Week 5 of the 2025 Minnesota high school football season produced big moments and one especially high score. Here’s a look at three more games that proved interesting, and follow these links to see other moments you missed:

• “Strib Varsity Live With Randy Shaver” Episode 6: Watch the full show
• Relive Week 5 football across Minnesota
• How the Minnesota Top 25 fared Friday night

Andover 62, Anoka 61

Andover at Anoka never set up to be a normal football game.

These are school district rivals, from gigantic Anoka-Hennepin, District 11. The players these days weren’t alive when Andover High School opened in 2002 as a smaller, more rural sibling of Anoka High School.

These are football district rivals, competing in the Metro North.

Now each is a Class 6A football team, Andover having grown into that class this school year.

Andover arrived at Friday’s game with one loss, holding the No. 8 position in the Minnesota Top 25. Anoka arrived with no victories.

Andover trailed 42-21 at halftime.

We told you this didn’t set up as normal, and it didn’t play out that way.

The Huskies scored two touchdowns in the final 5 minutes, 29 seconds to rally past the Tornadoes. Joseph Mapson completed the comeback with a 14-yard touchdown run with 12 seconds left.

“We talked about adversity,” Andover coach Tom Develice said. “Our kids responded well.”

Each team had its responses. Some details:

• The Huskies (4-1) and Tornadoes (0-5) each had a four-touchdown quarter, Anoka in the second and Andover in the third. “We are a quick-scoring team. …We are looking for opportunities to score whenever we can,” Develice said.
• Anoka’s Brody Rush scored five touchdowns, all runs. Rush ran for 300 yards on 36 carries.
• Mapson accounted for six touchdowns, four on runs, two on passes.
• Anoka quarterback Blake Sieben passed for 331 yards and two touchdowns, and he ran for a TD.
• Anoka’s Brody Lakanen made five catches for 100 yards.
• Mapson and running back Collin Gravink combined for five rushing TDs in the second half.
• With all those kickoffs, somebody was bound to break off a kick return. It was Andover’s Aidan Wiegert, who carried one back 95 yards in the first quarter. He also scored on two passes.

Anoka led 61-49 with 8:37 remaining, after a touchdown pass from Sieben to Trey Schmalz.

Gravink scored on a 14-yard run with 5:29 left to get the Huskies within five points, and Andover got the ball back at its own 40 with 2:11 remaining, leading to Mapson’s winning run.

That zero in Anoka’s win column is misleading. The Tornadoes have lost to undefeated Forest Lake and to Eden Prairie, Blaine and Osseo, all 3-2.

“People want to look at records,” Develice said. “They are a tough team. They are a lot better than an 0-5 team.”

Hill-Murray 35, South St. Paul 14

Hill-Murray scored on its first three drives to cruise past South St. Paul, which is tied for eighth in the Class 4A rankings.

The host Pioneers recovered a fumble on the Packers’ first drive to get off to a strong start. Grady Buettner finished the drive with a touchdown run and had three TD runs in the game.

In between Buettner’s first two touchdowns of the game, Brayden Hartmann threw a touchdown pass to Brady Reeves.

“That was big, especially the opening drive,” Hill-Murray coach Rob Reeves said of his team’s start. “We threw something at them they had not seen.”

The Packers (4-1) got back into the game in the second quarter after Sincere Casarez-McCampbell intercepted a pass tipped by Lachlan Aune. Casarez-McCampbell threw a touchdown pass to Ben Thrun on the first play of the ensuing drive with 5:14 left in the first half.

The Pioneers’ defensive line dominated the line of scrimmage. The Packers were unable to create running lanes nor give Casarez-McCampbell time to find his receivers.

“We played them differently than we had all season,” Reeves said. “We didn’t play any corners. If they hit one on us with a pass, good for them. But that is not how they are going to win games. Our pressure on [Casarez-McCampbell] was key to the win.”

The Packers had one big play left in them, with just over one minute left. Jake Baldus scored on a 55-yard touchdown run.

The Pioneers (4-1) have lost only to No. 1 Byron as they go through a learning process at the offensive skill positions. Hartmann is a freshman quarterback. Running back Buettner, tight end Reeves and wide receiver Jacob Dornan are sophomores with varsity experience.

“In the summer we had no idea who our quarterback would be,” Reeves said. “[Hartmann] showed up and is progressing each week.”

St. Paul Central 14, St. Paul Harding/Humboldt 8 (OT)

Charlie Doerr returned after missing two weeks because of an injury to lead the Minutemen past the host Knight Hawks.

Doerr scored two touchdowns for the Minutemen (1-4), including the game-tying score with about three minutes left in regulation. After a stop on the Knight Hawks’ offensive possession in overtime, Doerr scored to give the Minutemen their first win of the season.

“[Doerr] is very important to our offense,” St. Paul Central coach Scott Howell said. “Our offense has struggled all year long. He was better than we had hoped.”

Howell made a point to acknowledge defensive tackles Willie Harris and Raheim Ruddock. They controlled the line of scrimmage and allowed the linebackers to make plays.

“Without those two, we would have been cooked,” he said.

Michael Lor got the Knight Hawks (0-5) on the board in the second quarter with a 9-yard run.