Humboldt wins first playoff game since 1986

It's been a long time coming - a long, long time.

On Tuesday, in the opening round of the 4AA playoffs, Humboldt (St. Paul) defeated Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop (Winthrop) 22-16 for the school's first playoff win since 1986. Julian Luster rushed 16 times for 155 yards and a touchdown and quarterback Dominique Khamarath rushed 11 times for 120 yards and added a touchdown pass in the win.

Humboldt finished the regular season 2-3 in the St. Paul City Conference with wins over Como Park and Harding. The Hawks won two of their three non-conference games, defeating St. Agnes in the season opener and then defeating Minneapolis Henry in the last game of the season.

A balanced running game, led by Cortez Adams (439 yards), Julian Luster (386), Chase Luster (385) and Calvin Clark (267) has been key for the school located on St. Paul's West Side. Julian Luster leads the team with 25 receptions for 388 yards, while Chase Luster leads the team in tackles with 79. Other leading tacklers include Tadareo Weaverr (66), Julian Luster (59), Micheal Flowers (41 tackles, team-leading seven sacks), Alex Rivera (41) and Victor Franco (34 tackles, 3.5 sacks), among others.

Humboldt, which improved to 5-4 with the win, will play Maple Lake Saturday in the section semifinals at Maple Lake.

RIDING THE STORM OUT: SAUK RAPIDS OVERCOMES ELEMENTS
High winds, rain and snow wreaked havoc across the state Tuesday. It wreaked a little more than that in Sauk Rapids during the game between Sauk Rapids-Rice and Little Falls. A power outage delayed the game almost an hour, but in the end Sauk Rapids - fittingly nicknamed the Storm - had more power and pulled away to earn a 28-13 opening round win. The prize for such a victory? A game against top-seeded Sartell Saturday.

Zach Horejsi rushed for 192 yards and two touchdowns - and also completed a 33-yard pass to account for 225 of the 228 total yards by Little Falls, but Sauk Rapids was the more balanced team. Storm running back Aaron Sutliffe rushed 17 times for 163 yards and two touchdowns, including the last two of the game - a 65-yard run and a 25-yard scamper. Erik Bjork added 78 rushing yards and a touchdown and Alex Schueller totaled 58 yards on the ground, including a 34-yard touchdown run for Sauk Rapids.

SNOW NO PROBLEM FOR HERMANTOWN
While winds swirled up to 60 mph across the state Tuesday, there was another element in Northern Minnesota: Snow. With the ground almost completely covered in snow, Hermantown plowed through the elements to emerge as an 18-7 winner over Eveleth-Gilbert in a 7AAAA quarterfinal. Steve Van Buren rushed 17 times for 115 yards and three touchdowns in the whiteout win.

MEMORABLE MOMENTS FOR WOODBURY'S MASLONKA
Woodbury defeated Minneapolis South 42-0 in a 4AAAAA quarterfinal game Tuesday - a game Cam Maslonka won't forget anytime soon. Maslonka, a junior running back for the Royals, ran for five touchdowns, scoring on runs of 64, 4, 31, 37 and 5 in the victory.

SOUTHLAND RUNS TO VICTORY
Mike Goergen of Southland (Adams) rushed 10 times for 165 yards and a touchdown (an 80-yard jaunt in the second quarter) to lead the Rebels to a 33-7 win over United South Central in a 2AA quarterfinal. He also caught six passes for 121 yards. Southland quarterback Sam Noterman completed 11 of 22 passes for 174 yards and a touchdown. With the win Southland improved to 7-2 on the season and will play Triton Saturday in the section semifinals in Dodge Center.

PASSING THE 2,000-YARD MILESTONE
There are now three quarterbacks across the state with more than 2,000 passing yards this season. Austin Lommen of Breck (Minneapolis) has tossed for 2,524 yards and 29 touchdowns, Austin Pohlen of Grand Rapids has 2,087 passing yards and 22 touchdowns and Billy Gregg of Hopkins (Minnetonka) has 2,049 passing yards and 26 touchdowns.

NOTEBOOK
Anthony Lee rushed for 275 yards and a touchdown (88 yards) as Johnson (St. Paul) held on to defeat Minnehaha Academy 12-6... Matt Glasgow rushed for 140 yards and two touchdowns and Zach Zabadal rushed for 123 yards and a touchdown as White Bear Lake ran over Roseville, 29-8... Tony Hill returned the opening kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown to help Champlin Park defeat Maple Grove 18-6... Kyle McCarthy rushed for 142 yards and scored two touchdowns in a 27-19 win over Park Center (Brooklyn Park).