17 October 2023
There may be just one week remaining in the Minnesota high school football regular season, but much is still to be decided when it comes to sectional tournament seedings.
Not so much in Class 6A, where section records rule the roost, and intersection games wrapped up prior to last week’s games.
The four No. 1 seeds among the big schools figure to be Stillwater, Eden Prairie, Centennial and Lakeville South — by virtue of its head-to-head victory over rival Lakeville North.
But things get much more interesting in the other classes.
CLASS 5A
For instance, there are three 6-1 teams in Section 3, and none of them played one another. St. Thomas Academy is likely to get the No. 1 seed by virtue of its strong QRF — the Quality Rating Formula produced by Minnesota-Scores.net — so long as the Cadets win in Chaska on Wednesday.
But the No. 2 seed, and the first-round bye that comes with it, is entirely up for grabs. Bloomington Jefferson is No. 9 in the Class 5A QRF, and Two Rivers is No. 10. They’re separated by an incredibly thin margin.
Neither team has a layup on Wednesday — Jefferson travels to play Rochester John Marshall, while Two Rivers plays host to Simley. If only one of the two teams wins Wednesday, that team figures to be the No. 2 seed. But, should they both win, would a victory over a strong Class 4A team in Simley be enough to push Two Rivers over the top?
In Section 4, Mahtomedi (4-3) blitzed Central (5-3) in Week 2. But those two teams are currently No. 15 and No. 16 in the QRF. If Mahtomedi can beat Spring Lake Park on Wednesday, the Zephyrs are almost certainly the top seed. But should they stumble, and Central beats rival Highland Park, the numbers will likely favor the Minutemen.
Regardless, those are probably your top two seeds, while Highland Park (3-4), Tartan (2-5) and Cretin-Derham Hall (2-5) are all in tight corridors in the race for home quarterfinal games.
CLASS 4A
Section 3 is a tricky one. Hill-Murray (5-2) owns the top QRF spot in the section, and a win over its closest competitor, Simley (5-2).
The Pioneers are favorites to close the regular season with a win over Como Park, which has won four straight games in its own right. Case closed on the top seed, correct? It would figure to be.
But a Simley victory over Two Rivers might push the Spartans past Hill-Murray in QRF. And a Simley loss Wednesday could crack the door open on the No. 2 seed for Chisago Lakes (5-2).
The race for the No. 4 seed and a home section quarterfinal is on between Como Park (4-3) and Johnson (4-3). Como Park currently edges Johnson by a slim margin in the QRF. But if Como Park falls to Hill-Murray on Wednesday, and Johnson tops Minneapolis South, that could easily flip.
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