This is what Maple Grove coach Adam Spurrell hoped for before the season.

Fresh from an undefeated, state-championship 2024 campaign, Spurrell was looking for a challenge, believing it was what the Crimson needed to stay sharp.

He found what he was looking for thanks to the Minnesota State High School League.

Maple Grove was moved from the North division of Metro District to the West. What at first appeared to be a small cosmetic change has had a gargantuan effect on the Class 6A balance of power.

“I’m excited about next season,” Spurrell said last spring. “If you want to be the best, you have to play the best.”

Class 6A houses the 32 largest and highest-profile football programs in the state, but the results of the first two Fridays of large-school playoffs have shown that the Metro West district is elite among the elite.

State tournament brackets:

• Class 6A
• Class 5A
• Class 4A
• Class 3A
• Class 2A
• Class 1A
• Nine-Player

The move turned the Metro West into the supercell of 6A. Five of the seven teams in the district have been ranked in the top 10 at some point this season, and six of them — Maple Grove, Minnetonka, Eden Prairie, Edina, Moorhead and St. Michael-Albertville — are among the eight teams still alive in the Class 6A quarterfinals. Wayzata is the only district team that didn’t reach the quarterfinals.

Beating up on each other all season has not only made for juicy weekly matchups, it has served as a ripe training ground. Teams that survive the gantlet of the Metro West come out prepared for postseason success.

St. Michael-Albertville struggled for relevancy through the first six games of the season, losing five, and only a 15-14 victory over Wayzata in Week 3 kept the Knights afloat.

Because he had a young team that featured 16 underclassmen on the starting roster, head coach Jared Essler’s consistent message was one of trust and belief. Getting his team to buy into his message despite an early lack of success was vital if the Knights were to reap the rewards of their brutal schedule.

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The success the Knights hoped for materialized late in the season. They’ve won four in a row, jump-starting their postseason surge with a two-point victory at Moorhead. Their growth paid its biggest dividend Friday, when they went to Rosemount and shut out the No. 3-ranked Irish 14-0.

“We talked a lot about faith,” Essler said after that victory. “The definition of faith is belief without evidence. We didn’t have a lot of evidence, but we kept telling ’em there’s a good team in there somewhere. They kept coming to work. Now we have some warriors.”

At least two teams from the Metro West are assured of making the Class 6A semifinals at U.S. Bank Stadium because two Friday quarterfinals pit district teams against each other: Edina vs. Eden Prairie at Osseo and St. Michael-Albertville vs. Minnetonka at Farmington.

The Metro West could sweep into the quarterfinals if top-ranked and undefeated Maple Grove beats Lakeville South at Eastview on Friday and Moorhead outscores Centennial at Spring Lake Park on Thursday.