BLOOMING PRAIRIE — The last time the Blooming Prairie football team went to state in 2014, many of the players on this year’s team were likely in the stands watching.

Now this group of Awesome Blossoms is going to take their shot at the Minnesota Class A State Football Tournament when they take on United South Central in the quarterfinals at New Ulm High School at 1 p.m. Saturday.

This will be BP’s fourth state tournament appearance in the last decade and senior Payton Simon is very familiar with the school’s past success on the gridiron. Simon is glad to finally be part of a state tournament team himself.

“There’s banners up in our gym and we’ve seen t-shirts of other teams,” Simon said. “Now we’re written in the record books and our team won’t be forgotten now because we’ll be on those banners. It’s kind of like BP football immortality and I think that’s kind of cool.”

Simon has stepped up as a leader on a BP defense that has made big plays this season. The Blossoms have shut down opponents’ passing games while racking up turnovers.

BP head coach Chad Gimbel said that Simon’s leadership is valuable to a unit that has been consistent all season.

“It starts with Payton on that side of the ball. He’s pretty spirited out there, he’s flying around and he plays with a lot of confidence. It radiates to all of the other players,” Gimbel said. “It’s just been 11 guys doing their job on the defensive side of the ball. Our defensive line is bringing pressure and our defensive backs are covering. We’ve gotten a lot of sacks this year and a lot of interceptions and those two things seem to go together.”

BP’s hoping that its defense can continue to play well against the Rebels on Saturday. USC leans on a strong rushing attack that is led by Zach Niebuhr, who had 308 rushing yards and six total touchdowns a 42-20 win over Randolph in the Section 2A title game.

“They’re a physical team. They’ve got a good running back in Niebuhr,” Gimbel said of USC. “They’re aggressive on defense and they’re going to put pressure on the quarterback and come after the quarterback. They live on that. They’re a very, very good football team.”

Simon said that BP is expecting USC to come out with a physical style and it will be up to all 11 players on defense to do their job.

“The trust has to be one hundred percent,” Simon said. “Coach [Gimbel] always preaches that we do our jobs and nobody else’s jobs. If you try to do somebody else’s job, then there’s going to be two jobs done at 50 percent. We just have to focus on our job and do it the best that it can possibly be done.”

While the win over Goodhue was a big one for BP, which had its season end in a loss to Goodhue last year, Gimbel thinks the Blossoms are still properly motivated for the next game.

“I think they’ve been pretty focused this week. Our kids know what to expect,” Gimbel said. “We beat Goodhue, but now we’re onto our next goal and that’s to win our next game.”

THE MATCHUP

BP is 11-0 overall and the Awesome Blossoms have a QRF ranking of No. 5. BP scores 43.9 points per game and allows 12.1 points per game. The Blossoms advanced to state by beating Goodhue 21-18.

USC is 10-0 overall and has a QRF ranking of No. 4. The Rebels score 37 points per game and allow 11.8 points per game. USC advanced to state by beating Randolph 42-20.