Hayfield Opens State in Rochester Wednesday
The Hayfield Vikings received the #4 seed out of the four teams in the south in Class A but don't have to travel far for their opening game Wednesday against top south seed Legacy Christian Academy. The game is at Rochester Mayo High School.
Legacy Christian Academy is in Andover. The Lions are 20-1 with their only loss against Lester Prairie (16-4) on the road. The score was 74-65. They defeated the Bulldogs at home 77-59.
The Lions scored victories over Hill-Murray 66-52, Trinity School at River Ridge 72-56 and Christ Household of Faith 79-45 to advance to state.
In the Section title game 5'11 freshman Micah Strand was lights out from three point range going 6 for 9 with 19 points. Leading scorer for the team senior, 6'2 Trenton Harrison had 11 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists.
Senior, 6'3 Brian Halcomb notched a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Senior 5'11 Jake Wald achieved 13 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists.
Legacy Christian Academy was 11 for 22 from behind the arc with 17 assists on 28 field goals. They were 12 of 17 at the free throw line and committed 15 turnovers.
The school founded in 1976 is comprised of 475 students in grades K-12.
Hayfield will be the visitor on the scoreboard but they won their Section title game over Southland 78-72 at Mayo High School so they will be very familiar with the surroundings. Senior, 6'3 Ethan Slaathaug poured in 40 points, sophomore 6'2 Isaac Matti added 23 points for the Vikings. They were 13 of 23 from 3 point range, connected on 13 of 19 free throws and had 18 assists on 26 field goals.
Hayfield has a 5 game win streak, Legacy Christian Academy 11 game win streak going into Wednesday's Quarterfinal game in Rochester.
The Vikings four losses were to Gopher Conference Champion Maple River twice
(71-51), (74-49), Grand Meadow 59-57, Southland in Hayfield (71-69).
In the playoffs they avenged losses to Grand Meadow and Southland beginning the playoffs with a 91-55 win over Schaeffer Academy of Rochester. The Vikings downed Grand Meadow 69-59, Lyle/Pacelli 57-47 before capturing the Section 1A title with their victory over Southland.
The North game in the same bracket features #2 North seed Deer River (20-2) and #3 North Badger/Greenbush-Middle River (19-3) playing in Pequot Lakes. The winners play a semifinal game Noon April 7 at Target Center in Minneapolis.
The other side of the brack quarterfinal action finds #1 seed Nevis (19-2) going up against #4 Hancock (17-5) in Perham. The other game is #2 South Central Mn Christian (18-4) and #3 Sleepy Eye St. Mary's (19-3) playing at Mankato East High School. The winners are scheduled to play April 7 at 11:00 a.m. in the Target Center.
KDHL 920 AM Radio, will broadcast the game beginning approximately 4:15 p.m. It will be available on the KDHL app worldwide also.
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