The Bears face the ROCORI Spartans on Thursday at 4 PM at U.S. Bank Stadium.

(ABC 6 News) — A handful of local football teams resume their bids for State championships this week, the Byron Bears being one of them, heading to U.S. Bank Stadium to face ROCORI in the Class AAAA semifinals.

It’ll be a great environment for the Bears who have reached the State semifinals for the first time in around 30 years. However, the Bears themselves will say that they’ll need to be on their heels and follow the game plan against a team like the Spartans.

“Our game plan has been really really good the last three games,” Bears head coach Ben Halder stated. “We feel like it’s a good game plan this week as well. So, our coaches have done a good job, our kids have been attentive to the game plan and really dialed it in and bought in. It’s just getting to the football as fast as we can.”

“I feel like the most important thing was getting me out of the backfield and trying to get open more and open space,” Bears running back Adam Glynn noted. “Just trying to run different formations that can get me out there, so I feel like that’ll help us.”

“Well, first off, we’re going to have to be the most physical team out there,” two-way lineman Payton Jax added. “We’re going to have to dominate the o-line and then we’re going to have to get stops on defense to get our offense back the ball.”

The Bears and Spartans face off on Thursday with the winner advancing to the Class AAAA State Championship.