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The last time Northfield High School made it to the Minnesota boys basketball tournament, Herbert Hoover was president of the United States and Amelia Earhart was preparing to fly solo across the Atlantic. 

Now for the first time in 94 years, the Northfield Raiders are in. They’re seeded fourth in this year’s class 3A tournament and will play fifth seed Mankato East High School Wednesday at Williams Arena on the University of Minnesota campus.

Raiders’ basketball coach Matthew Christensen, an alumnus of Northfield High, said he watched his older brothers and nephew all fail to break that decadeslong drought.

“Let's just say there was a lot of anticipation for this year for us to get over the hump,” he told MPR News.

Since the win to make the tournament, he said alumni from the 1960s and 70s have reached out, thrilled to finally see the “curse” broken. 

“They're just so proud that our team was able to represent our community and do something really special,” Christensen said.

Listen to the full conversation by clicking the player above.

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A decadeslong “curse” is finally broken as Northfield enters the Minnesota State High School League boys basketball tournament. 

Northfield makes boys state hoops tourney for first time in nearly a century

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