The Awesome Blossoms are ready to play in their 7th straight Section 1A football title game this Friday at 8 p.m. in RCTC Stadium in Rochester and they’re hoping it doesn’t end up like it did last year.

The No. 1 seeded and No. 3 ranked Awesome Blossoms (10-0 overall) beat Faribault Bethlehem Academy in the regular season last year, but had their season end in a playoff loss in the section finals. This year, the Blossoms beat FBA 24-7 Oct. 16 and they will face No. 3 FBA (7-3 overall) again this Friday with a trip to state on the line.

“We’ve got to get off to a good start. Last year we got off to a bad start and it snow-balled on us,” BP head coach Chad Gimbel said.

Although BP has played in the section title game on a regular basis over the past few years, Gimbel said it doesn’t get any easier to prepare for it. The excitement that comes with the game has died down a little amongst the players, but its still tough to prepare for a state-qualifying game.

“It’s still the same stress. We try to keep it normal like any other week of practice,” Gimbel said.

The Blossoms have made their mark on defense this year as they’ve allowed just 9.1 points per game. Gimbel said the team can still improve on that side of the ball against an FBA team that will look to pound the ball not the ground.

“We need to control the line of scrimmage a lot better and we need to keep our focus and intensity through the whole game,” Gimbel said.

Unfortunately for the Blossoms, they aren’t as healthy as they have been, but they’re not about to make any excuses.

“We’re probably as banged up as we’ve been all year,” Gimbel said. “Other guys will need to step up.”

Follow RockyHulneADH on twitter for live updates of the game Friday night.