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. “It gives you a ton of extra juice when the defense is playing like that,” said Shaughnessy, Blaine’s dual-threat senior quarterback, who threw for 232 yards and five touchdowns while rushing for another. “When you’re going back on the field (after the turnovers), it just makes it that much easier to go score.” And the Bengals did that plenty Friday. 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. “When you’re playing a team of that caliber, and a player (Shaughnessy) of that caliber, you have to maintain possession of the ball,” said Rangers coach Brad Beeskow, whose team – which was trying to advance to state for the first time since 1991 – finished its season 7-3 overall. “He’s one of the best players in the state and he made us pay for every mistake.” 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. “Our defense felt like they didn’t play their best football in the second half last week,” said Bengals coach Mike Law, whose team beat Rosemount 38-36 in the first round on a last-second field goal by Killian. “They were adamant throughout the week that they were going to improve, and I think they did a great job.” 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 went on to throw three more touchdown passes in the second half — a 13-yarder to junior Noah Tieden and scoring strikes of 34 and 28 yards to senior Derek Schlomann (the second of which was set up by an interception from senior Carter Mackey). “We got the chance to show that we can throw the ball,” said Shaughnessy, who last week became the top single-season and career rusher in program history. “We’ve kind of been run-dominated at times. But we’re able to sling the rock when we need to.” 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. But it is Blaine that is moving on to the state quarterfinals. “We knew we had a special group,” Shaughnessy said. “We knew we had the guys to go do it. We’re not surprised at all to be here. This was our goal at the beginning of the season and we made it happen.” Related Articles High School Sports | High School Football Roundup: Hill-Murray tops Simley in overtime in thrilling section final High School Sports | High school football: Edina runs past Eagan to reach state quarterfinals High School Sports | Class A Boys state soccer: St. Paul Academy completes the championship three-peat High School Sports | Class 2A state soccer: Mahtomedi reclaims throne with impressive title game victory High School Sports | State cross country: Four St. Paul public school teams reach state as conference continues cross country ascension