Last year's Class 5A state champions, St. Michael-Albertville, were the only team with a loss to end the regular season in the Associated Press's Class 5A top ten rankings. The Knights finished at No. 9, good enough for a No. 2 seed, albeit the 2-seed in the same bracket as the current No.1-5A and No. 1 seed in Section 6, Elk River.
Every team that finished the regular season in the top 10 secured a one or two seed except St. Cloud Tech, which hold a No. 3 seed in Section 6.
Moorhead, the No. 4 seed in Section 8, and Mankato West, No. 2, Section 2, lost by a field goal apiece in last season's state semifinal games and both teams will be looking to make deep runs again into the postseason.
Despite a 5-3 and not ending the regular season ranked, Apple Valley is the top seed in Section 3. However, the barely above .500 record is deceiving, as the losses came to Rosemount, Burnsville, and Lakeville North, teams that are No. 5, No. 9, and No. 2 in Class 6A going into the postseason.
Grand Rapids and Owatonna are the other two teams that have received top seeds. Both teams ended with 6-2 records and are coming into section play with winning momentum.
Class 4A
It's going to be hard to get out of Section 2 in the Class 4A section playoffs. The top three seeds (Marshall, Hutchinson, and Waseca) all finished the regular season ranked in the Associated Press's Class 4A top 10 poll. When also taking into consideration a Mankato East team that came within a touchdown of defeating No 2.-5A Mankato West, Section 2 is shaping up to be a gauntlet.
Reigning state champ Becker and last year's state-runner up South St. Paul have secured the top seeds in Sections 6 and 3, respectively.
Section 4 is the lone section that did not place a team in the final AP poll of the season, but No. 1 seeded Fridley (6-2) will still face a difficult road back to the state tournament, particularly in the form of second seeded St. Paul Highland Park. The Scots have already taken down the Tigers once this season, pulling out a 14-12 victory on Oct. 7.
Class 3A
Defending state champion Pierz finished the regular season ranked No. 4 in the AP's Class 3A poll. The Pioneers fell to Maple Lake 20-6 in the second week of the season, but proceeded to win their next six straight to earn the top seed in Section 5.
Last year's runner-up, Jackson County Central, put up a perfect 8-0 record this season and will look to continue that momentum as Section 3's No. 1 seed.
St. Croix Lutheran wrapped up the regular season as the No. 1 ranked team in Class 3A. The Crusaders are the top seed in Section 4 and have already knocked off fellow No. 1 seed Providence Academy (Section 2) this season.
Rochester Lourdes, Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta, Procter, and Aitkin are the other No. 1 seeds in Class 3A.
Class 2A
Caledonia has mounted a solid title defense, maintaining a perfect record en route to a No. 1 ranking in Class 2A to finish the regular season and a No. 1 seed in Section 1 to begin the playoffs. The Warriors' offense has been rolling all season, never scoring fewer than 33 points and racking up as many as 70 on one occasion.
Last season's runner-up is not faring as well, as Pipestone Area has only managed a 3-5 record and a fourth seed in Section 3.
Despite finishing at No. 6 in the final regular season AP poll, New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva was awarded the No. 3 seed in Section 2, behind the AP's No. 10 Maple River and No. 9 Kenyon-Wanamingo.
After coming in at No. 2 in the final poll of the season, Barnesville took the No. 1 seed in Section 8. It won't be a cake walk to the state tournament, however, as seventh-ranked Hawley is also in Section 8.
Class 1A
Even though Minneota won the state title last season and finished this season in the AP poll's No. 1 position, the Vikings were given the No. 2 seed in Section 5 behind BOLD, which finished third in the final AP poll of the regular season. The Warriors will have to be on their best game to ward off a Minneota team that will surely take extra motivation from not being ranked at the top of the section.
Last year's state runner-up, No. 2-1A Minneapolis North, is the top seed in a Section 4 that is also home to No. 9-1A Mayer Lutheran and No. 10-1A Upsala/Swanville.
The top half of Section 1 is made up of teams that all ended up in the AP's final poll, with top seeds Rushford-Peterson and Fillmore Central coming in at No. 4 and No. 6, while third and fourth seeds Goodhue and Blooming Prairie were ranked No. 14 and No. 12, respectively.
9-Man
Can Grand Meadow make it four state titles in four years? It all starts in Section 1 for the top seeded Superlarks, The No. 1 team in the AP poll has not lost since Oct. 5, 2013, but the competition in Sections will not necessarily be easy.
No. 2 seed Spring Grove has been denied entrance to the state tournament since 2011, usually by Grand Meadow. The Lions one loss on the season came at the hands of the Superlarks on Oct. 19, so a quick rebound will be required if Spring Grove is going to finally upset the favorites and go on a state tournament run.
From runner-up last season to the No. 8 seed in Section 4, Underwood has a lot of ground to make up if another state tournament appearance is in order.
While the traditional powers reside in Section 1, the spread of talent throughout the sections is evident. Every section is headed by a team that was ranked in the AP's final poll of the season.
1. Owatonna
2. Northfield
3. Rochester Mayo
4 Rochester John Marshall
5. Austin
6. Rochester Century
1. Chanhassen
2. Mankato West
3. Waconia
4. Chaska
5. Bloomington Jefferson
6. New Prague
1. Apple Valley
2. Park of Cottage Grove
3. St. Thomas Academy
4. Hastings
5. Henry Sibley
6. Bloomington Kennedy
1. Mahtomedi
2. SMB
3. St. Paul Central
4. Minneapolis Washburn
5. Tartan
6. North St. Paul
1. Spring Lake Park
2. Robbinsdale Cooper
3. Irondale
4. St. Louis Park
5. Minneapolis Southwest
6. Park Center
1. Elk River
2. St. Michael Albertville
3. St. Cloud Tech
4. Rogers
5. Monticello
6. Sauk Rapids-Rice
1. Grand Rapids
2. Chisago Lakes
3. St. Francis
4. Andover
5. Cambridge-Isanti
6. Duluth East
1. Alexandria
2. Sartell-St. Stephen
3. Brainerd
4. Moorhead
5. Bemidji
6. St. Cloud Apollo
1. Winona
2. Stewartville
3. Kasson-Mantorville
4. Byron
5. Albert Lea
6. Red Wing
1. Marshall
2. Hutchinson
3. Waseca
4. Mankato East
5. Faribault
6. New Ulm
1. South St. Paul
2. New Life Academy
3. St. Paul Johnson
4. St. Paul Harding
5. Simley
6. Hill-Murray
1. Fridley
2. St. Paul Highland Park
3. Columbia Heights
4. DeLaSalle
5. St. Anthony
6. Minneapolis South
1. Mound Westonka
2. Benilde-St. Margaret's
3. Richfield
4. Academy of Holy Angels
1. Becker
2. Zimmerman
3. Orono
4. Big Lake
5. Delano
6. Dassel-Cokato
1. Hermantown
2. Cloquet
3. Duluth Denfeld
4. Princeton
5. Hibbing
6. North Branch
1. Fergus Falls
2. Detroit Lakes
3. Rocori
4. Willmar
5. Thief River Falls
6. Little Falls
1. Rochester Lourdes
2. Cannon Falls
3. Plainview-Elgin-Millville
4. Tri-City United
5. Pine Island
6. Lake City
7. La Crescent
1. Providence Academy
2. Belle Plaine
3. Glencoe-Silver Lake
4. Jordan
5. Rockford
6. Watertown-Mayer
7. Holy Family
1. Jackson County Central
2. Fairmont
3. Luverne
4. Worthington
5. Sibley East
6. St. Peter
1. St. Croix Lutheran
2. Minneapolis Patrick Henry
3. Brooklyn Center
4. Breck
5. St. Paul Como Park
6. Minneapolis Roosevelt
1. Pierz
2. Mora
3. Annandale
4. St. Cloud Cathedral
5. Foley
6. Pine City
7. Milaca
1. Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta
2. Albany
3. New London-Spicer
4. Litchfield
5. Holdingford
6. Melrose
7. Montevideo
1. Proctor
2. Greenway/Nashwauk-Keewatin
3. Two Harbors
4. Virginia
5. Esko
6. International Falls
1. Aitkin
2. Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton
3. Perham
4. Pequot Lakes
5. Park Rapids
6. East Grand Forks
7. Roseau
1. Caledonia
2. Zumbrota-Mazeppa
3. Triton
4. St. Charles
5. Lewiston-Altura
6. Chatfield
7. Dover-Eyota
8. Winona Cotter
1. Maple River
2. Kenyon-Wanamingo
3. New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva
4. Blue Earth Area
5. Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial
6. Waterville-Elysian-Morristown
7. Medford
8. LeSueur-Henderson
1. Redwood Valley
2. Yellow Medicine East
3. Lakeview
4. Pipestone Area
5. Windom
6. St. James
7. Martin County West
8. Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop
1. Norwood Young America
2. Maple Lake
3. Spectrum
4. St. Agnes
5. Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted
6. Concordia Academy
7. Minneapolis Edison
1. Eden Valley-Watkins
2. Osakis
3. Paynesville
4. Sauk Centre
5. Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City
6. Minnewaska
7. Benson
1. Pillager
2. Ottertail Central
3. Breckenridge
4. Staples-Motley
5. Wadena-Deer Creek
6. West Central Area
7. Pelican Rapids
8. Long Prairie-Grey Eagle
1. Eveleth-Gilbert
2. Royalton
3. Crosby-Ironton
4. Moose Lake-WIllow River
5. Rush City
6. Mesabi East
1. Barnesville
2. Hawley
3. Bagley
4. Warroad
5. United North Central
6. Crookston
7. Frazee
1. Rushford-Peterson
2. Fillmore Central
3. Goodhue
4. Blooming Prairie
5. Southland
6. Wabasha-Kellogg
7. Hayfield
8. Kingsland
1. Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton
2. Bethlehem Academy
3. Minnesota Valley Lutheran
4. Alden-Conger/Glenville-Emmons
5. St. Clair
6. New Ulm Cathedral
7. United South Central
8. Mankato Loyola
1. Adrian
2. Red Rock Central
3. Murray County Central
4. Sleepy Eye St. Mary's
5. Russell-Tyler-Ruthton
6. Tracy-Milroy-Balaton
7. Sleepy Eye
8. Springfield
1. Minneapolis North
2. Mayer Lutheran
3. Upsala/Swanville
4. Lester Prairie/Holy Trinity
5. Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg
6. Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa
7. Kimball
1. BOLD
2. Minneota
3. Wabasso
4. Dawson-Boyd
5. Canby
6. Lac qui Parle Valley
7. Ortonville
8. Cedar Mountain-Comfrey
1. Pine River-Backus
2. Walker-Hackensack-Akeley
3. Parkers Prairie
4. Browerville
5. Lake Park-Audubon
6. New York Mills
1. Hinckley-Finlayson
2. Braham
3. Deer River
4. Chisholm
5. East Central
6. Barnum
1. Mahnomen
2. Polk County West
3. Fosston
4. Fertile-Beltrami
5. Badger-Greenbush-Middle River
6. Red Lake County
7. Lake of the Woods
8. Red Lake
1. Grand Meadow
2. Spring Grove
3. Mabel-Canton
4. Houston
5. Lanesboro
6. Randolph
7. LeRoy-Ostrander
8. Lyle-Pacilli
1. Cleveland
2. Ogilvie
3. MACCRAY
4. Renville County West
5. Isle
6. Buffalo Lake-Hetor-Stewart
7. West Lutheran
8. Onamia
1. Edgerton/Ellsworth
2. Hills-Beaver Creek
3. Mountain Lake Area
4. Fulda
5. Madelia
6. Westbrook-Walnut Grove
7. Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman
8. Nicollet
1. Verndale
2. Wheaton-Herman-Norcross
3. Hillcrest Lutheran
4. Brandon-Evansville
5. Hancock
6. Bertha-Hewitt
7. Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley
8. Underwood
1. Cromwell
2. Silver Bay
3. South Ridge
4. Floodwood
5. Hill City/Northland
6. Wrenshall
7. McGregor
8. Carlton
1. Waubun
2. Nevis
3. Norman County East/Ulen-Hitterdal
4. Ada-Borup
5. Rothsay
6. Norman County West
7. Laporte
8. Class Lake-Bena
1. Ely
2. North Woods
3. Mountain Iron-Buhl
4. Bigfork
5. Northeast Range
6. Cook County
1. Stephen-Argyle
2. Kittson County Central
3. Clearbrook-Gonvick
4. Kelliher/Northome
5. Warren-Alvarado-Oslo
6. Goodridge-Grygla-Gatzke
7. Win-E-Mac
8. Northern Freeze