagles’ victory by crossing the finish line within three seconds of each other.

Sarah Olson, an eighth-grader at Blaine, won medalist honors in a time of 15 minutes, 4.9 seconds. Rounding out the top five were junior Erin Guse (Spring Lake Park), seventh-grader Aria Burgess (Centennial), sophomore Michelle Meyer (Irondale) and Brands.

On the boys’ side, Robbinsdale Armstrong took the team title 13 points ahead of Andover.

Centennial sophomore Reed Kurak won the race in a time of 15:57.7. Junior Lucas Trapp (Elk River), senior Nathan Engstrom (Andover), sophomore Kevin Dado (Totino-Grace) and junior Kyle Sweeney (Robbinsdale Armstrong) grabbed the first five spots.

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