MINNEAPOLIS – The Blooming Prairie defense put together a crushing performance as the Awesome Blossoms shut down Ada-Borup in a 41-0 win in the Minnesota Class A State Football Tournament semifinals in U.S. Bank Stadium Saturday.

The Blossoms held the Cougars to just 131 yards of offense and A-B did not run a play inside BP’s 30-yard line until late in the game when both teams pulled their starters. A-B had a lot of speed in its backfield, but BP stayed disciplined and kept everything in front of them.

“I know they have a lot of speed, but the best thing about it is we didn’t let that speed get loose. We didn’t have to measure it today,” BP head coach Chad Gimbel said. “The defense really controlled the game. Offensively, I thought we kind of shot ourselves in the foot and stopped ourselves a few times, but we made the plays when we needed to. We’ve been very strong on the defensive side, but to do it against a team of this caliber I would say (it was our best effort of the year).”

The Blossoms committed three turnovers, but none of them fazed the defense. Matthew Pryor, who ran for 181 yards and three scores, said getting frustrated was not an option for BP.

“The worst thing you can do after a turnover is to take it out on each other,” Pryor said. “We had to stick together as one and you’ve got to move on to the next play.”

BP converted a pair of big fourth down plays to set up two of its second quarter scores. Gabe Hagen hauled in a six-yard pass on fourth and five to set up a 10-yard TD catch by Karson Vigeland that made it 14-0 and Pryor converted a 20-yard run on fourth and one to set up his own one-yard TD plunge to put BP up 21-0 with 4:13 left in the second quarter.

BP senior Gabe Hagen, who has committed to Minnesota State University, was matched up with A-B’s Mason Miller, who has committed to North Dakota State University. Hagen pulled in a 47-yard TD grab from Kaden Thomas to give BP a 27-0 lead at the break and he also had five tackles and a sack against the blocking of Miller, who finished with two tackles and one catch for negative one yard.

“It was nice having some better competition. I think I measured up against him,” Hagen said.

BP linebacker Mitchell Fiebiger finished with 10 total tackles, three that were for a loss, and defensive end Jarrett Larson added eight tackles and a sack.

“It was a total team effort. We had a great week of practice figuring out what we were going to do,” Larson said. “Every lineman filled their gap and every linebacker filled the right holes. Everyone was flying to the ball relentless on every play.”

BP (12-0 overall) will play BOLD in the state title game at 10 a.m. on Nov. 29.

SCORING SUMMARY
AB 0   0  0  0  –  0
BP 7  20  6  8  –  41

First quarter
(BP) Matthew Pryor 11 run (Colin Jordison kick) (4 plays, 59 yards) 10:22

Second quarter
(BP) Karson Vigeland 10 pass from Kaden Thomas (Jordison kick) (9 plays, 37 yards) 11:57
(BP) Pryor 2 run (Jordison kick) (10 plays, 71 yards) 4:13
(BP) Gabe Hagen 47 pass from Thomas (kick blocked) (1 play, 47 yards) 1:55

Third quarter
(BP) Pryor 30 run (kick failed) (7 plays, 72 yards) 5:23

Fourth quarter
(BP) Tyler Archer 1 run (Drew Kittleson run) (11 play, 57 yards) 4:07

BP STATS
Rushing: Matthew Pryor, 18-for-181, 3 TDs; Bradley Simon, 5-for-35; Tyler Archer, 6-for-33; Cade Christianson, 1-for-19; Drew Kittelson, 4-for-15; Mitchell Fiebiger, 1-for-9; Gabe Hagen, 1-for-3; Alex Baldwin, 1-for-(-1)
Passing: Kaden Thomas, 12-for-20, 137, 2 TD, 2 INT
Receiving: Hagen, 2-for-53, TD; Karson Vigeland, 2-for-24, TD; Baldwin, 2-for-21; Simon, 3-for-19; Pryor, 2-for-15; Colin Jordison, 1-for-5
Defense: Gabe Hagen, 1 sack; Jarrett Larson, 1 sack
Penalties: 5-for-35

A-B STATS
Rushing: Verdis Barber, 19-for-46; Cameron Spaeth, 3-for-44; Braiden Fetting, 11-for-12
Passing: Preston Gwin, 6-for-18, 50
Receiving: Chase Buccholtz, 2-for-36; Avery Okori, 1-for-21; Mason Miller, 1-for-(-1) Fetting, 2-for-(-6)
Penalties: 5-for-40