MOORHEAD — Alexandria and Moorhead played an offensive slugfest in the regular season and if anyone expected Friday's Minnesota Section 8-5A championship game to be any different, they were wrong. Fortunately for Alexandria, the one thing that was different was the final score. In what was another shootout, No.

2 seed Alexandria outlasted top-seeded and top-ranked Moorhead 48-44 at Jim Gotta Stadium. The win secured Alexandria (8-2) its second-consecutive section title, while the previously unbeaten Spuds ended their season 9-1. In classic Moorhead-Alexandria fashion, it was a 99-yard touchdown reception that held up as the winner.

Pinned inside its own 1-yard line, Alexandria quarterback Chase Thompson found receiver Mason Gorghuber over the middle before Gorghuber broke free for the end zone. The extra point put the Cardinals back on top with 7:02 remaining in the fourth quarter before Dane Olson's interception of Moorhead quarterback Jett Feeney sealed the deal with 1:22 remaining. "Not really," Thompson said when asked if he expected the 99-yarder to be the difference.

"But they gave us that look, I trust my guys, receivers get open and that's how it goes. "Safety walked down and (Gorghuber) is old reliable. Just keep going to him, why not?" Thompson said he didn't expect the postseason rematch with the Spuds to play out any differently than the regular season battle, a 36-34 Spuds victory on Oct.

11. "Absolutely not," Thompson said. "I came into it thinking if we have .