Epic touchdown drive keys the Eagles' victory

I have seen plenty of Eden Prairie games during my time covering high school football. They always have good and often great teams. When they are at their best, defenses know what is coming. The Eagles are going to use some variation of a power-running game and pound the defense into submission. If they have a lead late in the game – like tonight against number three-ranked Minnetonka – they are going to lean on the running game, control the clock, and grind out first downs until they have either scored or the clock has run out. Tonight was the most Eden Prairie way to finish a game I have ever seen.   The Eagles absolutely dominated the first half and took a 21-0 lead into the half. Minnetonka was not ranked number three in the state for nothing. They came out in the second half and took it to the Eagles in the third quarter. They scored 14 straight points and took advantage of a mistake by the Eagles' kickoff return team to back the Eagles up inside their own ten-yard line late in the third quarter. Then, the Eden Prairie offensive line took over.   The Eagles put together an almost unheard of – even for them - 22-play, 95-yard, seven-minute touchdown drive. They converted three fourth downs during the drive – including [player_tooltip player_id='105390' first='Dominic' last='Heim']'s three-yard touchdown run to make the score 28-14 and, for all intents and purposes, put the game away.   "That is what we love," Eden Prairie offensive lineman [player_tooltip player_id='1145294' first='Hayden' last='Broich'] said. "We burn the clock. Our o-line dominated, and our running backs ran their butts off. I fought through a shoulder thing. A couple of our guys were hurting, but we finished the drive."   After both teams exchanged turnovers on their opening drives, it didn't look like the Eagles would need an epic, game-sealing fourth-quarter drive. They score three straight touchdowns.   "We came out ready to go in the first half," Broich said. "We wanted this game bad. We wanted to prove we are a good team and one of the contenders this year."   Tight end Vinny Dykstra, tackle [player_tooltip player_id='236482' first='Ethan' last='Sims'], guard [player_tooltip player_id='242468' first='Patrick' last='Ruhlin'], and center [player_tooltip player_id='105391' first='Will' last='Sather'] steamrolled the Skippers' defense after the turnover. Almost all on the ground, the Eagles drove fifty yards and capped off the touchdown drive with a short touchdown run by Jeremy Fredricks.   After a first down, EP's defense stepped up. A tackle for a short gain on the inside by [player_tooltip player_id='284019' first='Gavin' last='Walden'] and then a deflected pass by Vaugh Feely forced a Skippers' punt.   Eden Prairie's Wesley Whipkey helped set his offense up with excellent field position with a thirty-yard punt return. Starting at mid-field, the Eagles' offense went back to work.   The Eagles showed they are not all smash-mouth football. Quarterback David Ivey rolled out and found Liam Berndt for a first down. Later in the drive, the Skippers looked to get off the field on a fourth and four at their own thirty-yard line, but the Skippers' defense sold out on the play action, leaving [player_tooltip player_id='706026' first='Dennis' last='Rahouski'] wide open down the sidelines. Ivey put the pass right on him, and Rahouski could have walked into the end zone.   Whipkey would make two straight great plays on the outside. First, he read a quarterback bootleg and made an open-field tackle for a short gain, and then a couple of plays later, he closed on a quick pass on the sidelines, made another open-field tackle short of the sticks, forcing another punt.   The Eagles would go back to the ground late in the first half. [player_tooltip player_id='641134' first='Elijah' last='Rumph'] picked up big chunks of yardage – mostly behind Dykstra, Sims, Ruhlin, and Sather. They blew open another hole on fourth and short near mid-field to easily pick up a first down. Hawken Hedlund would finish the drive with a short touchdown run, and the Eagles would take a 21-point lead into the half.   Minnetonka came to play in the third quarter. They scored touchdowns on two straight drives using a nice mix of the running game and short passing game. Just when it looked like the home team would come up with a big stop, Eden Prairie does what it does so well.    "They came out ready to go (in the third quarter)," Broich said. "They fought hard, and we stalled a little bit, but that last drive is what we needed to do. That is Eden Prairie football."

I have seen plenty of Eden Prairie games during my time covering high school football. They always have good and often great teams. When they are at their best, defenses know what is coming. The Eagles are going to use some variation of a power-running game and pound the defense into submission. If they have a lead late in the game – like tonight against number three-ranked Minnetonka – they are going to lean on the running game, control the clock, and grind out first downs until they have either scored or the clock has run out. Tonight was the most Eden Prairie way to finish a game I have ever seen.