GFW 26, Cleveland 7

CLEVELAND — The No. 1-seeded Cleveland Clippers had momentum and recent history on their side heading into a Section 2A Football Tournament semifinals game with the fourth-seeded Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop Firebirds.

The Firebirds didn’t care.

Much to the surprise of the home crowd, the Firebirds rolled by the unbeaten Clippers with a 26-7 win.

GFW will play No. 3 Lester Prairie at 7 p.m. Friday at New Prague High School, with the winner going to state. Lester Prairie shut out No. 2 St. James 22-0 on Saturday to earn its way to a section finals meeting with GFW.

The Firebirds’ offense was carried by Garrett Stegeman, who had 17 carries for 181 yards and two touchdowns to power his team to victory. Quarterback Owen Swenson also had 16 carries for 75 yards and a score, while Matthew Lee had 15 carries for 57 yards.

The GFW defense kept Cleveland QB Carson Lyons in check as he completed just 9 of 21 passes for 114 yards, one touchdown and an interception.

GFW forced five turnovers total in the win and finished with 350 total yards of offense to Cleveland’s 193.

Swenson scored first for GFW in the second quarter on a 4-yard run and a Stegeman run of 55 yards put the Firebirds ahead 12-0 before the half. Lyson got the Clippers back within a touchdown in the third on a throw of 13 yards to Braeden Smith, but Stegeman answered back with a 76-yard TD run to give GFW the 18-7 lead.

Swenson connected with Lee on a 14-yard TD pass in the fourth to add the exclamation point to the win.

Swenson and Cayson Gosewich each had four tackles for the GFW defense, while Luke Bastian had a sack and Lee had an interception. Gosewich, Jose Oscar Farias Banda, Mason Ahlbrecht and Caleb Hacker each recovered a fumble.

Wabasso 32, Cedar Mountain 29

WABASSO — The No. 2-seeded Wabasso Rabbits needed a comeback and a little late magic to fend off the hungry No. 3 Cedar Mountain Cougars on Saturday afternoon, and they got just that.

After taking the lead in the final minute, the Cougars’ kickoff following a lead-taking touchdown was scooped up by Nolan Leopold, who took it 96 yards to the end zone for a 32-29 Wabasso lead. That ended up being the final score as the Rabbits won the Section 2, Nine-Player Football Tournament semifinals meeting and moved on to Friday night’s section finals.

Wabasso (8-1) will play No. 1 Red Rock Central (9-0) at 7 p.m. Friday at Lakeview High School.

While the Rabbits trailed all game until the fourth quarter and took the lead on a 9-yard TD run by Joe Rohlik to go ahead 25-21, the Cougars (5-5) marched down the field late in the fourth quarter and scored on a 1-yard run from Jackson Guetter to go up 29-25 with 56 seconds left after a 2-point conversion pass from QB Carson Schiller to Thomas Dahmes.

But just when the Cougars were feeling good, their next kickoff was picked up by Leopold at the Wabasso 4-yard line and taken 96 yards to the house for a 32-29 lead after the PAT kick from Tavyn Larson with 43 seconds left.

Rohlik finished the game with 35 carries for 243 yards and three TDs, while Zach Skoblik had seven carries for 49 yards. Rabbits QB Drew Kemp was limited to nine pass attempts, completing four of them for 65 yards and a score to Jack Burns while throwing two interceptions. Burns finished with two receptions for 58 yards.

Zeke Olson and Rohlik led the Wabasso defense with eight tackles each, with Olson adding 1.5 sacks and Caden Frericks adding a half sack.

Schiller was on his game for the Cougars behind center despite the loss, completing 24 of 45 passes for 282 yards and two TDs without an interception. Dahmes hauled in seven catches for 93 yards and a TD, while Guetter had six catches for 56 yards, Stan Heiling had five catches for 57 yards and Blake Koerner had three catches for 47 yards and a score.

Guetter carried the ball 15 times for 44 yards and two TDs, while Schiller had six carries for 26 yards and Heiling had six carries for 24 yards.

The Cedar Mountain defense was led by Guetter’s 17 tackles and interception, while Koerner had 15 tackles. Heiling had an interception and two fumble recoveries, while Isaiah Bislew had a sack.