When Maple Grove faces Osseo this Friday, Sept. 12, at Carl Tonn Field in a 7 p.m. game, the winner will get its first victory of the season and the loser will drop to 0-3. The Orioles and Crimson both are 0-2 and both suffered shutout defeats last week. Osseo committed five crucial turnovers in losing at home to Forest Lake 9-0 while the Crimson were over-powered at Mounds View 35- 0.

OSSEO

"It was just a tough game," Osseo assistant coach Joe Doperalski said. "We knew Forest Lake is a pretty good team and they played us tough."

The Orioles were even tougher on themselves by committing five turnovers.

"We moved the ball very well but when we got into the scoring area we'd lose it on turnovers or lose possession," Doperalski said. 'With, five turnovers it's tough to put any points on the board. It was that kind of a night. We were pretty evenly matched with Forest Lake but they got all the breaks and we didn't."

Forest Lake scored a touchdown in the first half and added a field goal in the third quarter.

"We failed to capitalize early in the game when we had to opportunity to, and it allowed them to build up their confidence," head coach Claud Allaire said. 'We moved the ball some in the second half but not as well as in the first half. nevertheless, we had opportunities to score. Late in the game with a couple of minutes to go, we were down on their 5 yard line but were called for an unsports-manlike penalty and moved back to the 20 yard line. As a result, we ended up missing a long field goal.

Overall, Allaire said he was pleased with the team's execution. The defense played tough most of the night and the offense executed fairly well, he said. He added, "What really hurt us was the penalties and turnovers. I often talk to our players about the importance of putting all the odds in your favor on game night. Well, we certainly didn't do that Friday night." 

MAPLE GROVE

The Crimson, who lost to Forest Lake 32-24 in the season opener, were never in the game against a huge and talented Mounds View squad. The Mustangs exploded for three first-quarter touchdowns and Maple Grove could not respond.

"Mounds View has to be one of the best teams in our conference," Crimson coach Craig Hansen said. "They are the biggest team I've coached against. It's like blocking a forest of oak trees. They are huge and strong up front and their secondary is really tough and stacked up against our passing game. We were just out physicaled and couldn't do anything offensively. We are still young enough and getting better and this a big, hard lesson to learn."

The Crimson defense played well and came up with four turnovers. Linebacker Caleb Marx had 17 tackles, defensive end Peter Erickson had seven tackles and one fumble recovery, corner back Mike Behr had a fumble recovery and line-backer Kyle Olson played well on defense and punted well.

RIVALRY

Osseo won the first contest between the neighboring schools last year and the Crimson will be seeking to equal the series this Friday.

"It will be a big game. Both teams have some fun kids to Watch so it should be entertaining," Hansen said. "It will be a challenge for us. Osseo has awfully good skilled kids and has good speed. Bran-don Lien is an excellent player and anything can hap-pen when he has the ball."

"We are going to have our hands full with Maple Grove." Doperalski said. "Both teams are desperate for a win, so it should be a great game."