HURT prepares for state final

The Hopkins Ultimate Team (HURT) has just finished a wild weekend of wins to advance to the state finals for the third time in a row.

HURT will be taking on Edina for another state championship. Both teams are major rivals who always are at the top of the state. Hopkins has beaten Edina three times this season and lost to them three times.

They started their state tournament in Blaine on Saturday in pool play games. HURT’s first game was against Apple Valley. With a commanding start to the tournament HURT won 15 to five.

“Our first game was helpful for our momentum because our confidence levels went up knowing we could conquer the weather better than most teams can. Led by our seniors, they also set the tone for our success because they wanted to go out of their last season with a state championship win,” said Dante Reminick, Junior.

Using their first game’s momentum HURT went into their next game against Cathedral Griffin. They again dominated and took them down with a commanding 15 to four win.

For their final game of pool play on Saturday HURT went up against Minneapolis Southwest. Again, HURT dominated taking them down with a commanding 15 to two victory to finish out the day.

“We were feeling really energized after a dominant performance on Saturday. We still knew that they came to play and we had to out work them out on the field,” said Mats Hansen, junior.

Starting out the bracket play on Sunday HURT took on Lakeville North. The team’s momentum continued to be strong from the team with another 15 to five victory to move on to the second round of the elimination games.

Two hours later from the start of the first game HURT blew right through their opponent, Mounds View. Their first and last appearance against HURT ended in a 15-2 blow out. This meant HURT who was the wild card team at the beginning of the tournament made it through all of their games to get to the championship.

HURT will be taking on Edina in the championship for state tite again. Both teams have many veterans who will look to lead their teams to victory.  It will look to be a tight knit game tonight with both teams looking like they can take the title.

“I think we’re looking very good coming into tonight’s game. I think we have a great chance of winning tonight. We are coming off of a dominant performance in the tournament on Saturday and on Sunday, and we are looking to get revenge from a state title loss last year against Edina,” said Asher Kahn, junior.