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There’s no “might” and there’s no “probably.” This was one of those epic ballgames that will be mentioned any time future discussions focus on the best games. Period. The screeching crowd, the hustling athletes, the pressure of playing on TV inside The Barn. C’mon.

The top-seeded Cherry Tigers are playing in the boys state basketball tournament for the third year in a row and their focus is on finally taking a championship trophy with them when they return to the Iron Range.

Eighty-seven years after their first trip to state, the Farmington boys basketball team made fresh by winning the Section 1 championship and advancing to the Class 4A state tournament with a sterling record of 23-6.

“I was really bummed that I couldn’t make their games, and it’s been a while since they made it to state. The community was so great when I played in Fosston and you never forget that.”

When Goodhue's Elisabeth Gadient scored in the second half of the state semifinals, the Wildcats fans were ready. It seemed like almost everyone in the crowd immediately held up identical signs with a simple message: “2000”

Coaching lifer Jim Lien realized a dream this week when the Walker-Hackensack-Akeley girls basketball team qualified for the state tournament for the first time.

Carlie Wagner was back at the girls state basketball tournament on Wednesday and she walked around with the biggest smile in town. Anybody who saw her play at state a decade ago remembers the small-town superstar from New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva for her smile as well as her tremendous basketball skills.

Among the great traditions at the Minnesota state high school hockey tournaments are the televised pregame introductions. One by one, players skate from the end line to the blue line as a TV camera documents their arrival. It’s very common to hear those kids look into the lens and say things like “Hi Mom” or “Hi Grandma.”

High school bands from Section 2A Subsection 8 gathered in Jordan for the annual Large Group Contest. Yes, the MSHSL is involved in athletics, but it also proudly oversees all kinds of fine arts activities, ranging from theater to speech to debate to visual arts to choir and band.

Northfield sophomore Caley Graber, who won the 100-pound state title at the girls state wrestling tournament in 2023, chose to compete exclusively with boys this season, and the results are more than impressive.

Tommaso Costantini, a foreign-exchange student from Italy who attends Bloomington Kennedy, qualified for state in his first year as a wrestler.

Dodge County made history with its first appearance at the girls state hockey tournament, and the Wildcats hope to return.