Brendan Pieper rushed for three touchdowns and Luke Shepard ran for a touchdown and threw a touchdown pass to lead New Prague to a 34-21 victory over visiting Mankato East in the Class 5A, Section 2 quarterfinals on Tuesday.
Pieper’s final touchdown — a 3-yard run early in the third quarter — gave the Trojans a 20-14 lead. Shepard’s 12-yard touchdown pass to Ethan Chromy extended the Trojans lead to 26-14.
The Cougars got within 27-21 on a 72-yard touchdown pass from Jacob Eggert to Puolrah Gong and the PAT. It was Eggert’s third touchdown pass. Gong caught a 42-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter.
Shepard’s 2-yard run extended the Trojans lead to 34-21.
The Trojans will play at Mankato West, the top-ranked team in Class 5A, in the semifinals on Saturday.
In other Class 5A games:

Apple Valley 27, Bloomington Jefferson 13: The Eagles avenged a one-point regular-season loss to the Jaguars with the victory in the Section 3 quarterfinals. The Eagles, who lost to the Jaguars, 21-20, on Sept. 17, advance to face unbeaten St. Thomas Academy on Saturday.

Cretin-Derham Hall 21, North St. Paul 6: Will Haider rushed for 95 yards and a touchdown and went over 1,000 yards for the season to lead the Raiders to the Section 4 quarterfinal victory. The Raiders will play at Mahtomedi on Saturday.
Tartan 48, St. Paul Central 28: Deshawn Houston returned an interception 75 yards for a touchdown and D’marco Chelley returned a punt 75 yards for a touchdown to spark the Titans to the Section 4 quarterfinal victory over the host Minuteman. 

Waconia 22, Chanhassen 12: Max McEnelly rushed for two touchdowns and a two-point conversion in the final eight minutes as Waconia rallied for the Section 2 quarterfinal victory over the host Storm. Josh Kirchoff’s 2-yard TD run with 10:11 remaining in the fourth quarter extended Chanhassen’s lead to 12-0. McEnelly’s 10-yard touchdown run and the PAT by Tanner Micke pulled the Wildcats within 12-7 with 7:38 remaining. With 2:47 remaining McEnelly, a junior, sprinted 83 yards for a touchdown and then ran for the two-point conversion to give the Wildcats a 15-12 lead. On the ensuing possession, the Wildcats got the ball back on a turnover. Alex Riley’s 6-yard touchdown run and Micke’s PAT extended the Wildcats lead to 22-12 with 2:09 remaining. Waconia will play at Chaska in the semifinals on Saturday.

Class 4A:
Princeton 42, Big Lake 22: Cooper Drews threw four touchdown passes and ran for a touchdown to lead the Tigers past the visiting Hornets in Section 6 quarterfinals. The Tigers will face Zimmerman in the section semifinals on Saturday.

Class 3A:
Dassel-Cokato 61, Holy Family 20: Eli Gillman and Tyree Thielen each scored three touchdowns to pace the host Chargers past the Fire in a Section 2 quarterfinal. Gillman, Thielen and Keyton Johnson each scored twice in the first half as the Chargers built a 48-13 lead at halftime. Thielen finished with 131 yards rushing. The Chargers, who earlier in the day moved up to the No. 1 in the Class 3A poll, will play host to Watertown-Mayer in the semifinals on Saturday. Watertown-Mayer defeated Glencoe-Silver Lake 21-0 on Tuesday.
Class 2A

St. Agnes 47, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 0: John Patros rushed for 205 yards and three touchdowns and the Aggies converted three turnovers into touchdowns in a one-minute span in the fourth quarter in the Section 4 victory at Concordia (St. Paul).