Prep Blog: This Weekend's Top High School Match-Ups

It's another huge week in the Minnesota high school sports landscape as hundreds of the state's top wrestlers are taking over Xcel Energy Center.

The team tournament took place Thursday, and individuals chase dreams of state championships Friday and Saturday. Section champions are being determined in boys hockey for next week's state tournament, we're in playoff time in boys basketball and the girls basketball regular season is coming to a close.

Conference titles are at stake, tips to the state tournament and state championships are on the line. It's why this is the best time of the year.

State Wrestling, Individual Tournament (Xcel Energy Center)

Xcel Energy Center serves as the host for the annual State Wrestling Tournament, an environment that can only be described as controlled chaos. Hundreds of matches will take place over the course of two days as the state's best wrestlers are hoping to not only be on the podium Saturday night, but earn a gold medal. Across three classes, total of 17 state champions are back to defend titles from last year.

Class AAA

The big school field is highlighted by Mark Hall of Apple Valley, one of the most dominant wrestlers in the history of Minnesota. He'll wrestle at 170 pounds and he's going for his sixth straight state title. His record on the year: A perfect 41-0. He's not the only returning champion from Apple Valley in the field. Gabe Stevenson is back at 220 pounds and is 39-0 on the season. Other returning champions include Rylee Molitor of Sartell-St. Stephen, who won the 113-pound title last year and is at 120 this year. Also at 120 is Peyton Robb of Owatonna, who won the 106-pound title last year. Adam Hedin of Rosemount is back to defend his title at 132 pounds, and Mitch McKee of St. Michael-Albertville is a favorite in the field at 138 pounds after winning a state title at 126 last year. Lucas Jeske of St. Michael-Albertville, the 152-pound champion last year, is back at 182 pounds.

The field includes 11 qualifiers from St. Michael-Albertville, 10 from Hastings and nine each from Anoka and Apple Valley.

Class AA

The Class AA field is highlighted by four returning state champions from last year. Keaton Schorr of Kasson-Mantorville is back at 126 pounds after winning gold at 113 last year. Garrett Aldrich of Albert Lea is at 132 pounds after winning the title at 120. Griffin Parriott of New Prague won a championship at 145 pounds last year and is in the field at 152. Brady Berge of Kasson-Mantorville won the 152-pound title last year and is in the field at 160.

Simley has 10 individual qualifiers in the field, while Kasson-Mantorville has nine and Perham has eight.

Class A

The Class A field is stacked as Pierz and Kenyon-Wanamingo each have 11 individual qualifiers, and Frazee and Minneota each have 10. There are five returning state champions in the field. Ethan Cota of Kenyon-Wanamingo is in the tournament at 113 pounds after winning a title at 106 last year. Noah Bauer of Pine Island is at 120 pounds after a state title at 113 last year. Tanner Reetz of Frazee won the 120-pound title in 2015 and is in the field at 126, and Keegan Moore of Jackson County Central is back to defend a state title at 182 pounds. Manuel Garcia of BOLD is also back to defend his 220-pound title.

Saturday Boys Basketball: Hopkins (26-1) vs. Armstrong (15-12) (Osseo HS)

Hopkins is looking to end its season at Target Center playing for a state championship, but the Royals have to get past a rival Saturday night as they face Robbinsdale Armstrong in the Section 6AAAA semifinals. The winner faces the Cooper/Wayzata winner for a trip to the state tournament. The Royals have won six straight since a loss to Wayzata and are led by Amir Coffey's 20 points per game. Armstrong has had an up-and-down year and is led by Race Thompson's 14.3 points per game.

Friday Girls Basketball: Minnetonka (22-3) at Hopkins (23-2)

The Lake Conference title is up for grabs Friday night as a pair of top five teams meet when No.1-ranked  Hopkins hosts No. 4-ranked Minnetonka. When the two teams met earlier this year, Minnetonka got the 67-59 victory. The Skippers can lock up the conference title with a win Friday, and they're led by Courtney Fredrickson's 14.5 points per game. Minnetonka hasn't lost a game since mid-December, a streak that has now reached 19 games. Hopkins is led by Nia Hollie's 16 points per game. The Royals have won eight straight since that loss to Minnetonka.

Friday Girls Basketball: Albany (22-3) at Becker (16-8)

Albany already has the Granite Ridge Conference title locked up, but it's still a big game for the Huskies Friday night as they head to Becker to take on the Bulldogs. Albany has won 11 straight games since a loss at Zimmerman back in late January. The Huskies are led by Madison Schmitz's 14.4 points per game. The Bulldogs will be a hungry group after a 57-55 loss on Saturday. They're led by Alex Johnson's 17.8 points per game.

Tune into WCCO-TV's High School Sports Rally at about 10:20 p.m. Friday as Mike Max and David McCoy will have all the action covered.