This was vintage Eden Prairie.
After a 21-point halftime lead over Minnetonka deteriorated into a seven-point advantage late in the third quarter Friday at Minnetonka, it was time for Eden Prairie, No. 1 in Class 6A, to do what it has always done better than most: Put the game away.
The Eagles did so in the most Eden Prairie way possible. They went on a 22-play, 92-yard touchdown drive that took 9 minutes, 12 seconds and ended in a 2-yard scoring run by Dominic Heim. The touchdown locked down a 28-14 Eden Prairie victory over Minnetonka, ranked third in 6A.
Eden Prairie converted three third downs and three fourth downs on the drive, always coming up with just the play to keep things moving forward.
“We had the mentality of ‘Who’s going to step up? Who’s going to get the push?’ ” said Will Sather, Eden Prairie’s standout senior center. “Things got away from us a little bit in the second half, but we finished really well. And what matters is how you finish.”
Minnetonka arrived depleted by injuries, and Eden Prairie built what seemed to be a comfortable 21-0 lead at halftime.
Minnetonka rallied in the second half behind new starting sophomore quarterback Caleb Francois, who replaced injured Milos Spasojevic, scoring touchdowns the first two times it had the ball. Suddenly, a rout was a competitive game.
“We found out where we stood with a team like Eden Prairie tonight,” Minnetonka coach Mark Esch said. “We were without six starters. But we’re going to grow as a team behind our young quarterback.”
Eden Prairie coach Mike Grant knew exactly where to place the credit for his team’s game-seizing march.
“Squats,” Grant said. “I’m not kidding. Those drives are made in the winter. You’ve got to have that leg strength because they were putting everybody in the box. We always laugh. If a kid comes up a yard short of something, ‘One more squat and you would have had it.’ “
Grant said he would have preferred the game not get so close, but he expected nothing less.
“Once you let a team like Minnetonka back into it, now it’s a war,” he said.