Conference football champions crowned in Minnesota

Just like that, it's over. The regular season that is.

On Wednesday teams across the state completed the regular season. On Tuesday playoffs begin. Here is a look at some news, notes and playmakers through the end of the regular season.

UNDEFEATED REGULAR SEASONS
A number of Twin Cities Metro teams finished the eight-game regular season undefeated on their way to conference titles. Among that group:

Blaine - Northwest Suburban Conference
Wayzata (Plymouth) - Lake Conference
Rosemount - South Suburban Conference
St. Thomas Academy (Mendota Heights), South Saint Paul - Classic Suburban Conference (co-champs)
Shakopee - Missota Conference
Holy Family Catholic (Victoria) - Minnesota River Conference
Rogers - Mississippi 8 Conference
St. Paul Central - St. Paul City Conference
Providence Academy/Heritage Christian Academy (Plymouth) - MCAA

A number of Twin Cities teams also finished the regular season with only one loss on their way to a conference title. The biggest logjam in that group came in the Suburban East Conference where Cretin-Derham Hall (St. Paul), Mounds View (Arden Hills) and Stillwater all finished 7-1. Totino-Grace (Fridley), the defending Class 4A state champions, earned the North Suburban Conference title by finishing 6-0 but finished 7-1 on the season. Delano earned the Wright County Conference title with a 7-1 record by virtue of its win over 7-1 Dassel-Cokato (Cokato) and St. Anthony Village (Minneapolis) and DeLaSalle (Minneapolis) tied for the Tri-Metro Conference title with one loss each (6-1/7-1 overall).

WAYZATA DEFEATS TOP-RANKED EDEN PRAIRIE
Wayzata defeated top-ranked Eden Prairie 28-27 in overtime to win the Lake Conference title. Wayzata stopped what appeared to be a fake extra-point attempt by Eden Prairie in overtime to pull out the one-point win. Sasha Doran threw three touchdown passes for the Trojans, two to Tanner Helgren, including the Trojans' overtime
score. With the win, Wayzata secured a bye in the first round of the 5AAAAA playoffs and despite the loss, Eden Prairie is still the top seed (and received a bye) in the 6AAAAA playoffs.

FINNES FINESSE LEADS HUSKIES' FINE FINISH
Andover finished third in the Northwest Suburban Conference (6-2) behind undefeated Blaine and runner-up Osseo (6-1, 6-2) to earn the No. 2 spot in the 7AAAAA playoffs (Blaine is the top seed). If the Huskies advance through the section playoffs (they host 2-6 Anoka Tuesday) quarterback Tyler Finnes will likely play a big
part in that success. Finnes had one of the most complete games by any player this season in a 29-26 win over Osseo Wednesday. Finnes ran 30 times for 246 yards and three touchdowns and completed 11 of 21 passes for 178 yards and a touchdown.

Finnes finished the regular season with 917 yards passing and eight touchdowns and added 795 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns. While Finnes provided the spark, the real hero in the win over Osseo may have been kicker Tyler McLaughlin. He kicked a 19-yard field goal that turned out to be the game-winner in what was his first field goal attempt of the year. With Finnes at quarterback and weapons such as running back Cole Westerlund and receiver Jake Wagner, it could be a while before the season is over for Andover.

DASSEL-COKATO DAZZLING
Dassel-Cokato enters playoff action as the top seed in 3AAA and appears ready to contend for a section title after a 61-21 blowout of Watertown-Mayer Wednesday. The Chargers racked up 487 yards of offense, including 331 on the ground. The Chargers are led by the running of Aaron Haataja (1051 yards, 10 touchdowns) and passing
of Tyler Irvin (970 yards, 10 touchdowns). Standing in the way of DC's road to the state tournament could be No. 2-seed Glencoe Silver Lake. The Panthers lost two regular season games (including a 36-30 loss to Dassel-Cokato) to finish third in the conference, but come playoff time, this is one team that knows how to win.

SECOND-YEAR SUCCESS
East Ridge (Woodbury) found the winning formula in only its second year of existence. The second-year school that is home to students from both Cottage Grove and Woodbury finished 6-2 after a 56-28 win over Forest Lake Wednesday that saw the Raptors rack up 627 yards of offense. Running Back Ezekkiel Okeleye rushed 25
times for 218 yards and three touchdowns (9, 4, 4) in the win. East Ridge earned the No. 2 seed in 4AAAAA (SEC foe Cretin is the top seed) and will host Hastings Tuesday. Okeleye finished the regular season with 1,201 yards rushing and 13 touchdowns.

GANDY REACHES 2,000 RUSHING YARDS
DeLaSalle running back Reggie Gandy finished the regular season with 2,200 rushing yards after rushing for 355 yards in a 58-13 win over Minnehaha Academy Wednesday. With the win the Islanders finished 7-1 (6-1 overall) and tied for the Tri-Metro Conference title. DeLaSalle earned the top seed in 4AAA and will host Blake
Tuesday.

ST. PAUL CENTRAL CLAIMS TWIN CITIES TITLE
St. Paul Central kept its undefeated season going with a 56-6 drubbing of Minneapolis City Conference champion Washburn Wednesday in the annual Twin Cities Championship game. Malik Glass ran for 125 yards and a touchdown and Gabe Walker added 74 rushing yards and a score in the blowout win. The Minutemen earned a first-round bye in the 4AAAA playoffs and will play the winner of the Hill Murray vs. North Branch game in the second round of the playoffs.

SOUTH SAINT PAUL CO-SHARES CLASSIC SUBURBAN CROWN
South Saint Paul earned a conference championship in football for the first time since 1965 with a 48-6 win over Tartan. Sam Sura rushed for 235 yards and finished the regular season with 1,586 rushing yards for the Packers. Despite the success the Packers are the No. 2 seed in 3AAAA and will host Richfield Tuesday. The top
seed is St. Thomas Academy, the top-ranked 4A team in the state - and the team SSP shared the conference title with this year (the two conference rivals did not play each other this regular season). Could the mythical conference championship be on the line in the section title game? SSP sure hopes to find out.