THIEF RIVER FALLS — Thief River Falls senior Bridger Wilcox and junior Spencer Anderson met on the sideline after last Saturday’s section semifinal game and embraced, tears in their eyes.

The Prowlers, the No. 6 seed in the Section 8AAA tournament, had just stunned second-seeded Minnewaska 28-21 to secure the program’s first section championship berth since the 2010-11 season.

“We were like, ‘Wow, that did just happen?’” Wilcox said.

For Wilcox and Anderson, it was just further confirmation that they’d made the right decision in the offseason.

The duo quit football after middle school. The former is a standout high school basketball player for Thief River Falls, and the latter is a star hockey player.

Ahead of the 2025-26 season, they agreed to jump back into football.

“Kind of my wh

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