Hutchinson claimed high ground with its football title in 1984

The Star Tribune is celebrating 50 years of high school football state tournaments one day at a time for 50 days.

"Never lost a tougher one." — Burnsville coach Dick Hanson about his team's loss to Stillwater in the Class AA final.

An argument on who was the best team in the state heated up during the 1984 state tournament. Hutchinson did its best to settle it.

Hutchinson successfully defended its Class A championship with a 32-7 thumping of Centennial behind quarterback Andy Rostberg, who is now the Tigers' coach. He concluded his playing days with 27 consecutive victories and in the final rushed for 62 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries and threw two passes, for touchdowns of 33 and 35 yards to Gene Ollrich.

Hutchinson outscored its five playoff opponents 173-33.

Best team in the state?

"I know a lot of people are saying that," said Tigers coach Grady Rostberg, Andy's father. "But I'm not going to get into that. This is very fulfilling in itself."

"They're one of the best in the state without a doubt," Centennial coach Mike Watson said. "They key for them is Andy Rostberg. He's so effective, whether he's running with the ball or faking. Our defensive ends were coming off the field saying, 'We can't tell whether he's going inside or out.' "

In Class AA, backup quarterback Aaron Oden scored on a 1-yard run with 1 minute, 40 seconds left, giving Stillwater a come-from-behind, 36-33 victory over Burnsville.

The Ponies had plenty of help. They returned a fumble for a touchdown and recovered another at the Burnsville 1-yard line before the game-winning touchdown. They also had another score set up by a 51-yard run off a fake punt.

"We gave them more than they gave us," Burnsville coach Dick Hanson said. "We gave up two fumbles that hurt. The difference was when we fumbled, it was within range of an easy following touchdown for them. Never lost a tougher one."

Two teams won their first and still only state championships — Harmony in Class C and Norman County West in Nine-Man.

"We're very disappointed," Glyndon-Felton coach Rich Manke said. "We had them fourth-and-9, but they come up with the halfback pass. You get down here and it's a break or two that makes the difference."

Harmony stopped Glyndon-Felton four times on fourth down.

"Every time it was fourth down, I kept telling the kids this was the big play of the game," Harmony coach Del Elston said. "I repeated myself a few times."

For Norman County West, sophomore halfback Brett Storsved ran for three touchdowns and senior quarterback Darin Loe threw two touchdown passes to wingback Jim Thompson in a 37-20 victory over Silver Lake.

In the other final, junior Paul Bronson, a 245-pound fullback who doubled as a defensive tackle, scored on a 2-yard run with 3:44 left as unbeaten Granite Falls edged Breckenridge 13-7 for the Class B crown.

Class AA: Stillwater 36, Burnsville 33

Class A: Hutchinson 32, Centennial 7

Class B: Granite Falls 13, Breckenridge 7

Class C: Harmony 20, Glyndon-Felton 14

Nine-Man: Norman County West 37, Silver Lake 20