Behind a five-touchdown day from quarterback Jakob Nachreiner, the Tigers earned a 40-28 win over top-seeded Tracy-Milroy-Balaton in the Section 3A football championship game at Southwest Minnesota State University.

TMB fans may have been expecting a Panthers win on Friday after seeing how their team was able to pick up a dominant 34-6 win over the Tigers on Sept. 23. But this time it was the playoffs and the Tigers were at their best.

“We pride ourselves on playing our best football at the end of the season, and I think that’s obviously where we’re at right now,” Springfield head coach Adam Meyer said. “That first game we played them, we learned a lot from it, and our practices were shaped because of that, and our kids have absolutely responded in a positive way to every challenge put forth by the coaches.”

Nachreiner finished the game with 315 yards passing.

Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Springfield’s MaCoy Krick (7) lines up on offense during the Tigers’ Section 3A title game with TMB. Krick finished with three touchdowns and 173 yards receiving on offense in the 40-28 win and also had two interceptions on defense.

Among Nachreiner’s favorite targets in the win was MaCoy Krick, who hauled in three touchdown grabs and had 173 yards receiving.

And Nachreiner wasted little time getting Krick involved in the offense. On the Tigers’ second offensive play of the game, Nachreiner found Krick down the left side of the field for a 69-yard TD pass and a 7-0 lead.

“After I made that play, I thought it was still going to be a tough game to win and that they were going to come back and strike back, which they did,” Krick said. “But I thought to myself that I need to keep making these big plays for our team to win this football game. And that’s what I did.”

Krick wasn’t content making big plays on offense, though. After Springfield took its 7-0 lead, TMB quarterback Trevor Smith was picked off by Krick. The Tigers didn’t get any points after that interception, but it did slow the Panthers down.

TMB was forced to punt from its own end zone minutes later, but a high snap was fumbled and then scooped up just in time for a short kick to the TMB 18-yard line. Ashtin Johnson, who finished with 73 yards on the ground, took two carries to get the Tigers back into the end zone for a 14-0 lead in the first quarter.

The Panthers then worked the ball down the field and ended up scoring on an 8-yard pass to Jeret Ankrum in the end zone as time in the first quarter expired. A 2-point conversion had TMB down 14-8.

Sam Pidde had a 64-yard kick return to start the second quarter in great field position for the Tigers, but a fumble gave TMB the ball back moments later. TMB ended up getting nothing out of that fumble on its next drive after Krick picked off his second pass of the day.

With 27.9 seconds left in the half, TMB tied the game on a 1-yard run by Caden Anderson and looked to be heading into halftime with the tie.

The Tigers stayed aggressive, however, and ended the half up 20-14 after a deep pass was deflected into the hands of Krick, who proceeded to run it in for a 59-yard touchdown.

The Tigers got the ball to start the second half and were quick to strike again as Nachreiner found Krick for a 44-yard TD pass and a 26-14 lead with 11:19 left in the third quarter. A 2-point conversion by Ashton Toll gave the Tigers a 28-14 lead.

TMB got another 1-yard TD run by Anderson and a 2-point conversion to trail 28-22 with 5:40 left in the third. Nachreiner answered that with a 5-yard TD throw to Brayden Sturm, who finished with 47 yards receiving, for a 34-22 lead with 3:32 left in the third.

The Tigers got their final score of the game late in the fourth on a 21-yard TD pass to Carter Olson, who finished with 95 yards receiving.

“It all kind of starts with that run game,” Meyer said. “When Ashtin’s rolling downhill and bouncing runs outside and gaining yards, that really opens up the pass game. Jakob did a really nice job, he saved his best game for the section final, and as a coach, that’s what you’re looking for. We have a ton of faith in all of our receivers, we play four of those guys and all of them are very capable of making plays.

“MaCoy had, obviously, a huge first half there, and then they kind of shifted some coverage and that opened up Brayden Sturm on the other side and he caught a touchdown. And teams that we played are always worried about Carter Olson over the middle, so he just opens things up for everybody else, too.”

The Panthers got a 6-yard TD pass to Ankrum in the final minute to cap off the scoring.

After the win, Krick said the Tigers believed they were going to beat TMB this time around, no matter what the final score was on Sept. 23.

“Coming into [this game], everyone thought that we were going to win,” Krick said. “We improved throughout the season, we got better and we got more physical with our offense and defense, and we just played a good game on offense and defense. A physical game — a good physical game.”

Danny Rogotzke and Toll each finished with 10 tackles to lead the Tigers on defense, while Gabe Weber recorded a sack.

Now, the Tigers turn their attention back to state once again.

“Things have been trending in the right direction,” Meyer said. “We have an outstanding coaching staff and we have really great players that keep this thing going.”