The week ahead in preps

Spring made its long-awaited debut over the weekend, drying out fields across the metro. Teams are finally outside, playing games in their natural setting.

And so begins the hectic final month of the season, with teams trying to fit a season's worth of games into a four-week window. With such a contracted time frame, expect more than a few surprises, along with a couple of disappointments.

Should be fun.

Tuesday

• St. Agnes at St. Anthony, 4:30 p.m.

Wednesday

• Lakeville North at Eastview, 4:15 p.m.

• Hopkins at Minnetonka, 6:30 p.m.; Mounds View at East Ridge (DH), 3:15 p.m.

Saturday

• Centennial at Eden Prairie, 11 a.m.

Monday

• Elk River Invitational: While many golf courses are still scrambling to get in shape, the Elk River Country Club opened in its entirety Saturday. Good news for the 21 Class 3A teams (including Stillwater, Edina, Forest Lake and the host Elks) in this meet, the first biggie of the season. 1:30 p.m. start.

• Lakeville North Tournament: A 14-team affair with a lineup of very good — but not elite — teams. Among the best are Visitation, Prior Lake, Lakeville South, North St. Paul and the host Panthers. At Aronson Park, time TBD.

Monday

• Wayzata at Mounds View, 3:30 p.m.

Wednesday

• Wayzata at Breck, 4:15 p.m.

• Blake at Minnetonka, 4 p.m.

Saturday

• Elk River Quadrangular: St. Cloud Tech, Duluth East, Minnetonka and Elk River. 10 a.m.

Friday

• St. Thomas Academy Catholic Invitational: Cretin-Derham Hall, Holy Angels, Benilde-St. Margaret's, DeLaSalle, Holy Family, Hill-Murray, Providence Academy, Mankato Loyola, St. Agnes, St. Cloud Cathedral, Totino-Grace, Trinity and St. Thomas Academy. 3:45 p.m.