Senior running back Justin Lehman scored two touchdowns and senior free safety Jon Dubel made a game saving tackle during Maple Grove High School's 22-17 home-coming win over Forest Lake Friday, Sept. 25, in Twin Cities Suburban Conference football.

“It was a huge game for us," Crimson coach Craig Hansen said. "Forest Lake is a contending team and an awfully good team and we were able to hang on at the end."

Lehman's first score, a 16-yard TD run, gave the Crimson a 6-3 lead at halftime. The Crimson increased their lead to 22-3 on an 8-yard touchdown pass from quarterback C. J. Woodrow to fullback Caleb Marx in the third quarter and Lehman's 23-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter.

Forest Lake cashed in on two Maple Grove mistakes with two touchdown runs late in the fourth quarter but the Crimson defense held on, thanks to a great play by Dubel.

The Rangers had the ball on their 17 with just over 1 minute to play and connected on an out-pattern pass. The receiver broke a tackle and sprinted down the sideline. Dubel was the only line of defense as he dashed across the field and made the stop at the Maple Grove 17-yard line. The Crimson defense then held the Rangers on four downs to preserve the victory.

"It was a game-saving tackle," Hansen said of Dubel, who had 11 tackles and intercepted a pass deep Grove, shut inside Maple Grove territory in the first half. "If he didn't make the play, Forest Lake would have won the game. He just did a terrific job." Lehman also had a terrific game. On Sept. He ran 21 times for 103 yards and scored twice and teamed up with Marx, who had 77 yards on 20 carries, to give the Crimson their best rushing game of the season.

"Forest Lake was doubling up our receivers, especially Jeff Hesse, all night and dared us to run," Hansen said. "I was glad how we responded to that. Our backs ran very hard, our line blocked very well and we threw the ball to our backs and tight ends for key completions. C.J. Woodrow completed four of nine passes for 37 yards but threw 4-0 mark any key passes for first downs, touch-downs and two-point conversions to Brent Lawson and Jeff Hesse."

Defensively, Dubel had a big night and so did Jeremy Oligmueller (seven tackles, a caused fumble and a sack) and Chris Dykhoff (11 tackles and one sack.)

"We played very well for three quarters," Hansen said. "Defensively we did very well and took over. Offensively we started to control the flow of the game and had our best night of rushing. In the fourth quarter, for whatever reason, we didn't perform nearly as well as well as we wanted to. We had some turnovers and miscues and we couldn't get first downs and we missed tackles on defense and gave up some big plays. The good news is we held on and won. Forest Lake is definitely a contender. This is a really big win for our kids."

The win improved Maple Grove's record to 3-1. "We have been playing good football and improving each week. We hope to plan on keeping it going," Hansen said.

The Crimson next visit Hill-Murray Friday, Oct. 2.