Maple Grove strengthened its hold on first place in Twin Cities Suburban Conference American Division football with a convincing 45-22 win over Roseville Friday, Oct. 9.
The Crimson built a 32-8 halftime lead and cruised to its second lop-sided victory in a row. Justin Lehman opened scoring with a 7- yard touchdown run and added a 5-yard TD run. Quarterback C.J. Woodrow threw to Brent Lawson and Caleb Marx for two two-point conversions and a 16-0 lead. Marx then scored the third touchdown from 1 yard out and Woodrow threw to Lawson to make it 24-0.
Roseville scored on an 18-yard TD pass but Maple Grove answered with a Woodrow to Jeff Hesse 2-yard TD pass play before halftime.
"Things really clicked for us offensively," Maple Grove coach Craig Hansen said. "It was fun to see the improvement. The players had the opportunities to make plays and they stepped up and made them."
The Crimson put on an awesome first half offensive display when they passed for 156 yards and rushed for 133 more. They didn't punt at all until the fourth quarter. Woodrow completed 13 of 16 passes and Hesse caught seven passes for 100 yards in the first half.
"C.J. and Jeff really connected well," Hansen said. "C.J. put the ball where Jeff could get it and Jeff just made some phenomenal catches."
The Crimson added second half touchdowns on TD runs of 1 and 36 yards by Marx while Roseville made the final score respectable with two fourth quarter touchdowns.
The Crimson finished with 169 yards passing and 177 yards rushing. Marx had 82 yards on 17 carries, Lehman had 55 yards on 18 carries and Woodrow ran eight times for 38 yards.
"Caleb and Justin are really coining together as a tandem," Hansen said. "They are blocking well for each other and they are running extremely hard."
Defensively, Jon Dubel had five tackles and one fumble recovery, Josh Muro had four tackles and 1 1/2 sacks, Brett Schendell had two tack-les and 2 1/2 sacks, Chris Dykoff had four tackles and 1 1/2 sacks, Luke Craven added four tackles and two sacks, Tom Bertram had four tackles and Jeremy Oligmueller had an interception.
The Crimson improved to 5-1 overall and 4-0 in the conference, one game ahead of second place Mounds View (3-1). They next host Osseo Wednesday, Oct. 14 because of Minnesota Education Association conference.