Photo by Jake McNeill: Minneota’s Destin Fier celebrates with teammates after scoring a punt return touchdown in the Section 5A football championship game against BOLD on Thursday at Mattke Field in Marshall. Vikings beat Warriors 34-28 to claim fifth straight sectional title

This story will be updated with statistics, quotes and details

MARSHALL — Prep football fans in southwest Minnesota don’t often see the Minneota Vikings behind. That was the case Friday night when the Vikings fell into a 21-7 hole after the first half of the Section 5A championship against BOLD. However, the four-time defending champions scored 21 unanswered points to advance before winning 34-28 to return to the state tournament.

It didn’t take long for BOLD’s offense to begin. On the first play from scrimmage, Jack Gross dropped back and hit Hudson Vosika on a thin post between the hash marks for a 70-yard touchdown, taking a 7-0 lead just 29 seconds into the game.

Minneota didn’t let BOLD hold the lead for long. Fier picked up the squib kick and returned it 20 yards to the Minneota 49-yard line. Meagher took over from there, running the ball on seven of the Vikings’ eight plays before eluding a series of tacklers for a game-tying 8-yard touchdown just over three minutes later.

The opening minutes of the game marked a stark departure from last year’s sectional championship between the two teams, in which the Vikings outshot the Warriors 14-6. Meagher scored a 1-yard touchdown to give Minneota a 7-0 lead in the second quarter of that game, and Destin Fier capped the dagger with a 62-yard score in the third quarter.

From there, however, Minneota’s offense stalled for the rest of the first half. They scored on every subsequent drive heading into halftime except their last, in which they converted a fourth-and-1 before rushing down the field in the final minute. With one second left on the clock, Larson snapped the ball from the 14-yard line, but his pass to Eli Gruenes in the corner of the end zone was picked off by Vosika and returned 99 yards to the end zone for a 21-7 lead. lead at halftime.

BOLD’s second score of the day came on its second possession. Gross found Colton Baumgartner down the sideline for a 44-yard gain at the Minneota 10-yard line. On the next play, Vosika pushed a Minneota defender just inside the post to make it 14-7 in favor of the Warriors with just over a minute to play in the first quarter.

Despite facing a rare halftime deficit, the Vikings wasted no time putting their heads down to start the second half. Meagher helped spark Minneota into life with a 13-yard run and a 10-yard run on back-to-back carries to get the Vikings into BOLD territory. Facing a third-and-8 on the next set of downs, Larson faked a handoff to Meagher before spinning and hitting Brock Fier with a screen pass for an 11-yard gain to keep the chains moving .

Meagher took another 8-yard run, unable to avoid the last defender, but set up Minneota with a first-and-goal from the 8. He was stuffed on the next drive, but made a pitch to left on second down and he stiffened. runs through a tackler before scoring a touchdown to end the 5 1/2 minute drive.

Destin Fier came up with a six-yard tackle for loss on an option fielder to set up a third-and-15 for BOLD, and Carson Javers fumbled the third-down pass attempt to force a BOLD punt, giving the and Minneota got the ball back with three minutes to play in the third quarter.

BOLD tried to take advantage of Gross being both their quarterback and punter by faking the punt and throwing a pass over the middle, but the ball was turned over and Minneota took over at the 30-yard line.

Once awarded open field position, Minneota didn’t let it go to waste. Facing a third-and-9, Kellen Bradley had an 11-yard gain to take the Vikings to their 19-yard line to close out the third quarter, and Meagher scored the tying score with a run from there.

Minneota’s defense continued to clamp down on BOLD, forcing another punt from near midfield. Deep man Destin Fier said he was told to call for the fair catch, but he saw an opening and took advantage. After initially going right, he reversed field and sprinted down the left sideline almost untouched for the touchdown, sending the Minneota crowd into a frenzy.

However, with almost eight minutes left on the clock, the game was far from over. The Warriors went their way down the court and Kaden Fischer capped off the drive with a pair of big runs to tie the game with 5:30 left.

With time winding down in the fourth quarter, Minneota’s run-heavy offense was ready to go for the kill. The Vikings took the ball into the red zone with less than two minutes remaining when BOLD was forced to start calling timeouts. After they burned their final timeout on second-and-goal, Meagher inbounded the ball for a 34-28 lead with 59 seconds left after the blocked extra point.

The Warriors moved up the midfield with a series of quick passes. BOLD had one last chance to force overtime or win the game, but Kyson Arndt came up with the clutch tape sack to seal the victory and send Minneota to its fifth straight state tournament.

After surviving the scare, Minneota improves to 10-0 on the season as it advances to the state tournament. The South’s 1 and 4 seeds will play at Jordan High School on Friday at 5:30 p.m., while the 2 and 3 seeds will play at Rochester Mayo High School on Thursday at 7 p.m. The seeds will be announced over the weekend.