On the gridiron it was the opening night of playoff football in Minnesota, and the Huskies of Jackson County Central will continue their season into the Class AA, Section 3 semifinals after handling Pipestone in a 43-13 win. JCC is now 7-2 and will play Saturday in Jackson against Luverne, who had little trouble in a 40-6 win over Windom. In the same bracket, top-seeded Blue Earth shutout St. James, 47-0, and Maple River defeated Tracy-Milroy-Balaton, 27-6.
In Class AAA, second-seeded Fairmont pushed past Dassel-Cokato, 33-28, improving to 8-1 and advancing to the second-round. That’s where the Cardinals will take on Montevideo, a 52-40 winner over Worthington, whose season ends at 3-8. Also, Redwood Valley got by Watertown-Mayer , 36-16, and Glencoe-Silver Lake won 57-7 over New Ulm.
And over in Class A, Martin County West fell just short of making it to the next level, dropping a tight 21-20 contest to visiting Springfield. MCW finishes 5-4, while Springfield will play Saturday against top-seeded Adrian after they beat Southwest United, 40-20. The rest of the bracket saw Mountain Lake/Butterfield-Odin win 38-14 over Murray County Central, and Wabasso used a 39-18 final to eliminate Red Rock Central.
