MINNEAPOLIS – The Awesome Blossoms hung around as long as they could, but BOLD proved to be too much for them as they lost  37-7 in the Minnesota Class A State Football Tournament semifinals in USBank Stadium Saturday.

The Blossoms (12-1 overall) recovered an on-side kick to start the second half and Kaden Thomas scrambled and found Payton Simon for a 21-yard TD to bring BP within 10-7 with 8:52 left in the game. But BOLD (13-0 overall) had a big answer as it came up with four straight scoring drives to put it away.

BOLD racked up 328 yards on the ground, while BP was held to just 49 rushing yards.

BP shifted its defense to focus on BOLD wide receiver Lucas Ryan, a Mr. Football candidate and that made it tough to stop the run.

“We had to devote two guys to him and that makes it hard to cover the option,” BP head coach Chad Gimbel said. “But you’ve got to pick your poison. We didn’t want (Ryan) running free in our secondary and we saw a lot of film of him doing that this year.”

Trailing 3-0 early, the Blossoms had two golden opportunities slip away in the first half when Dylan Nirk recovered a muffed punt and a fumble deep in BOLD’s territory on back-to-back possessions, but BP couldn’t cash in for points on either drive.

“Those were definitely scoring opportunities against a great team like that and we needed to put them in the end zone,” Gimbel said. “We had our opportunities to get up on them early. We knew they were a very good football team going in and this game is a funny game and momentum is a big part of it. If you give a team that hasn’t faced adversity all year a couple of scores early that game could’ve changed, but give them credit. They made the stops.”

Gabe Hagen, who has been BP’s go-to receiver all season, finished with seven catches for 72 yards and his biggest play was a 17-yard gain. While he was effective, BOLD did a lot to keep Hagen from making plays as it double teamed Hagen.

“When they put a safety over you it’s hard to get open,” Hagen said. “This motivates us a lot to work hard in the offseason and lift weights. We want to get to back to this point and win, get to the championship game and finish it off.”

BP had troubles getting its run game going against BOLD’s big and physical front line and that size also wore out BP’s defensive line down the stretch.

“We haven’t played against a line quite that big before this year,” BP senior Trent Swenson said. “Their size made a difference.”

The Blossoms came into the game hoping to limit BOLD’s big play potential, but the Warriors were able to convert five plays of over 20 yards and they also forced a pair of BP turnovers in the second half.

BP’s defense stepped up on BOLD’s first possession as the Warriors had used a 31-yard run and a 41-yard catch by Gavin Vosika to get a first and goal at BP’s one-yard line. The Blossoms were able to force a field goal after getting three straight tackles for a loss.

SCORING SUMMARY
BP 0  0  7  0  –  7
BOLD 3  7  20 7  –  37

First quarter
(BO) No. 6 Brayden Tersteeg 22 field goal (10 plays, 87 yards) 4:15

Second quarter
(BO) Gavin Volska 2 run (14 plays, 98 yards) (Tersteeg kick) 1:06

Third quarter
(BP) Payton Simon 21 pass from Kayden Thomas (Brenneke kick) (7 plays, 49 yards) 8:52
(BO) Jordan Sagedhal 3 run (Tersteeg kick) (5 plays, 70 yards) 6:44
(BO) Sagedahl 18 run (Tersteeg kick) (9 plays, 62 yards) 2:10
(BO) No. 25 Anthony __ 36 fumble return (1 play, 36 yards) (kick failed) 1:00

Fourth quarter
(BO) 7 run (Tersteeg kick) (9 plays, 72 yards) 6:09

BP STATS
Rushing: Matthew Pryor, 11-for-33; Kaden Thomas, 7-for-25; Tyler Archer, 1-for-11; Alex Baldwin, 1-for-5
Passing: Thomas, 21-for-33, 201, 1 TD, INT; Drew Kittelson, 2-for-5, 4
Receiving: Gabe Hagen, 7-for-72; Payton Simon, 5-for-68, TD; Alex Baldwin, 4-for-10; Karson Vigeland, 3-for-29; Tim Wolf, 2-for-22; C. Christianson, 1-for-6; Tyler Archer, 1-for-(-2)
Defense: Mitchell Fiebiger, 10 tackles; Payton Simon, 9 tackles; Dylan Nirk, 6 tackles, 1 fumble recovery; Dawson Sorenson, 1 fumble recovery
Penalties: 6-for-40

BOLD STATS
Rushing: Dawson Vosika, 11-for-116; Jordan Sagedahl, 15-for-74, 2 TDs; Gavin Vosika, 10-for-68, TD
Passing: Sagedahl, 5-for-10, 99
Receiving: Vosika, 5-for-99
Penalties: 5-for-50