Section football playoff brackets released for Sections 1AAAAA, 1A

The seedings for the Section 1AAAAA and Section 1A football playoffs have been released, and with the COVID-19 virus forcing many area schools into distance learning and shutting down activities, the brackets look far different that in the past.

In Section 1AAAAA, the Austin Packers, the No. 5 seed had been scheduled to play No. 4 seed Rochester John Marshall at John Drews Field next Tuesday evening at 7:00 p.m., but because the Rochester Public School system will be going to distance learning exclusivley next Wednesday, the Rockets, plus Rochester Mayo and Rochester Century will not be playing any games past next Tuesday.  Because of that, Austin will now host No. 6 seed Northfield next Tuesday night at 7:00 p.m. at the Wescott Athletic Complex, and that will be the one and only section playoff game for both squads.  No. 3 seed Rochester Century will host No. 4 John Marshall next Tuesday evening, and No. 1 Owatonna and No. 2 Rochester Mayo will play for the section title on Tuesday night at 7:00 p.m. in Owatonna.

In Section 1A, the Blooming Prairie Awesome Blossoms, the defending State Class A champions will be the No. 1 seed, and, according to the bracket released on the MSHSL’s website, they will receive two byes into the section final Saturday, November 21st in Blooming Prairie at 1:00 p.m. against either No. 2 seed Goodhue or No. 3 seed Randolph, who are only other teams that will take part in the section tournament because of COVID-19.  The Wildcats will host the Rockets Tuesday night at 7:00 p.m.

No pairings had been released at last word for Section 1 9-man, which includes Grand Meadow, Southland, LeRoy/Ostrander, Spring Grove, Mabel-Canton, Lanesboro, Kingsland and Houston.