Minnesota Playoff Central: Class AAA State Field Decided TONIGHT

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>All eight Class AAA section title games are tonight plus nine other bids will be earned as well. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Playoff Central</strong>. There are 32 state tournament bids out there for Minnesota high schools and last night Waseca and JWP earned two of those bids. Tomorrow there will be 13 bids decided. But tonight is the biggest night when it comes to the state tournament and earning a spot in the state tournament. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Monster games in AAAA include Tartan vs CDH, Eagan vs Apple Valley, and Chaska facing Prior Lake. In Class AA the JCC vs Morris Area game will have the attention of the state while Caledonia is trying to put future expectations into an upset bid of Goodhue tonight despite their youth. And in Class A that Central Minnesota Christian vs Hills-Beaver Cree game has many buzzing. All of that said.....</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>The Big Stage</strong>. Class AAA is on the stage tonight because all eight bids will be decided. So with excitement for that about to happen we predict all eight winners now!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>1AAA. Northfield to beat Austin by 11 in Mayo Civic Arena.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>2AAA. Mankato East to defeat St. Peter by 13 at Gustavus.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>3AAA. Minneapolis South beats South St. Paul by one point at Minneapolis South.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>4AAA. DeLaSalle knocks off Mahtomedi in a way closer game than people expect on the Island.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>5AAA. Totino-Grace beats Becker by 28 at St. Francis.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>6AAA. Richfield beats Orono by nine at Richfield. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>7AAA. Hibbing defeats Grand Rapids by two points at Duluth East High School.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>8AAA. Fergus Falls entered sections at six games under .500 and they carry that Cinderella run to Sartell's front door, and then lose by 14. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Upset City</strong>. Seniors [player_tooltip player_id='2425361' first='Riley' last='Elfering'] and Brady Giohl led Melrose past Annandale in what on paper looks like an upset until you look in the box score and remember that the top Cardinal player [player_tooltip player_id='2126448' first='Colton' last='Purcell'] was lost for the season to injury. Good win for Melrose to get to 17-11 on the season and continue a great run as the six seed, but they were likely the favorite with Purcell out. Upset on paper, and a good Melrose team has caught momentum. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Six-foot-4 senior [player_tooltip player_id='2434181' first='Nathan' last='Rustad'] scored 20 leading Perham past East Grand Forks 69-50. Perham is a 12-loss team playing for the section title on Friday! I also feel like Upsala beating Braham is a mild upset and Stephen-Argyle beating Fertile-Beltrami was a bit of a surprise. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Top Performances</strong>. Good to see [player_tooltip player_id='2127213' first='Tollef' last='Birkeland'] out there full strength and helping. He had a team high 19 points for Pequot Lakes who crushed Mora 73-41. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2386616' first='Gavin' last='Bauer'] had another monster game as the sophomore scored 37 points in the section title contest leading JWP to state past Springfield. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Albany got 22 points on 8 of 13 shooting from [player_tooltip player_id='1560779' first='Ashton' last='Olson'] to beat St. Cloud Cathedral by 20 points. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Henning beat Breckenridge 80-57 and [player_tooltip player_id='1560827' first='Kale' last='Misegades'] made 12 of 19 field goals including four threes for his 37 points to lead the way. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Tip of the Hat to the Career</strong>. Several good players saw their careers come to a close last night. Guys like [player_tooltip player_id='2851170' first='Jack' last='Welch']. [player_tooltip player_id='2369272' first='Tyler' last='Eklund']. [player_tooltip player_id='2399032' first='Bryan' last='Buerkle']. [player_tooltip player_id='2434178' first='Drew' last='Gullickson']. And [player_tooltip player_id='2118474' first='Ethan' last='Martin'] of Belle Plaine. Welch is headed to CSP next year and took his team to state last season. Eklund was one of the state assist leaders. Buerkle took Springfield further than most expected. Gullickson is a budding prospect. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2118474' first='Ethan' last='Martin'] is the biggest hat tip to the career of the night. Ethan scored about 28 points a game leading his team to the top of Class AA at one point this season and keeping his team in the top ten most of the season. Martin is a high character student athlete that is going to be very good for River Falls. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->