High School Football Roundup: Woodbury’s Bjellos tallies six first-half touchdowns in first-round playoff win over Buffalo

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Woodbury 42, Buffalo 0: Royals quarterback George Bjellos had a career game – err, half – on Friday, throwing for five scores and rushing for another all in the first two quarters.

Two of those scoring strikes went to Isaiah Tisdle, while two others found Liam Frommelt.

The Royals (5-4) will host Rosemount next week after the Irish toppled Blaine 51-7 in the first round.

Forest Lake 31, Wayzata 7: Forest Lake (6-3) scored four rushing touchdowns – two by star back Leyton Patzer and two by quarterback Nolan Dumonceaux – to advance to the second round for the second time in as many seasons.

The Rangers will play at Lakeville North (8-1) next week after the Panthers downed Coon Rapids 28-12 on Friday.

Prior Lake 17, Mounds View 15: Hunter MacGillivray ran for 142 yards and a score as Prior Lake (5-4) won its first road playoff game since 2000.

Mounds View (4-5) held multiple leads in the contest, but wasn’t quite able to get over the finish line. The Lakers will next travel to meet top-seeded Centennial, who beat Burnsville 61-6 on Friday.

Lakeville South 56, Roseville 0: The top-seeded Cougars (9-1) made a major statement to open the postseason. Jonah Shine ran for two scores, Gaven Dean ran for one and threw for another. That touchdown pass went to Connor Cade, who also ran in a score.

Next week, the Cougars will host Shakopee, who bested Champlin Park 34-12 in Round 1.

Stillwater 56, Hopkins 6: Stillwater quarterback Nick Kinsey returned after missing the last game and a half to injury. Kinsey went 7 for 9 for 99 yards and two scores to help spark the Ponies (7-2) to a playoff-opening victory.

Stillwater’s defense held Hopkins to just 80 yards of total offense, while forcing three turnovers. Top-seeded Stillwater will duel Rochester Mayo next round, after the Spartans upset St. Michael-Albertville 28-21 on Friday.

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Ravens OLB Odafe Oweh, RB Keaton Mitchell questionable vs. Cardinals; Arizona QB Kyler Murray doubtful

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Despite being a full participant in practice this week for the first time since late last season and coming off the injury report altogether Thursday, it’s unlikely that Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray will play against the Ravens on Sunday.

Though Murray, the 2019 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year and a two-time Pro Bowl selection, practiced fully for the first time since tearing his ACL last December, he was listed as doubtful in Friday’s injury report. Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon said the quarterback is “fully healthy,” though reports have indicated the 26-year-old former No. 1 overall draft pick would be ramped up slowly, and Gannon said only “we’ll see,” when asked if he would play this week.

When Ravens coach John Harbaugh was asked how he’ll handle the uncertainty of whether Murray would play, he replied similarly.

“We’ll see, that’s about all you can say,” he said. “We’ll be ready for whichever quarterback is playing.”

With Murray doubtful, Joshua Dobbs, who helped beat Baltimore as a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2017, is expected to get the nod again. Dobbs has completed 62% (142-for-229) of his passes in seven games this season, throwing for 1,361 yards and six touchdowns with three interceptions.

Whichever quarterback Baltimore (5-2) faces, it comes into the game a relative model of health after dealing with a spate of injuries the first handful of games this season.

Safety Marcus Williams (hamstring) and outside linebacker Odafe Oweh (ankle) were the only players not to practice Friday in Owings Mills. Williams is out for Sunday, while Oweh is questionable, as are running back Keaton Mitchell (hamstring) and wide receiver Tylan Wallace (hamstring), though both fully practiced Friday.

“He’s not going to be out for any period of time,” Harbaugh said of Oweh, who was limited Thursday. “We’ll see if he plays on Sunday.”

Meanwhile, wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. (shoulder) fully practiced Friday, as did cornerback Kevon Seymour (ankle) and inside linebacker Roquan Smith (shoulder). None of the three have an injury designation for the game.

For the Cardinals (1-6), defensive end Kevin Strong (shoulder), guard Elijah Wilkinson (neck) and linebacker Krys Barnes (hamstring) did not practice Friday and are all out. Wide receiver Greg Dortch (ankle) was added to the injury report after not practicing Friday and is questionable, along with safety Jalen Thompson (hamstring) and cornerback Antonio Hamilton (groin). Offensive tackle Kelvin Beachum (hand) and receiver Zach Pascal (neck) fully practiced and came off the injury report.

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Women’s hockey: St. Thomas hangs with No. 1 Wisconsin before falling 5-3

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Wisconsin came into Friday night’s game at St. Thomas Ice Arena as the No. 1 team in women’s college hockey and left with a 5-3 victory. But the Tommies might have gained something valuable, too — a sense that their program is starting to turn the corner.

After being swept by No. 2 Ohio State and the Gophers the past two weeks, including one-sided losses in the two series openers, Friday night’s competitive showing against the Badgers was an impressive performance by the home team.

“This is a different space for us,” St. Thomas coach Joel Johnson said. “I will be curious to see how our team shows up tomorrow night. I just got done sharing with them, we kind of did what we wanted to do, we just got outplayed.”

While the Tommies are not celebrating after falling to 0-5 in the WCHA, there is something to be said for coming out of a game against the nation’s best and feeling like you belong.

“I would say we played our best,” said St. Thomas defenseman Nicole Vallario, who scored the Tommies’ first goal. “We maybe deserved a little bit more, but that’s the way it goes in hockey sometimes. We’ll learn from what happened today and be better tomorrow.”

Vallario said the Tommies entered Friday’s game with a little more confidence than they had had in recent weeks.

“We’ve been working on a lot of things, and I think we’ve gotten better as a team,” she said. “I think we’re growing really well and playing together.”

While the Badgers have a clear advantage over the Tommies in the skill department, the difference in the game proved to be special teams, with Wisconsin scoring three power play goals.

“Part of the message is that we have to stay out of the box,” Johnson said. “If we’re going to win, we can’t give them a chance to score on the power play with their skill.”

A pair of first-period goals by Wisconsin’s Kirsten Simms — giving her 12 in 10 games — gave the Badgers the early lead. The complexion of the game then changed drastically due to a late scoring spurt by the Tommies.

The teams were playing four on four late in the period when Tommies center Ella Boerger found Vallario with a pass on the back door, and Vallario buried it or her third goal of the season. There were only nine seconds to play in the period when Ellah Hause batted a rebound out of the air and into the net to tie the game 2-2.

“Let’s be honest, they’re the No. 1 team in the country and we’re not,” Johnson said. “For us to score, it’s a big deal. It was a fun locker room  (after the first period), not because we’re going to upset the world, but because our players were like, ‘OK, we can play.’ So I was really excited.”

After the Badgers took a 3-2 lead at 8:05 on a power play goal, the Tommies needed only 31 seconds to pull even again. Abby Promersberger scored her fourth of the season on the wrist shot from between the circles.

The Tommies had a great opportunity to take the lead less than a minute later when Wisconsin’s Lacey Eden received a major penalty for boarding. But the Tommies’ advantage lasted only 42 seconds before Cara Sajevic was sent off for holding.

It then appeared that the Tommies would be down two skaters when Haley Maxwell took a slashing penalty when Simms moved in on a partial breakaway, but the Badgers opted for a penalty shot instead.

Simms hit the post on her attempt, and the game remained tied.

The Badgers went on a five-minute power play of their own with just over five minutes to play in the second period when Brieja Parent was sent off for boarding. There were 30 seconds away from killing off the penalty when Anna Wilgren scored to give the Badgers a 4-3 lead.

Wisconsin added its third power play goal of the game at 8:17 of the third period, with Britta Curl beating St. Thomas goaltender Maggie Malecha on a rebound. But the Tommies kept pushing, and Badgers goaltender Jane Gervais made a pair of key stops with seven minutes to play to keep the Tommies from cutting their deficit to one.

The Tommies pulled their goaltender with two minutes to play and created scoring opportunities to the game’s end.

“I really felt that was my proudest moment,” Johnson said. “A different moment that we’ve seen in the past. We were desperate in a way that felt like we belonged in the game. That’s a huge step for us, especially against a quality opponent like Wisconsin.”

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Wild play better, earn point in Washington

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WASHINGTON —

WASHINGTON — Well, that was more like it.

After allowing an average of 5.2 goals in their previous four games, the Wild held the Capitals to two regulation goals and assured themselves of a point in a 3-2 overtime loss at Capital One Arena.

Marc-Andre Fleury gave the Wild a chance to win it with one shootout goal, stopping the first six shots he faced, but Darcy Keumper silenced a phalanx of Wild forwards on the other end and defenseman John Carlson finally won it for the Capitals.

Marco Rossi gave Minnesota its first first-period lead since Oct. 19, and Ryan Hartman tied the game with an unassisted goal just over a minute into the third period, and Fleury stopped 30 shots in regulation and overtime, including all 17 he faced in the third period.

Making his first start since giving up seven goals in a 7-4 loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Oct. 19, Fleury stopped shots from Evgeny Kuznetskov, T.J. Oshie, Nicklas Backstrom, Dylan Strome, Alex Ovechkin and Sonny Milano in the shootout before Carlson scored with a wrist shot to the far corner.

Still, it was an improvement over Thursday’s game at Philadelphia, which Minnesota lost, 6-2, to start a three-game road trip that ends Sunday in New Jersey.

Rossi slapped in a rebound on a Marcus Foligno charge in the three-on-three overtime, but Foligno knocked over goaltender Darcy Keumper and the goal was waved off. Marcus Johansson then had a breakaway with under 4 seconds remaining but Darcy Keumper got his right pad on it to send the game to a shootout.

Minnesota was 0 for 6 on the power play.

Pat Maroon found the puck on his stick off a ricochet but his one-timer went wide with under 2 minutes to play.

 

Ryan Hartman tied the game early in the third period, tying it after stealing the puck from Capitals defenseman Martin Fehervary at the blue line and racing at Darcy Keumper all alone.

Hartman started from the right circle, skated left and scored on a backhand to make it 3-3 at 1:16 of the period.

Minnesota had some Grade A chances on a power play midway through the period, but Kuemper, who started his career with the Wild in 2012, turned them all away.

Next it was Marc-Andre Fleury’s turn for a big save, stopping Evgeny Kluznetsov at the post after the center skated behind the net and tried to stuff the puck in at the corner at 8:33.

Maroon hooking at 8:09. Fleury stops Oshie one-timer point blank on PK. Oshie redirect.

The Wild jumped on the Capitals from the start, establishing a forecheck and getting the puck quickly out their end — something they didn’t do in Thursday’s 6-2 loss at Philadelphia.

Marco Rossi gave the Wild a 1-0 lead when he sniped a shot from the slot past Darcy Kuemper just 2 minutes, 17 seconds into the game. Marcus Foligno one-timed a pass from above the blue line to give Rossi a straight look at the goal.

It was Minnesota’s first first-period lead since they were up, 2-1, on Los Angeles in a 7-3 loss to the Kings on Oct. 19.

It was relatively short-lived.

The Wild were all over the Capitals through 10 minutes and went on their second power play after Vinni Lettieri drew a tripping penalty in his own end at 8:16. But the Capitals started a rush the other way when Tom Wilson dug a puck out of his own corner, then caused a turnover at the wall.

The puck wound up on the stick of defenseman Trevor Van Riemsdyk, who pushed north with a pass to Connor McMichael — who found Wilson streaking down the left side. Fleury came out of the crease, and Wilson hit the far corned with a wrist shot at 9:49 to tie the game 1-1.

Washington took its first lead after Jake Middleton was called for interference at 16:12 and the Capitals went on their first power play. Roughly a minute later, Alex Ovechkin fired a cross-crease pass to Dylan Strome, who was alone at the far corner of the crease.

Strome slammed it home and the Capitals led 2-1 at 17:14.

The Capitals appeared to take a 3-1 lead midway through the second period when Alex Ovechkin, behind the defense at the crease, corralled a rebound and stuffed it into the corner of the net. But the Wild called for an offside challenge, and referees determined Ovechkin had lost possession of the puck and preceded it into the offensive zone.