High school football: Shaughnessy, Blaine defense handle Forest Lake to advance in playoffs

Sam Shaughnessy was up to his usual tricks, but it was the Blaine defense that took care of setting the table on Friday night.

The Bengals came up with four turnovers — all of which led to touchdowns — en route to beating Forest Lake 53-21 on the road in the second round of the Class 6A playoffs.

With the win, Blaine advances to the state tournament for the first time since 2018. The Bengals (7-3) meet Minnetonka in the Class 6A quarterfinals at 7 p.m. Thursday at Osseo High School.

The Rangers — who were hoping to advance to state for the first time since 1991— finished their season 7-3 overall. The 53 points was by far the most Forest Lake had allowed all season, having entered play allowing an average of just under 14.8 per contest.

Shaughnessy, Blaine’s dual-threat senior quarterback, threw for 232 yards and five touchdowns and rushed for another.

After a 26-yard field goal by senior Jared Killian put the Bengals on top 3-0 early in the first quarter, Blaine senior Austin Mattson recovered a fumble at the Forest Lake 27-yard line. Two plays later, Shaughnessy connected with senior Zach Larson on a 20-yard touchdown pass to extend the lead to 10-0.

Senior K’vaughn Landers then picked off a Rangers’ pass early in the second quarter that set up a 10-yard scoring scamper by Shaughnessy. After the ensuing two-point conversion, the Bengals led 18-0.

Forest Lake got on the board when junior Kevin Ndirangu caught a 3-yard touchdown pass that cut the gap to 18-7 with 4:21 remaining in the first half. But after the Bengals turned the ball over on downs inside the Ranger 30 with under a minute to go before halftime, senior Charlie Potvin intercepted a pass to give his team the ball back at the Forest Lake 37.

That set up a 28-yard touchdown pass from Shaughnessy to senior Kamden Leitheiser that put Blaine on top 25-7 at halftime.

Shaughnessy then threw three more touchdown passes in the second half — a 13-yarder to junior Noah Tieden and scoring strikes of 34 and 27 yards to senior Derek Schlomann (the second of which was set up by an interception from senior Carter Mackey).

A 3-yard scoring run by senior Muizz Fowoshere closed out the scoring for the Bengals.

The Rangers scored on touchdown catches by Ndirangu and sophomore Mack Jurkovich in the second half.