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Breck rallies past Brooklyn Center in Class 3A, Section 4 football quarterfinal

Sixth seeds Minneapolis Camden, Thief River Falls, Crosby-Ironton and Randolph were among other teams winning spots in the second round Saturday.

Oliver Kuhn of Breck catches the game-winning touchdown pass over Aloysius Vah of Brooklyn Center in the fourth quarter of a Class 3A, Section 4 quarterfinal in Golden Valley on Tuesday. (Jerry Holt/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
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By Joe Gunther

The Minnesota Star Tribune

Breck scored 20 points in the final eight minutes, including the game-winner with less than 30 seconds left, to defeat Brooklyn Center 34-30 at McKnight Stadium in the Class 3A, Section 4 tournament quarterfinals Tuesday.

John Henry Berntsen lobbed a pass to Oliver Kuhn in the back of the end zone with 26.6 seconds remaining, putting the Mustangs ahead for good. Breck advanced to play top seed Minneapolis North in the second round Saturday.

“It was see-ball-get-ball. I wasn’t a thousand percent sure the ball was coming to me, but I was a thousand percent sure if it did, I was coming down with it,” Kuhn said. “I saw two guys around me. I said, ‘I don’t care. That’s mine.’ I went up and took it.”

Berntsen threw a pair of touchdown passes to Mu Muhammad to get the Mustangs (6-4) within three points with just under five minutes left. Kuhn caught a pair of touchdown passes in the first half and left impressed with his quarterback’s fourth-quarter play.

“It was unbelievable,” Kuhn said. “There is no one else I’d rather have under center. He’s been my guy all season.”

Brooklyn Center (4-5) lost three starters on offense during the game, including starting quarterback Larry Smith and leading rusher Alpha Meaway. Smith suffered an injury on a failed extra point attempt following a touchdown pass to Rodney Pierce-Tyler Jr. on the Centaurs’ first offensive drive, and in the third quarter Meaway left the game after scoring on a two-point conversion.

Without Smith, the Centaurs snapped the ball directly to Meaway and Gavin Thomas.

Thomas returned an interception for a touchdown to put more points on the scoreboard for Brooklyn Center.

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“That’s a well-coached football team that showed an ability to move the football when they lost one of their top players in their quarterback,” Breck coach Christian Rund said. “As for an adjustment, it was a little trial and error to figure things out. What we ended up going back to was what we used the last couple weeks, playing triple-option attacks.”

Pierce-Tyler Jr. finished the game with two touchdown catches, and Meaway rushed for a touchdown.

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Here’s a look at other notable games from Tuesday as teams tried to win spots in the second round Saturday:

Class 5A

Section 1: [3] Owatonna 33, [6] Rochester Century 19. Up next: [2] Northfield. The Huskies (5-4) opened the season 0-3, including a 12-7 loss at Rochester Century.

Section 2: [5] Mankato West 43, [4] Waconia 14. Up next: [1] Chanhassen. Mankato West lost to Waconia 30-14 on Sept. 19 in Mankato.

Section 3: [4] Apple Valley 27, [5] Burnsville 7. Up next: [1] St. Thomas Academy. The Eagles won both meetings with Burnsville this season.

Section 5: [4] Minneapolis Washburn 55, [4] Bloomington Kennedy 20. Up next: [1] Bloomington Jefferson. Washburn senior running back Henry Eichten scored three rushing touchdowns and became the Millers’ first 1,000-yard rusher since 2013.

Section 6: [3] Armstrong 30, [6] Park Center 12. Up next: [2] Buffalo. The Falcons, who lost four of their final five regular-season games, beat the Pirates for the second time this season.

Section 7: [4] St. Francis 41, [5] Duluth East 8. Up next: [1] Monticello. Tanner Rothbauer started the rout by throwing three touchdown passes in the first 1½ quarters. One went to sophomore running back Owen Darsow, who also scored on a run.

Section 8: [5] Sauk Rapids-Rice 38, [4] Brainerd 30. Up next: [1} Alexandria. The Storm, 1-7 in the regular season, lost to Brainerd 49-14 in Week 3.

Class 4A

Section 2: [4] Hutchinson 43, [5] St. Peter 8. Up next: [1] Marshall. Kyle Bell and Jack Maiers each rushed for two touchdowns for Hutchinson.

Section 3: [5] St. Paul Johnson 20, [4] Simley 17. Up next: [1] Hill-Murray. Ali Farfan scored the winning points on a 9-yard run with 9:38 to play.

Section 6: [4] Westonka 28, [5] Providence Academy 27. Up next: [1] Orono. Westonka (3-6) won on a 70-yard pass from Cade Newell to Blake Reinbold with 1:47 left.

Section 7: [3] North Branch 65, [6] Rock Ridge 40. Up next: [2] Hermantown. The Vikings scored a season high in their second victory of the season over Rock Ridge.

Class 3A

Section 3: [2] Albert Lea 51, [7] Worthington 0. Up next: [3] Luverne. The Tigers shut out the Trojans for the second time this season.

Section 3: [4] Tri-City United 21, [5] Fairmont 14. Up next [1] Waseca. The Titans defeated the Cardinals for the second time in 12 days. The Titans won the first meeting 35-7.

Section 4: [6] Minneapolis Camden 20, [3] Concordia Academy 7. Up next: [2] St. Croix Lutheran. Datione Warren rushed for three touchdowns for Camden.

Section 7: [5] Hibbing 13, [4] Two Harbors 12. Up next: [1] Pequot Lakes. Hibbing avenged a 28-12 loss to Two Harbors in Hibbing last month.

Section 8: [6] Thief River Falls 21, [3] Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 7. Up next: [2] Minnewaska. Bridger Wilcox threw two TD passes for Thief River Falls (4-5).

Class 2A

Section 4: [6] Randolph 28, [3] Cannon Falls 20. Up next: [2] Rush City. The Rockets lost to Cannon Falls 20-14 in their season opener.

Section 7: [6] Crosby-Ironton 6, [3] International Falls 0. Up next: [2] Aitkin. Crosby-Ironton played International Falls for the second time in six days after losing 34-12 Wednesday.

Section 8: [5] Hawley 35, [4] Warroad 19. Up next: [1] Frazee. Hawley won for the second time this season.

Class 1A

Section 2: [3] Lester Prairie 26, [6] Martin County West 0. Up next: [2] St. James. Lester Prairie has won five of six games since starting the season 0-3.

Section 3: [5] Sleepy Eye United 28, [4] Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 12. Up next: [1] Springfield. Sleepy Eye United lost the first meeting between the two 42-26.

Section 4: [6] Lac qui Parle Valley 40, [3] Lakeview 0. Up next: [2] Dawson-Boyd. Lakeview won the first meeting between the two 52-12 in Week 2.

Section 4: [5] MACCRAY 18, [4] Canby 15. Up next: [1] Minneota. MACCRAY ended a four-game losing streak by avenging a 10-6 loss to Canby in Week 2.

Section 8: [5] Ada-Borup-West 16, [4) Bagley 8. Up next: [1] Mahnomen/Waubun. Bagley defeated Ada-Borup-West 21-14 on Aug. 29.

Nine-Player

Section 3: [3] Adrian-Ellsworth 35, [6] Heron Lake-Okabena/Fulda 24. Up next: [2] Edgerton. Jackson Jenniges rushed for 180 yards and two TDs for the Dragons.

Section 8: [5] Badger/Greenbush-Middle River 8, [4] Northern Freeze 7. Up next: [1] Kittson County Central. Northern Freeze won the first meeting between the two 34-24 on Aug. 21.

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