Randy Shaver dived into football state semifinals on the final Friday night live show of the season. And, spoiler alert: The Strib Varsity All-Minnesota team was revealed on the show. Watch it here.

The author’s experience practically verifies the existence of those southern Minnesota spirits, as did Friday’s events in a Class 4A football semifinal.

The state semifinals at U.S. Bank Stadium begin Thursday. Our writers predict winners of some of the week’s biggest matchups.

Griffen Dean, Keira Friedrich, Maizee Storey, Izzy Keaveny, Keymoni Bent, Evie Holmes and Elleora Utecht are the latest honorees.

Over three days, three of the first 10 in the Strib Varsity rankings hit the end of their seasons.

Randy Shaver delivered the rundown from the first 11 football state quarterfinal games on Thursday’s episode of “Strib Varsity Live,” and he’ll be back for more Friday.

The KoMets, a known quantity after their upset of powerful Byron, even left room for improvement, three-TD scorer Jeremiah Peterson-Gordon said.

The final week of outdoor football is about to begin. After this, the teams still alive head inside, with semifinals and the Prep Bowl at U.S. Bank Stadium.

Staff writer Jim Paulsen ranks the top 25 teams in the state that are still alive in the postseason playoffs.

Three teams in the top 10 — No. 3 Rosemount, No. 8 Forest Lake and No. 9 Byron — lost to teams that didn’t make the list.