JACKSON - Jackson County Central's football season came to an end Wednesday, one day after winning its section playoff opener.

Gov. Tim Walz ordered a four-week shutdown of youth and high school sports that goes into effect on Saturday.

Section playoffs across the state got underway on Tuesday and the number of teams remaining in each section was down to four.

With the looming shutdown, sections across the state scrambled to alter their format for the playoffs, which must be completed by Friday.

Most sections adopted a format that called for games to be moved up to Friday, with the highest two remaining seeds playing in the championship game and the other two meeting in a third-place game.

In Section 3AAA, top-seeded Luverne will host second-seeded Sibley East for the section title Friday

The revised format had third-seeded Jackson County Central hosting fifth-seeded Fairmont, but JCC declined the game.

It would have been the second game in four days and third in nine days for the Huskies, who defeated the Cardinals 22-7 in Fairmont last Thursday before beating Worthington 28-6 on Tuesday at Swearingen Field.

Fairmont did not play Tuesday. The Cardinals had been scheduled to play at fourth-seeded Tri-City United Tuesday, but TCU was unable to play due to COVID-19 issues.

At least 76 programs, or almost one in five statewide were unable to play in the opening round of section play Tuesday.

JCC finishes its season with a 4-3 record. The Huskies won three straight after a 1-3 start.

The team does plan to get together one final time, watching film at the Historic State Theatre Thursday afternoon.