Photo by Samantha Davis. Minneota running back Lucas Rybinksi advances down the field in the first quarter against Canby Friday night. The Vikings defeated the Lancers 56-0 powered behind three touchdowns in the first quarter and extend their undefeated season.

CANBY — The past two times Canby and No. 1 Minneota have faced off, the Lancers have fallen short to the last two-time reigning state champions. In an effort to break the pattern, Canby was edged out Friday night 56-0.

The Vikings controlled the ball for most of the night behind quarterback Brody Larson. They secured the win behind a 21-point first quarter and created a 35-0 lead by halftime. Despite the loss, Eli Greenman and Issac Guzman performed strong plays for Canby throughout the night by making tackles and breaking up passes.

“We had one good drive where we completed a few passes, ran the ball for a couple of good gains, but we just got to pass and block better,” Canby head coach Nick Kockelman said. “We get behind … Then we have a hard time passing and blocking overall. They [Minneota] are such a physical team, we got to be willing to answer that.”

Canby, which played its second home game of the season on the new Armitage Field, entered the night coming off its first win this season last week with a 28-6 victory over MACCRAY.

Minneota remains undefeated, in stride for their second straight season without a loss. It has defeated all of its opponents by 28 or more points so far, including a 61-0 victory over Yellow Medicine East.

Larson passed for 237 yards, three touchdowns and one interception on eight complete passes of 14 attempts. Running back Ryan Meagher led the Vikings with 134 total rushed yards on 16 attempts and ran in for three touchdowns. Destin Fier also logged 134 receiving yards and two touchdowns.

“We knew we had to complete passes to move the ball consistently,” Kockelman said. “We were in a struggle running the ball, and we had to make sure that we’re in the right spots defensively and wrap up.”

The Lancers last met the Vikings in the 2023 Class 5A semifinals, falling to the eventual state champions 39-6.

Minneota set the tone of the night with three touchdowns in the first quarter. The Vikings made their way down the field on the first possession with key downs. After a complete pass and a few pitches from quarterback Brody Larson, Meagher advanced to the first-yard line in the red zone, and Lucas Rybinski carried in on the next play for an early 7-0 Viking lead.

“I thought he [Larson] did a pretty good job … Early, he took some shots as he’s releasing the ball, and he hung in there,” Minneota head coach Chad Johnston said. “He threw some good balls. Had a couple balls that maybe were underthrown that maybe he’s not stepping into. But, like I said, we wanted him to work on his mechanics tonight.”

A defensive blocking penalty was called on Minneota, to give Canby an immediate first down in response, although not enough yardage was gained, giving it back to the opponents.

The Vikings tallied another touchdown with a long Meagher rush down the left side and a good field goal kick from Ian Myhre.

There wasn’t much time passed until Canby was next closing in on the red zone to get on the board, but a Minneota interception eventually led to a long Larson pass to Fier, who had a comfortable opening into the endzone for a 21-0 lead in the first.

“They [Greenman and Guzman] kind of who run our offense through their outside, and we can give them the ball and handoffs,” Kockelman said. “They can make guys miss and we try to get them the ball as much as we can.”

Viking’s tight end Eli Grunes also was able to touch the endzone for a touchdown of his own to start out the second quarter.

There were shining moments in Canby’s defense throughout the night, including several tackles from Guzman, a big play from Isaac Bollerud in the second when he intercepted a long Minneota pass in the endzone, and a strip and recovery interception from Guzman to begin the third quarter.

“Canby typically does a nice job of playing some good defense on us, they know us very well,” Johnston said. “We had to be ready to play. We didn’t want to come off a big win last week to not perform tonight … All in all, good game. We’re trying to continue to get better, trying to continue to clean things up.”

The Vikings created a 35-0 lead at halftime after another run-in from Meagher.

Larson continued to have a good night to pace Minneota’s offense, and threw another long pass, in an otherwise stagnant, third quarter to Fier.

“[We] kind of went into this game hoping to get him [Larson] a little bit more active,” Johnston said. “We don’t want to rely heavily on Ryan all the time. Obviously, we know that we can, but he needed a game like this to get his confidence up and be able to find people.”

Two more touchdowns for Minneota in the fourth quarter sealed the evening for the 56-0 victory. Running back Adam DeVlaeminck also got his feet in for the last scoring play, coming off a carry from within the red zone.

Both teams are now sitting halfway through the regular season, playing their fourth of eight games.

“I feel like we have gotten better the last three weeks,” Kockelman said. “We just want to be at our best at the end of the year, so come playoffs, we can compete.”

Minneota, 4-0, will next host MACCRAY Sept. 27 for homecoming and Canby, 1-3, will travel to Lac qui Parle Valley on Sept. 27, both with a 7 p.m. kickoff time.

“We’re trying to stay focused, we’re halfway. We’re trying to get healthy, or we’re trying to take these games right now, and give us an opportunity to play some younger kids,” Johnston said. “The key thing for us right now is staying healthy. If we can get some guys off the field and keep their legs fresh, that’s what we’re going to try to do.”