John's Journal: Records Fall As Meagher Sparks Minneota To State Title

Ryan Meagher is pretty much at home inside U.S. Bank Stadium, as are his Minneota football teammates and most everybody from the southwest Minnesota town of 1,348. The Vikings captured their third consecutive Class A state championship on Friday with a 70-20 win over Springfield, beating the Tigers for the third year in a row.

Meagher (pronounced MA-her), a 5-foot-10, 200-pound senior bundle of speed and toughness, was the undisputed star on the first day of the Prep Bowl weekend. In the first of seven title games, he ran all over the purple place. He carried the ball 22 times for 290 yards and a Prep Bowl-record six rushing touchdowns, scoring from 12, 60, 15, 57, 3 and 4 yards.

Oh, he also came into the game needing three touchdowns and 98 yards to set school records. And he didn’t care about any of that. Not even a little.

“I wasn't thinking about any records,” he said. “I was thinking about winning the game.”

Meagher finished the season with 1,960 yards and 40 touchdowns, averaging nearly 10 yards per carry.

Minneota (13-0) now owns football threepeats in two different stadiums on the same site. The Vikings won titles at the Metrodome in 1986, 1987 and 1988 and now hold three in a row at U.S. Bank Stadium. 

Meagher, who has not finalized any college plans, has played in all three Prep Bowls during Minneota’s latest run. As a sophomore, he carried eight times for 73 yards and one touchdown in a 38-21 win over Springfield, and last year he rushed 29 times for 199 yards and five touchdowns (which tied the then-Prep Bowl record for rushing TDs) in a 43-22 victory.

In three Prep Bowls, he has carried the ball 59 times for 562 yards and 12 touchdowns. There is no category along those lines in the record book, but Meagher has put up numbers that are pretty amazing.

He credited the offensive line: center Thomas DeSmet, guards Kyler Lozinski and Parker Bradley, tackles Noah Gorecki and Kyson Arndt, and tight ends Eli Gruenes and Brock Fier.

“There were pretty big holes today,” Ryan said. “It makes it easy to run, it makes my job a lot easier when they do that.”

The previous high for points scored against Springfield (12-1) this season was 18, in a 28-18 Tigers win over Murray County Central in Week 2.

Springfield coach Adam Meyer, who has led the Tigers to three Prep Bowls in four years as head coach – and a sterling record of 42-9 – called Meagher “physical, agile, he does everything well. And their front is as good as I’ve seen.”

Meagher’s touchdown total wasn’t the only Prep Bowl record set in the game.

--Minneota tied the record for most points by one team, matching the total by Triton in a 70-21 win over Luverne in 2006.

--Meagher matched the Prep Bowl record for most TDs in a game (including rushing, receiving, kick returns). Kirk Midthun of Triton had six in 1994, as did Owen King of Caledonia in 2017 and Jason Williamson of Owatonna in 2017.

The previous record for rushing touchdowns was five, by Jordan Suhonen of Cromwell in 2010, Jason Williamson of Owatonna in 2017, Christian Vasser of Wayzata in 2019 and Meagher himself one year ago. Suhonen also holds the Prep Bowl records for rushing yards (374) and rushing average (13.4 yards); Meagher averaged 13.2 Friday.

The Vikings totaled 503 rushing yards, with Destin Fier running eight times for 99 yards and a touchdown. The Prep Bowl record for rushing yards is 569 by Stephen-Argyle in 2009.

The game was Minneota’s fourth consecutive Prep Bowl appearance. In 2021 the Vikings lost to Mayer Lutheran 20-14. Overall, the Vikings now own 10 state championships: 1986, 1987, 1988, 2009, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2022, 2023, 2024.

Becker Wins 4A Title

The Becker Bulldogs won their fourth state football title, defeating Totino-Grace 24-8. Becker’s previous championships came in 2005, 2014 and 2015. They were runners-up in 1990, 1994, 2001, 2004 and 2006.

Dwight Lundeen, who has been Becker’s only head coach – he started the program in 1970 – completed his 55^th season at the helm. With 412 wins, he ranks second all-time to Verndale’s Mike Mahlen, who is also in his 55^th year and has won 437 games.

The Bulldogs won with a strong running game and stout defense. They rushed for 240 yards, led by Landen Kujawa with 16 carries for 99 yards and a touchdown. He began the scoring with an early 32-yard run, Carter Reckelberg ran for a 54-yard TD, Sawyer Brown returned an interception 32 yards for a score and Evan Norberg kicked a 26-yard field goal.

Totino-Grace (12-1) got the game’s final points late in the fourth quarter, with Jake Person throwing to Luther Bunge for one yard.

Becker completed the season with zero points allowed in the third quarter, outscoring their opponents 148-0. Overall, they outscored the opposition 466-93. They gave up 15 points in one game this season and 14 twice, finishing with a perfect record of 13-0.

Prep Bowl Notes

--Because of full-squad practices on hold while the football team played until the final day of the season, the Jackson County Central boys basketball season opener, originally scheduled for Dec. 3 at Blue Earth Area, has been moved to Dec. 12. Jackson County Central and Springfield will scrimmage each other on Dec. 3.

--Five radio stations provided play-by-play coverage of the Minneota-Springfield game. That’s pretty good when you consider that the combined population of the two towns is 3,300.

--An unofficial Prep Bowl record was set when the Springfield band performed the national anthem in 63 seconds.

2024 Prep Bowl

Friday, Nov. 22

Class 1A/ Minneota 70, Springfield 20

Class 4A/ Becker 24, Totino-Grace 8

Class 2A/ Jackson County Central 42, Staples-Motley 24

Class 6A/ Maple Grove 28, Minnetonka 21

Saturday, Nov. 23

10 a.m. Nine-Player/ Hills-Beaver Creek vs. Fertile-Beltrami

1 p.m. Class 3A/ Dassel-Cokato vs. Stewartville

4 p.m. Class 5A/ Elk River vs. Alexandria

--MSHSL senior content creator John Millea has been the leading voice of Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Threads at johnmilleamn and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get podcasts. Contact John at [email protected] or [email protected]