It’s hard to put into words how proud I am of the young men and the coaching staff for how we did on Thursday night.  Edina knocked us out of the playoffs last year and that loss stung for a long time into the off-season before getting refocused on the next season.   I can honestly say it took me about a month before I was over about being upset about the loss.   We thought that if we won that game, we could have a serious shot about being back at the bank and having a shot to win the whole thing.   Things didn’t go our way.   So needless to say, when the bracket was revealed and Edina was in our way of getting to the bank, I/we wanted this game really bad.   Thursday’s results were important for so many reasons, but just the growth that it showed in one year was incredible to see.   There were obviously a few people that you could see their growth individually, but as a collective group it was as well.   There were about 17+ players that played in that disappointing game last year and flourished this time around. 

Offensively, we continued our path of scoring 40+ points a game.  I felt like we did an amazing job having some balance as well.   It is not going to show with numbers entirely but just the feeling of what aspect of our game do you try to focus stopping has to be a nightmare for opposing teams.   Kaden Harney had a huge individual matchup against another top quarterback in the state and his numbers and his play outplayed him.   He threw for 180 yards and 2 touchdowns on only 11 pass attempts.  Charles Langama played a great first half and Patrick Wright played a great second half.  Together the two backs racked up just under 200 yards of rushing offense.  Again, balance is the word that comes to mind when I think about our offense.   I can’t go without mentioning Oliver Walseth as well, he took a backside slant 34 yards to the house for his first varsity touchdown.   Oliver is the epitome of a team player, and I was very happy for him to have the success on that play for his team and his teammates.

Defensively, we took on our biggest task of the year in beating a team and some individuals that took it to us a year ago.   Brayden Dozier came up huge in the first quarter with two interceptions.   I am so proud of him for the way he played and how he overcame last year’s game with this performance.  On the other side, after Brayden got his interceptions, they thought they better go after Gavin Elmquist’s side and while their top receiver got some receptions, I felt like Gavin played a whale of a game.   He made some big hits and made some big plays.  Our defensive back play was key to stopping or slowing down their pass game.  The best part was though our front 7 shut down their running game which forced them to be one dimensional.   Our guys did an excellent job flying around and putting pressure on their line and on their tailback. 

We had nearly the same type of conversation at halftime that we were still going to get Edina’s best early and if we could stop it then the game could be decided earlier.   When our offense got their first score, it was easy to play faster and more confident than even earlier.  It is not very often that teams are able to get to running time in the fourth quarter of a state quarterfinal game, but we were pleased to get to that point.   I felt like Thursday night was another example of “Leave No Doubt”.  

This week we get another exciting challenge from a team in the West District.  This week we get to take on the Shakopee Sabres on Friday night at US Bank.  We are the 7:30 game and we want/need our side of the bank to be filled with Crimson.   We are excited to be back, but we know that we want this to be a two-week trip.   We have a week that needs to be even more focused, and we get the opportunity to practice in the dome.   We don’t need to worry about rain, cold, “snow”.   It’s all about us this week and that’s why I am looking forward to this week for the team.   LEAVE NO DOUBT!!!

Coach Spurrell