FAIRMONT — This season saw a reversal of fates for multiple area football teams.

Last season, the Blue Earth Area Bucs went into the Section 2AA playoffs as the eighth seed, going up against the No. 1-seeded Waterville-Elysian-Morristown Bucs. This year, BEA goes into the playoffs with the No. 1 seed and a 6-2 record, looking to beat the No. 8-seeded Norwood Young America Raiders.

Last year, the Martin County West Mavericks hit the Section 3A playoffs with the seventh seed out of seven teams and needed to face the No. 2-seeded Tracy-Milroy-Balaton Panthers. Now, the Mavericks enter as the No. 2 seed and face the No. 7-seeded Sleepy Eye Indians.

For BEA, this is the first matchup with Norwood Young America in head coach Randy Kuechenmeister’s 34-year history with the Bucs’ program. Kuechenmeister said being the top seed in the section is nice, but it won’t matter once the teams hit the field.

“At this point, playoff football, you’ve got to play and you’ve got to execute,” Kuechenmeister said. “You’ve got to play well or you go home. Seedings don’t necessarily mean a whole lot once the kickoff is up in the air. We feel good about our seeding, but from the same standpoint, it doesn’t help us win the game. What will help us win games is executing and playing well and that’s what we need to focus on.”

Kuechenmeister said at this point, he doesn’t know much about the Raiders, but he will spend the MEA weekend watching film and studying them.

He said what he did know is NYA played a tough schedule this season.

That schedule included strong 4A and 3A teams such as Waseca and Fairmont, but did not include any common opponents with the Bucs.

The Bucs ended the season with an 18-6 win over Class 2A No. 6-ranked Redwood Valley after beating St. James Area 45-6.

BEA will host NYA at 7 p.m. Tuesday for the chance to play the winner of No. 4-seeded Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton (4-4) and No. 5-seeded New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva (3-5) with the possible second-round matchup played next Saturday at 7 p.m. on the highest seed’s home field.

If BEA is able to prove its top seeding correct, it would play in the Section 2AA championship Friday Nov. 1 at 7 p.m. in Janesville.

For MCW, the matchup with Sleepy Eye will be the first since Sept. 26, 2014 when the Mavericks beat the Indians 47-14.

MCW is behind only 8-0 Springfield in section 3A.

The Mavericks had a four-game winning streak going into MEA Wednesday, but Class 2A opponent Maple River took a 21-7 win over MCW to end the season.

The Mavericks will look to restart their winning ways against Sleepy Eye.

If the Mavericks are able to hold off Sleepy Eye, they will go on to face the winner of No. 3-seeded Wabasso and No. 6-seeded Murray County Central at 3 p.m. Saturday in Sherburn. It would be the first time MCW had played either potential opponents this season.

The winner of that semifinal matchup will move to the Section 3A championship at 4:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 1, at Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall.

This season, Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman ended its 20-game losing streak and went on to win its next game as well, ending the season 2-6.

The Jaguars’ record placed them with the sixth seed in the Section 3 9-man tournament.

Though it seemed the Jaguars would face a rematch with either Madelia or Heron Lake-Okabena/Fulda, HLOF played its final game Thursday instead of on MEA Wednesday, losing to Red Rock Central and drastically changing the QRF rankings. The Jaguars will instead hit the road to face No. 3-seeded Edgerton/Ellsworth (4-4) only six days after the teams matched up for their season-ending game on MEA Wednesday.

The Flying Dutchmen beat the Jaguars 56-36 in that matchup in Granada.

Jaguar head coach Bennett Senf said physicality made the difference in the game.

“I think we just have to match their physicality, especially at the point of attack,” said Senf. “Everybody can see how many yards we gave up on the ground (634).

“It’s just attacking that slows that down. We have to come back and be more physical and I think that will change the game dramatically.”

The MEA Wednesday meeting between the Jaguars and Flying Dutchmen had an explosion of offense with the teams combining for more than 1,100 total yards, mostly coming on the ground.

After back-to-back wins earlier in the season, the Jaguars lost consecutive games to Nicollet and Edgerton/Ellsworth to finish the season.

If the Jaguars are able to reverse their fortune Tuesday and emerge victorious, they will face the winner of No. 2-seeded Hills-Beaver Creek (7-1) and No. 7-seeded Lyle-Pacelli (1-7) at the highest seed’s home field at 3 p.m. next Saturday.

The winner of that semifinal matchup will play at 11:30 a.m. Friday, Nov. 1, at Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall.