ROCHESTER — The Awesome Blossoms are going to the Metrodome.

Blooming Prairie’s offense started the engine and its defense finished the job in a 21-8 win over No. 1 ranked New Ulm Cathedral in the Class ‘A’ state quarterfinals at RCTC Stadium in Rochester Saturday.

BP (11-1 overall) scored three touchdowns in the first 13 minutes as Luc Zellmer hit Cooper Nelson for a 26-yard score and he hit Justen Ingvalson for a seven-yard middle screen to make it 14-0 at the end of the first quarter. Ingvalson added to the momentum when he broke one tackle on a punt return and ran through a wall of blockers for a 75-yard score to open the second quarter.

Before the Greyhounds (11-1 overall) could blink, BP was up three scores.

“A lot of people were doubting us and they thought we’d be crying right now,” said Nelson, who had 73 receiving yards. “But we’re the ones with smiles on our faces.”

The Blossoms, who are ranked No. 5 in Class ‘A’ showed no intimidation on their first possession against New Ulm Cathedral. They converted two fourth-and ones on an Ingvalson run and a Zellmer sneak to set up Nelson’s score.

“I love it when we kick receive,” BP senior linebacker Jeff Hagstrom said. “If our offense goes out and just punches them in the mouth and they can score on the first drive, then I know today’s going to be a good game. If not, our defense really has to step up.”

After the early offensive explosions, BP’s defense dominated the run-first Greyhounds at the line of scrimmage. They held them to three yards or less 20 times on the ground and allowed just three runs of more than 15 yards. In all, Cathedral had just 168 yards of offense.

“Our defense played a whale of a game,” BP head coach Chad Gimbel said. “Matt Kittelson had those guys ready and prepared. It was a great team effort all the way around.”

Hagstrom gave credit to the play of BP tackles Dan Willert and Pat Trotman as to why the Blossoms were able to stall the Greyhounds power rushing attack.

“Dan and Pat did an excellent job following the pulls up front,” he said. “New Ulm had some size on us but if I had to compare them to someone it would be Mankato Loyola and we shut them down. We kind of used that mentality from that game, although Cathedral is a better team (than Loyola).”

The BP offense didn’t produce any more points after their initial surge, but Aaron Niles kept the clock rolling as he ran for 114 yards on 22 carries. He also broke up several passes as a defensive back.

Zellmer, a sophomore quarterback threw three interceptions, one was at the end of the half on a Hail Mary and on the second one BP forced a fumble on the return and recovered it to set up Ingvalson’s score. In the end, Zellmer’s big plays outnumbered his bad ones as he threw for 104 of his 150 yards in the first quarter — with most of those plays going to Nelson.

“I was not feeling the nerves. Each game I get less nervous and I settle down. I felt real good before the game,” Zellmer said. “Cooper (Nelson) has a mismatch against anyone. Anytime we can get it to him, it’s golden.”

The game ended with some dramatics when Cathedral got it’s only points on an 88-yard return of a BP fumble with 51.3 seconds left in the game. After the Greyhounds scored the two-point conversion, they recovered the on-side kick and drove into BP territory when Dudley Smith picked off a pass to seal the win with under 30 seconds left.

BP will now play Minneota (12-0 overall) Saturday at the Metrodome in Minneapolis at 10:15 a.m. in the Class ‘A’ semifinals.

“I’m so proud of these guys,” Gimbel said. “A lot of people overlooked this senior group, but they were underneath some very good teams that taught them how to do things right. These guys stepped up and got it done.”

STATS

BP stats: Rushing: Aaron Niles, 22-for-114; Gabe Kartes, 4-for-19; Luc Zellmer, 12-for-10; Passing: Zellmer, 14-for-25, 150, 2 TD, 3 INT; Receiving: Cooper Nelson, 4-for-73, TD; Justen Ingvalson, 5-for-37, TD; Niles, 2-for-17; Kartes, 1-for-12; Lucas Hueman, 1-for-6; Josh Gwilt, 1-for-5; Sacks: Gwilt, Nelson; Interceptions: Dudley Smith; fumble recoveries: Aaron Krejci; Penalties: 8-for-66

Cathedral stats: Rushing: Michael Glawe, 10-for-54; Greg Genelin, 8-for-46; Nick Simon, 3-for-42; Frank Johnson, 6-for-13; Kevin Larson, 4-for-(-38); Colin Wedinger, 1-for-(-7); Larson, 6-for-19, 58; Kyle M. Fischer, 0-for-1; Wedinger, 1-for-26; Ross Grathwohl, 1-for-18; Simon, 1-for-8; Frank Johnson, 1-for-6; Interceptions: Kyle M. Fischer (2), Brandon Berg

SCORING SUMMARY

Blooming Prairie 14 7 0 0 — 21

Cathedral 0 0 0 8 — 8

First quarter

(BP) 8:15 Nelson 26 pass from Zellmer (Niles kick) (8 plays, 58 yards)

(BP) :48.5 Ingvalson 7 pass from Zellmer (Niles kick) (4 plays, 40 yards)

Second quarter

(BP) 11:30 Ingvalson 75 punt return (Niles kick) (1 play, 75 yards)

Third quarter

No scoring

Fourth quarter

(NUC) :51.3 Brandon Berg 88 fumble recovery (Ross Grathwohl pass from Fischer)