Maple Grove forced five turnovers and senior quarterback C.J. Woodrow threw four touchdown passes and ran for another to lead Maple Grove to a 54-6 rout of Hill-Murray Friday, Oct. 2.
The 54 points were the most scored by a Maple Grove team. The Crimson led only 8-6 after quarter but its offense erupted for 46 points, including 39 in the second quarter, while the defense kept the Pioneers scoreless the rest of the way. It was a snowball kind of a game," Maple Grove coach Craig Hansen said. "It was a great team effort. Our special teams played very well on kickoff, punts and punt returns, our defense played tough and gave us great field position and our offense capitalized on the chances."
The Crimson stopped the Hill-Murray on the opening drive and Jeremy Oligmueller blocked the punt. Maple Grove took over on the Hill-Murray Justin 34 and senior running Justin Lehman found the end zone on the first play from scrimmage. Woodrow passed to Jeff Hesse for a two-point conversion for an 8-6 lead.
The Pioneers came right back to score a touchdown but the Crimson came right back with a two-yard TD run by Lehman early in the second quarter. On the ensuing kickoff, the Pioneers failed to pick up the ball and Maple Grove recovered deep inside territory. Lehman scored his third TD of the night on a two-yard run and Woodrow again passed for Hesse for two points.
Hill-Murray fumbled again on the kickoff. Maple Grove recovered in good field position and cashed in, this time on a 5-yard TD pass from Woodrow to Hesse.
Woodrow wasn't done for the second quarter. He threw a four-yard touchdown pass to Hesse and then dashed 62 yards for a touchdown. By the time the second quarter was over, Maple Grove had scored 39 points, another school record for points scored in one quarter.
"Hill-Murray has a good defensive front, but we got the jump on them and that deflated them," Hansen said.
Woodrow, who completed eight of 11 passes for 85 yards, threw a 21-yard TD pass to Brent Lawson and a 64-yarder to Caleb Marx to complete scoring in the second half.
The Crimson finished with 194 yards passing and 319 yards rushing. Lehman ran 13 times for 129 yards, Caleb Marx had eight rushes for 46 yards and Woodrow had three runs for 64 yards. Hess caught six passes for 69 yards, Lawson caught two for 26 yards and a touchdown, and Marx caught one for 66 yards and a touchdown.
"We always try to achieve balance and we got everybody involved in the game running and receiving," Hansen said.
On defense, Jon Dubel and Matt Mason each had one interception and Mike Curtis and Chris Dykoff each recovered a fumble.
Hansen was pleased with the win because his team played well in all phases of the game.
"You want to see every phase of the game click, that's what is exciting and satisfying," Hansen said. "Against Forest Lake a week ago, for three quarters and 4 minutes, we thought we were going to click but we didn't. We won but we weren't satisfied with our total performance. Last Friday night, we had a more consistent effort."
The win improved Maple Grove to 4-1 and on top of the conference with a 3-0 record. The Crimson next visit Roseville Friday, Oct. 9.
"You have to take one game at a time, if you don't you are in trouble," Hansen said. "Roseville is an up-and-coming team like ourselves. Roseville is the site of our historic victory last year, so it will be more incentive for them to do well against us."