It took some time, but Buffalo broke through in the playoffs.
In the Bison's fifth season in Class 6A, they finally took a state tournament victory by going on the road as the sixth seed and topping third-seeded St. Michael-Albertville 17-14 on Friday in the first round.
The Knights got to within three points with a pass from Kolby Gartner to Kale Hoselton with 6 minutes, 39 seconds to play, but the Bison were able to run out the clock on the next possession.
The Bison opened the scoring in the second quarter with an 83-yard touchdown drive following a failed fourth-down try by the Knights. Aidan Bouman capped the drive with a 17-yard touchdown pass to Trevor Johnson. The Bison extended the lead to 10-0 on a 34-yard field goal by Parker Vajda as time expired in the first half. The Bison opened the second half with a 54-yard touchdown pass from Bouman to Luke Gunderson to make it 17-0.
The Knights responded with a 1-yard touchdown run by Ben Fiedler, converting on fourth down twice on the drive.
Prior Lake 20, Cretin-Derham Hall 14: Kyle Haas found Austin Gordon late in the fourth quarter for the winning touchdown for the eighth-seeded Lakers. The Raiders responded with an 11-yard touchdown pass from Preston Thelemann to Marisellieo Mendez with 1:26 remaining, but the Lakers recovered the ensuing onside kick.
Blaine 21, Woodbury 17: Joshua Schlangen scored two touchdowns for the sixth-seeded Bengals against the host Royals.
Rosemount 35, White Bear Lake 21: Christian Graske ran for five touchdowns to lead the fourth-seeded Irish past the fifth-seeded Bears.The junior running back scored on four runs of 10 yards or fewer and one of 14 yards.
