VALDOSTA — And then there were four.

The Division II playoffs held its super regional finals last Saturday, winnowing the amount of tournament teams from eight to four. Surviving their brackets were a pair of No. 1 seeds in Valdosta State and Ferris State, plus Slippery Rock and Minnesota State.

The semifinals are this Saturday. Ferris State hosts Slippery Rock at 3:30 p.m. and Valdosta State hosts Minnesota State at noon. Winners move on to the national championship in McKinney, Texas, Dec. 21.

Football fans of a certain age might hear the theme song from the old sitcom, “Coach,” whenever they see the name Minnesota State.

However, these are not the Screaming Eagles, nor are they coached by Craig T. Nelson’s Hayden Fox.

When the ABC series aired, there was not a Minnesota State. Rather, this school was Mankato State, until changing its name in 1998. Technically, there are two schools: Minnesota State University, Mankato (VSU’s opponent) and Minnesota State University Moorhead.

Valdosta predicts to be a tad bit warmer than Mankato on Saturday. The current Weather Channel prediction is 68 degrees for the Azalea City, some 35 degrees higher than the “wintry mix” slated up north. Wednesday night temperatures for Mankato were negative degrees.

The Mavericks are here after a series of upsets, beating Augustana 20-19 and No. 1 seed CSU Pueblo 26-23. They finally had a home game last Saturday, edging in-state rival Bemidji State 27-23.

Sam Backer is Minnesota State’s leading rusher at 908 yards. Backer has but five touchdowns. Quarterback Hayden Ekern is who they use near the goal line. He has 14 touchdown rushes.

Ekern is five yards short of 3,000 passing for the year. He has 23 scores through the air, nine to TreShawn Watson. Grant Guyett and Gabe Hagen have six apiece. Ekern is currently tied for most touchdown passes in school history.

Joey Goetti and Karson Dunn are their chief men in the secondary, combining for five picks and 11 pass breakups.

This will be their first ever trip to VSU. The teams played once, the Blazers winning in Mankato in the 2012 playoffs, 35-19.

Slippery Rock heads to Ferris State after trimming California of Pennsylvania in quarterfinals, 31-13. The Rock had a 21-0 lead at halftime. They held California to 130 total yards while getting three touchdown passes from Brayden Long.

Ferris State routed Harding, 41-7. Like Slippery Rock, they were ahead early — 20-0 at intermission and 34-0 at the end of three frames. Quarterback Trinidad Chambliss accounted for four total touchdowns.