Recap: North St. Paul had six penalties and a turnover in the first half — and still led 21-0 at the break in a dominating performance that sends the Polars (7-2) to the Class 5A, Section 4 championship game, their first section final since 1998. Isaiah Koran, James Bothwell, Ken Kamoga, Bishop McDonald and Fisayo Oduyemi each had touchdown runs — all 5 yards or shorter — for a balanced North St. Paul rushing attack that moved the ball at will against the Minutemen.

Key of the game: The offensive and defensive lines for North controlled the line of scrimmage all night. It allowed the Polars offense to sustain long drives and keeping a normally potent offense of Central (7-3) off the scoreboard until late in the game.

Quote: “We’ve been underdogs for a long time, and we’ve been ready for this. We feel we have something special here. It’s just hunger. Hunger. We wanted it more, and we went out and we got it.” — North St. Paul junior running back Ken Kamoga.

One thing to know: McDonald returned a punt 33 yards for what appeared to be a North touchdown in the first half, only to have it called back for a penalty that occurred away from the play. It was the fifth time this season McDonald, who also has 11 interceptions this year, had a return touchdown called back because of a penalty.

BRYCE EVANS

North St. Paul had six penalties and a turnover in the first half — and still led 21-0 at the break in a dominating 33-8 victory at home Tuesday.

Isaiah Koran, James Bothwell, Ken Kamoga, Bishop McDonald and Fisayo Oduyemi each had touchdown runs — all 5 yards or shorter — for the Polars (7-2), who held the normally high-scoring Central offense to one touchdown that came well after the game was already out of reach.

The Polars' defense controlled play from the get-go, holding Central to just four non-penalty-aided first downs in the opening two quarters. The Minutemen came into the game averaging 43.2 points and 578.8 total yards per game in their six victories.

Check back later for more on the game.