Football: Wadena-Deer Creek earns third seed in Section 6-2A tournament, area football seedings finalized

WADENA – After MEA weekend, Minnesota high school football teams gear up for their respective section football tournaments.

Teams from around west central Minnesota are eyeing deep postseason runs. Whether it’s a chance to play spoiler or cash in on an impressive regular season, area gridders will be put to the test in the next two weeks.

Here’s a look at each section tournament for local teams.

Wadena-Deer Creek finished its best regular season since 1999 with the third seed in the Section 6-2A tournament.

The Wolverines are 6-2 on the season, including a 1-0 section record. The win came in week one over sixth-seeded Staples-Motley (0-8). WDC will host the Cardinals on Tuesday for the second consecutive postseason.

Osakis earned the top seed in the Section 6-3A playoffs with a record of 7-1, including a 3-0 mark in section play. The Silverstreaks get a first-round bye before taking on the winner of fourth-seeded West Central Area-Ashby (5-3) and fifth-seeded Pillager (2-6). WCA-A is the defending state runners-up.

Sauk Centre put together a bit of a surprise season to earn the second seed in the field with a 5-3 record. The Mainstreeters will host the winner of Staples-Motley and WDC at 2 p.m.

New York Mills made it all the way to U.S. Bank Stadium a year ago after winning the 6A title as the third seed. The Eagles hope to repeat their fortunes as the top seed in 2022.

New York Mills will host winless Underwood (0-8) on Tuesday before taking on fourth-seeded Menahga (5-3) or fifth-seeded Breckenridge (5-3). The Eagles posted a 7-1 record in 2021 before beating Menahga, Pine River-Backus and Breckenridge in the section tournament. The Eagles knocked off Deer River in the first round of the state tournament before falling to the eventual champions, Mayer-Lutheran, 41-6.

Pine River-Backus is the second seed in the section with a record of 6-2 and will host Walker-Hackensack-Akeley in the first round. New York Mills beat the Tigers 12-0 in the regular season.

Lake Park-Audubon earned the sixth seed and will travel to the third-seeded Ottertail Central Bulldogs. The Raiders turned in a 3-5 record, with wins over Fosston, Polk County West and Warroad. The Bulldogs dropped three of their last four games to finish the regular season 5-3.

The Detroit Lakes football team earned the third seed for the second consecutive season with a 5-3 record. After winning their first four games of the regular season, the Lakers head to Becker on Saturday with losses in three of their last four contests.

Saturday’s Section 8-4A semifinal contest will be a rematch of last year’s championship game. Second-seeded Becker (7-1) beat Detroit Lakes 35-15 to win the section title before falling to Kasson-Mantorville in the second round of the Class 4A state tournament.

The Lakers are scoring 29.1 points per game while allowing just 17.8. On the other hand, Becker is scoring 32.5 points per game while allowing 14.9. Becker’s only loss of the season was in week one against top-seeded Rocori on the road.

The Spartans finished with a 6-2 record and will play the winner of Little Falls (2-6) and St. Cloud Apollo (1-7). Detroit Lakes beat Becker 21-20 in a semifinal upset a year ago to clinch a spot in the section title game.

Rocori started its season with five consecutive wins before falling to Hutchinson and Willmar in back-to-back weeks.

The Lakers kick off their playoff run at 1 p.m. from Becker High School.

The Perham football team (4-4) earned the second seed in the Section 8-3A tournament and will host its first-round game against seventh-seeded Park Rapids (0-8) on Tuesday.

The Yellowjackets opened the season with a 22-0 win over the Panthers. It was the first of four section wins for Perham as it went on to beat third-seeded East Grand Forks (4-4), fourth-seeded Thief River Falls (4-4) and fifth-seeded Fergus Falls (2-6).

Top-seeded Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton (8-0) handed Perham its only section loss this season. The undefeated Rebels get a first-round bye before taking on the winner of Thief River Falls and Fergus Falls on Saturday.

Sixth-seeded Roseau (1-7) heads to East Grand For its first-round game. Perham or Park Rapids will take on the winner on Saturday. All first-round games take place on Oct. 25 at 6 p.m before the semifinals this Saturday. Times are yet to be determined. The winners of the semifinal games will play at the Fargodome on Nov. 3 at 8 p.m.

Frazee and Hawley are set to battle it out in the first round of the Section 8-2A tournament.

The fourth-seeded Hornets (5-3) will host the fifth-seeded Nuggets (2-6) at Detroit Lakes High School on Tuesday night at 6 p.m. Hawley is riding a three-game losing streak, with its most recent loss coming against top-seeded Barnesville (8-0).

Frazee knocked off Ottertail Central and Roseau to end the regular season with a winning record despite not playing a home game this season.

The winner will get Barnesville on Saturday. The Trojans are undefeated, outsourcing opponents by an average of 42-4. Barnesville gets a first-round bye after posting a 3-0 section record.

Pelican Rapids takes its 7-1 record into the postseason as the second seed. The Vikings’ lone loss was in week three against Barnesville, and they will also get a first-round bye. Pelican Rapids will take on the winner of third-seeded Crookston (3-5) and Warroad (2-6).

Mahnomen-Waubun is headed down a collision course with Ada-Borup-West in Section 8A.

The Thunderbirds (7-1) are the reigning champions in Section 8A after beating the Cougars (7-1) 30-7 at the Fargodome. Mahnomen-Waubun picked up a 14-8 win this season, seducing the top seed in the section bracket.

Mahnomen-Waubun won its first seven games of the regular season before falling to the defending 6A champions, New York Mills (7-1), 26-21 in the final game of the regular season. The Thunderbirds posted a 4-0 record in section play.

The Thunderbirds will play the winner of Polk County West (4-4) and Bagley (2-6) on Saturday. Ada-Borup-West hosts seventh-seeded Fosston (0-8), while third-seeded Red Lake County (6-2) welcomes sixth-seeded Red Lake (0-8).