Class 6A football’s March Madness-style, 32-team bracket dropped Friday morning, setting the stage for next week’s first round of playoffs for Minnesota’s largest high schools.
Lakeville South, Centennial, Stillwater and Eden Prairie received the No. 1 seeds, as expected.
Teams are seeded by section, and then the seeds are scrambled into four separate quadrants of a full-on, single-elimination bracket. So a No. 4 seed from one section plays a No. 5 seed from another section, and so on. No teams from within the same section meet in the first round.
The Cougars nabbed the top spot in their section by virtue of a mid-September victory over rival Lakeville North. At first glance, that victory carries a lot of weight. As Lakeville South ended up on the opposite side of the bracket as Lakeville North, top-ranked Eden Prairie and defending state champion Maple Grove, and wouldn’t play any of those teams until a potential state championship game.
Lakeville North, meanwhile, appears to be on a collision course with Eden Prairie in the state quarterfinals. The Panthers and Eagles are currently the top two teams in the Associated Press state rankings.
Here is the entire 32-team bracket, with first-round matchups included. (The winner of Quadrant 1 will meet the winner of Quadrant 2 in the state semifinals, while the winner of Quadrant 3 will play the winner of Quadrant 4). All first-round matchups are set for Friday, Oct. 27.
The first two rounds are played at the home site of the better seed, while state quarterfinals are played at neutral sites and state semifinals and finals are played at U.S. Bank Stadium.
Quadrant 1
No. 8 Burnsville at No. 1 Centennial
No. 5 Prior Lake at No. 4 Mounds View
No. 6 Blaine at No. 3 Rosemount
No. 7 Buffalo at No. 2 Woodbury
Quadrant 2
No. 8 Roseville at No. 1 Lakeville South
No. 5 Champlin Park at No. 4 Shakopee
No. 6 East Ridge at No. 3 Anoka
No. 7 Eastview at No. 2 Minnetonka
Quadrant 3
No. 8 Osseo at No. 1 Eden Prairie
No. 5 White Bear Lake at No. 4 Eagan
No. 6 Wayzata at No. 3 Forest Lake
No. 7 Coon Rapids at No. 2 Lakeville North
Quadrant 4
No. 8 Hopkins at No. 1 Stillwater
No. 5 Rochester Mayo at No. 4 St. Michael-Albertville
No. 6 Farmington at No. 3 Edina
No. 7 Park at No. 2 Maple Grove
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