A magical ride continued Friday for the Spring Lake Park football team, which won just four games each of the last two seasons but will play for the Class 5A state title next weekend after a 39-23 semifinal victory over St. Thomas Academy at U.S. Bank Stadium.

Trailing by five points at halftime, the Panthers exploded for 20 points in fewer than eight minutes to begin the third quarter. Spring Lake Park running back Lamari Brown rushed 29 times for 136 yards and two touchdowns, quarterback Nolan Roach carried 14 times for 205 yards and two touchdowns and E.J. Monluo ran twice for 48 yards and a touchdown.

The Panthers (12-0) intercepted two passes, recovered an onside kick and executed a successful fake punt. They will face the winner of Saturday’s Elk River vs. Chanhassen semifinal.

St. Thomas Academy coach Travis Walch tipped his cap to an opponent which last won a state title in 1991.

“You can’t give up a possession on special teams, whether it’s a fake punt or an onsides kick; you’re not going to win those games and that’s squarely on my shoulders,” said Walch, whose 11-1 team allowed the Panthers nearly 400 yards of offense.

“I don’t think anyone thought we’d hold them to 100 yards, but we thought we’d protect the ball… and play really good special teams. Sometimes, you just have to say the other team did a really good job.”

John Stewart, Spring Lake Park’s eighth-year coach, said it was evident during the offseason that his 30 seniors were tired of slipshod preparation. Not only did they work harder and smarter, they paid attention to smaller details, such as arraying themselves in perfectly straight lines for drills.

“They came in with a different attitude to our discipline,” Stewart said. “It became about doing the little things right and then momentum kept building.”

St. Thomas Academy’s second snap of the third quarter led to quarterback Tristan Karl throwing a slant well behind his intended receiver and Spring Lake Park’s Marcus Snyder intercepting the ball, returning it 26 yards for a touchdown.

An attempted 2-point conversion failed, but the Panthers led 18-17. Sam Wolde’s subsequent, onsides kick slithered along the turf and up the body of Cadet George Plum. He was flattened by Sawyer Thomsen a split second later, allowing Travis Holby to recover.

“We’ve been pretty aggressive over the years,” said Stewart, who had his team go for it four times on fourth down Friday, with two of those attempts resulting in first downs. “We have a special-teams coordinator who puts together some amazing fakes and different kick strategies and is great at calling them at opportune times.

“In a game like this, you’ve gotta take some chances.”

Spring Lake Park then ran the ball six consecutive times, the last a 25-yard touchdown on a pitchout from Roach to Monluo, who beat Todd Rogalski to the pylon on the right side. Wolde’s extra point put his team up 25-17 fewer than four minutes into the third quarter.

The Panthers pulled away after forcing a three-and-out on the Cadets’ next possession. Four more running plays brought another touchdown, this one a 5-yard dash up the middle by Brown, who somersaulted over the goal line. Wolde’s kick made it 32-17.

St. Thomas Academy cut its deficit to 32-23 after Rogalski’s 7-yard touchdown run with five minutes remaining. The Cadets recovered an onsides kick of their own, but a Rogalski pass off an end-around handoff was intercepted by Jamal Smith to effectively end any thought of a comeback.

Roach completed 3 of 8 passes for 30 yards and Karl hit on 8 of 14 attempts for 109 yards. St., Thomas Academy rushing standout Dominic Baez was held to 47 yards and a touchdown in 15 carries.

Rogalski carried seven times for 104 yards and two touchdowns, and caught three passes for 11 yards. Baez hauled in two tosses for 70 yards.

“Our maturity level has increased dramatically over the last eight months,” said Roach, whose hair, like that of many of his teammates, is bleached blond for the postseason. “When we’re down, we stick with it and we’re able to finish (games) so much better than in previous years.”

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South winds and sunny skies helped to set a temperature record in the Twin Cities on Friday.

The daily high temperature was 72 degrees at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. That broke the old record of 71, set in 1990.

That was also the warmest temperature so late in the season in records dating to 1872, according to the Minnesota State Climatology Office.

The average high temperature for Nov. 14 is 43, 29 degrees below Friday’s record.

A weak cold front is expected to return Twin Cities temperatures closer to normal for the next few days. Still, the autumn of 2025 is likely to rank in the top 10 warmest on record.

St. Cloud also matched its previous high temperature record (set in 1990) with a Friday maximum of 68.

This autumn has also continued to see little precipitation, with nearly 63% of the state experiencing abnormally dry or drought conditions.

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Disney and YouTube TV reached a new deal to bring channels like ABC and ESPN back to the Google-owned live streaming platform Friday, ending a blackout for customers that dragged on for about two weeks.

“As part of the new deal, Disney’s full suite of networks and stations – including ESPN and ABC – have already begun to be restored to YouTube TV subscribers,” The Walt Disney Co. said in a statement.

“We are pleased that our networks have been restored in time for fans to enjoy the many great programming options this weekend, including college football.”

Disney content had gone dark on YouTube TV the night of Oct. 30, after two sides failed to reach a new licensing deal. In the days that followed, YouTube TV subscribers were left without Disney channels on the platform — notably disrupting coverage of top U.S. college football matchups and professional sports games, among other news and entertainment offerings.

Beyond ESPN and ABC, other Disney-owned content removed from YouTube TV during the impasse included channels like NatGeo, FX, Freeform, SEC Network, ACC Network and more.

At the time the carriage dispute reached its boiling point, YouTube TV said that Disney was proposing terms that would be too costly, resulting in higher prices and fewer choices for its subscribers. And the platform accused Disney of using the blackout “as a negotiating tactic” — claiming that the move also benefited Disney’s own streaming products like Hulu + Live TV and Fubo.

Disney, meanwhile, said that YouTube TV had refused to pay fair rates for its channels. The California entertainment giant also accused Google of “using its market dominance to eliminate competition.” And executives blasted the platform for pulling content “prior to the midnight expiration” of their deal last month.

On Nov. 3, Disney also asked YouTube TV to restore ABC programming for Election Day on Nov. 4 to put “the public interest first.” But YouTube TV said this temporary reprieve would confuse customers — and instead proposed that the entertainment giant agree to restore both its ABC and ESPN channels while the two sides continue negotiations.

The blackout marked the latest in growing list of licensing disputes in today’s streaming world. And consumers often pay the price.

From sports events to awards shows, live programming that was once reserved for broadcast has increasingly made its way into the streaming world over the years as more and more consumers ditch traditional cable or satellite TV subscriptions for content they can get online. But amid growing competition, renewing carriage agreements can also mean tense contract negotiations — and at times service disruptions.

YouTube TV and Disney have been down this road before. In 2021, YouTube TV subscribers also briefly lost access to all Disney content on the platform after a similar contract breakdown between the two companies. That outage lasted less than two days, with the companies eventually reaching an agreement.

Meanwhile, YouTube TV has removed other networks from its platform after expired agreements. Spanish-language broadcaster Univision has been unavailable on YouTube TV since Sept. 30, for example. At the time, its parent company TelevisaUnivision decried Google’s move — noting it would strip “millions of Hispanic viewers of the Spanish-language news, sports, and entertainment they rely on every day” and called on the platform to reverse course.

YouTube TV’s base subscription plan costs $82.99 per month — which, beyond Disney content, currently includes live TV offerings from networks like NBC, CBS, Fox, PBS and more. The platform previously said it would give subscribers a $20 credit its dispute with Disney lasted “an extended period of time” — which it reportedly allowed customers to start claiming on Nov. 9.

Disney also doles out live TV through both traditional broadcasting and its own lineup of streaming platforms. ESPN launched its own streamer earlier this year, starting at $29.99 a month. And other Disney content can be found on platforms like Hulu, Disney+ and Fubo. Disney currently allows people to bundle ESPN along with Hulu and Disney+ for $35.99 a month — or $29.99 a month for the first year.

By SUDHIN THANAWALA

The Trump administration cannot immediately cut federal funding to the University of California or issue fines against the school system over claims it allows antisemitism and other forms of discrimination, a federal judge ruled Friday.

U.S. District Judge Rita Lin in San Francisco granted a preliminary injunction sought by labor unions and other groups representing UC faculty, students and employees.

Messages sent to the White House and the U.S. Department of Justice were not immediately returned.

The unions argue in a lawsuit that the administration is using funding cuts, and the threat of cuts, to silence opposing viewpoints at UC in violation of the Constitution and federal law. President Donald Trump has decried elite colleges as overrun by liberalism and antisemitism.

His administration has launched investigations of dozens of universities, claiming they have failed to end the use of racial preferences in violation of civil rights law. The Republican administration says diversity, equity and inclusion efforts discriminate against white and Asian American students.

Over the summer. it fined the University of California, Los Angeles $1.2 billion and froze research funding after accusing the school of allowing antisemitism on campus. UCLA was the first public university to be targeted by the administration over allegations of civil rights violations.

It has also frozen or paused federal funding over similar claims against private colleges, including Columbia University.

University of California President James B. Milliken has said the size of the UCLA fine would devastate the UC system, whose campuses are viewed as some of the top public colleges in the nation.

UC is in settlement talks with the administration and is not a party to the lawsuit before Lin, who was nominated to the bench by President Joe Biden, a Democrat.

The administration has demanded UCLA comply with its views on gender identity and establish a process to make sure foreign students are not admitted if they are likely to engage in anti-American, anti-Western or antisemitic “disruptions or harassment,” among other requirements outlined in a settlement proposal made public in October.

The administration has previously struck deals with Brown University for $50 million and Columbia University for $221 million.