Maple Grove High School team learned what it takes against a top ranked football team last at Stillwater. The Crimson faced the No. 5 Ponies a good physical team but suffered too many mental and poor executions and lost.

The Crimson actually out gained the Ponies 210 to 206 yards in total but the Ponies struck for big yards when they needed, while the Crimson were always a missed block from springing a big play.

It was tough and it was good," Maple Grove Craig Hansen said. The game was closer than the score showed. We competed well with we got more physical as the game went on. The difference is that Stillwater didn't make critical mental errors and we made some. That's the frustrating part. We had several penalties that were frustrating and kept holding us up."

Stillwater scored late in the first quarter on a 24-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jason Jordan. Maple Grove came back with a long scoring drive culminated with quarterback C. J. Woodrow throwing an 11-yard touchdown pass to Brent Lawson. The Crimson missed the extra point and trailed 7-6.

The Ponies immediately opened up a 14-6 lead by running back the ensuing kickoff. The score stayed a 14-6 until Jordan threw a touch-down with six seconds left in the half to build a commanding 21-6 half-time lead.

"That's a tough one to give up," Hansen said. "You certainly don't want to give up that touchdown. But we still felt we were in the game."

Maple Grove had three promising drives that reached deep inside Stillwater territory in the second half, but penalties and missed execution kept the Crimson out of the end zone. Stillwater scored near the end of the third quarter on a run by Jordan to put the game out of reach.

"We had our chances in the second half but didn't convert on them," Hansen said. "Penalties and poor execution hurt us. What could have been a big play for us became a no gainer. Had we executed, they would have been big plays."

Hansen was encouraged by his team's performance and felt his players will learn from the game.

"We felt we could play with them and that part was encouraging," Hansen said. "Stillwater is a top 10 team and they played well. Their quarterback was very good and they have two good receivers and a tight end. Defensively they are solid and their special teams was good. You play against a team like that and you learn what it takes to play at that level. We had chances to make some plays and we need to step up and do that."

Defensively, the Crimson also were stingy. Linebacker Jeremy Oligmueller had four tackles and one fumble recovery, end Brett Schendell had 11 tackles, linebacker Justin Davis had six tackles and one tipped pass and end Josh Muro had nine tackles, two hurries and caused one fumble.

Offensively, Woodrow completed nine of 22 passes for 103 yards. Jus-tin Lehman had 44 yards on 16 carries, Caleb Marx had 13 runs for 34 yards and Woodrow ran 10 times for 24 yards.

The Crimson next take on Park Center Friday, Sept. 18.