Football Fans all throughout Southern Minnesota will head to Marshall this Friday for four section football championship games at the Regional Events Center on the campus of Southwest Minnesota State University.

The first game is the Section 3, 9-Man championship between the #2 seeded Edgerton/Ellsworth Flying Dutchmen and #1 seeded Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley Wolverines.  

The Flying Dutchmen of Edgerton/Ellsworth come into Friday's matchup with a record of 9-1 and are the defending Class 9-Man State Champions, finishing the 2011 season a perfect 11-0 and winning the Class 9-Man State Championship with a 36-28 win over Wheaton/ Herman-Norcross.  The Flying Dutchmen come into the game riding an 8-game winning streak.  Their only loss the season came in Week 2, a road loss to the Hills-Beaver Creek Patriots 34-28.  It was the first loss for Edgerton/Ellsworth in almost 3 years.  Before their loss to H-BC, the last time the Flying Dutchmen lost a regular season game was in Week One of the 2009 season, a 46-20 loss to the Westbrook-Walnut Grove Chargers on September 3rd, 2009.  The Flying Dutchmen avenged that loss to Hills-Beaver Creek with a win over the Patriots in Hills last Saturday 42-0 in the Section 3, 9-Man Semifinals.  For the season, Edgerton/Ellsworth is averaging 57.2 points per game while allowing only 13.3 points per game for a positive margin of +43.9 points per game.  Edgerton/Ellsworth was ranked 9th in the Final Class 9-Man Poll of the season.

The Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley Wolerines are a perfect 9-0 coming into Section title game on Saturday.  On the season, the Wolverines are averaging 54.4 points per game while only allowing 8.1 points per game for a positive margin of +46.3 points per game.  C-G-B advanced to the Section title game with a 54-14 win over the Fulda Raiders in the semifinals.  The 14 points by Fulda tied the most points given up by the Wolverine defense this season.  In the final poll of the year, Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley was the #1 ranked team in the state in Class 9-Man.  Friday's matchup is a rematch of last year's Section title game won by Edgerton/Ellsworth 30-8.  Kickoff from Mattke Field is set for Noon on Friday.

Game #2 will be the Section 3A Championship between the #1 seeded Adrian Dragons and the #2 seeded St. Clair Cyclones.  Both teams enter the game with 8-2 records.  

The Adrian Dragons are playing in their 6th straight Section 3A title game and have won the last 3 in a row.  The last time Adrian lost in the Section 3A title game was back in 2008 when the Dragons lost to then section opponent Springfield.  Adrian's 2 regular season losses were to defending Class A State Champion Dawson-Boyd and to Class AA Medford.  The Dragons' 6-1 Little Sioux Conference record put them in a 3-way tie with Minneota/Lincoln HI and Dawson-Boyd for the Conference Championship.  Adrian was not ranked in the final Class A poll of the season.  So far this year, Adrian is averaging 23.7 points per game while giving up 10-8 points per game for a positive differential of +12.9 points per game.

The St. Clair Cyclones finished the season with 2 losses in the strong Gopher Valley Conference with losses to Lester Prairie/Holy Trinity and Blooming Prairie in the regular season.  Their 4-2 conference record put them in a tie for 3rd with Bethlehem Academy, who St. Clair defeated 13-6 in double overtime in their regular season finale.  The Cyclones are averaging 31.1 points per game while allowing 14.2 points per game for a positive differential of +16.9.  Kickoff from Mattke Field is scheduled for 2:30pm on Friday.  You can hear this game live on FM 104.3 the Party starting with the pregame show around 2:00pm.  You can also listen online at www.fm1043theparty.com by clicking on the "Listen Live" logo at the bottom of the homepage.

Game three will be the Section 5A Championship featuring two teams from the Little Sioux Conference as #1 seeded Minneota/Lincoln HI Vikings will take on the #2 seeded and defending Class A State Champion Dawson-Boyd Blackjacks.  

Minneota/Lincoln HI and Dawson-Boyd enter the game with records of 9-1 on the season.  This will be the 5th straight year that the Vikings will be playing in the Section 5A Championship.  Minneota/Lincoln HI won 3 straight Section 5A titles in 2008, 2009, and 2010 and the last 2 Section 5A championships came over Dawson-Boyd.  The Blackjacks were able to flip the script last year, as Dawson-Boyd would defeat Minneota/Lincoln HI 22-6 in the Section 5A Championship and go on to win the Class A State Championship and finish a perfect 14-0 last season.  On the season, Minneota/Lincoln HI is averaging 36.3 points per game and allowing 12.5 points per game for a positive differential of +23.8 points per game.  Dawson-Boyd is averaging 43.2 points per game while allowing 9.8 points per game for a positive differential of +33.4 points per game.  In the final Class A poll of the season, Dawson-Boyd was ranked 3rd and Minneota/Lincoln HI was ranked 4th.   Kickoff from Mattke Field is scheduled for 5:00pm on Friday

The final game Friday will be the Section 3AA Championship as for the 4th time in 6 years, the Luverne Cardinals and the Jackson County Central Huskies will meet for the section title.

The #1 seeded Luverne Cardinals come into Friday's matchup with a 9-1 record.  Their lone loss this season was in their regular season finale against the Marshall Tigers.  Friday's championship will be the 7th straight year that the Cardinals will be playing in the Section 3AA title game.  Luverne won 5 straight Section 3AA titles from 2006-2010 including wins over Jackson County Central in 2007, 2009 and 2010.  Last year, Luverne lost to Blue Earth Area in the Section final, a team that jumped up to Class 3A this season.  Luverne was ranked in a tie for 8th in the final Class AA poll of the season.  This year the Cardinals are averaging 33.4 points per game while allowing 14.2 points per game for a positive differential of +19.2 points per game.

The Jackson County Central Huskies are the #2 seed in Section 3AA this year and enter Friday's matchup with an 8-2 record.  JCC's only 2 losses this year came on back-to-back Friday's to state ranked teams in Luverne and Marshall.  Since then, Jackson County Central has won 6 in a row heading into Friday's Section 3AA title game.  On the season, Jackson County Central is averaging 39.8 points per game and allowing 17.2 points per game for a positive differential of +22.6 points per game.  The Huskies were not ranked in the final Class AA poll of the season.   Kickoff from Mattke Field is scheduled for 7:30pm on Friday.

You can keep up to date with all the action of all 4 games in Marshall on Friday, as Radio Works Sports Announcer Jared Rademacher will be Tweeting live from Mattke Field.  You can follow him on Twitter @jrodkwoa.  Check his Facebook page and the AM 730 KWOA Facebook page for updates throughout the day as well