When two evenly matched football teams meet, the one that makes fewer mistakes usually prevails. Such was the case in Maple Grove High School’s gut wrenching 27-20 loss to Cretin-Derham Hall Friday. Nov 13, in state quarterfinal football game at Bakken Field in St. Paul.

The Crimson outplayed Cretin in the first half but costly mistakes presented them from taking a big lead. The second half was evenly played and the Raiders didn't make many mistakes while the Crimson committed several costly ones.

“Most penalties are untimely and you can't do that in big games.” Maple Grove coach Craig Hansen said.

The Crimson took a 6-0 lead by scoring on their first drive Junior fullback Caleb Marx capped it with a 9-yard touchdown run but the two-point try failed Maple Grove's defense held and the Crimson launched another promising drive that ended with a fumble on the Cretin 1-yard line.

“We to jumped out on top and had a chance to go up by two touchdowns." Hansen said. “But we didn't snap on the right count and fumbled. Had we scored there and not let them score just before halftime, we would have been up two touchdowns and it would have been a lot tougher for them to come back.”

The Raiders tied the game with a drive late in the first half when they scored on a touchdown pass with 8 seconds left in the half.

“We did a good job of stopping them in the first half and we were disappointed we only had six points.” Hansen said. “We needed to convert on our chances but we didn't capitalize.”

That set the stage for a seesaw second half. Cretin went ahead 13-6 on a 43-yard TD pass, and Maple Grove came back with a scoring drive capped by a 1-yard run by Justin Lehman. The two-point try again failed and Maple Grove trailed 13-12.

The Raiders went ahead 20-12 late in the third quarter on a 26-yard TD pass. but Maple Grove responded with an 8-yard TD pass from C. J. Woodrow to Jeff Hesse. The two teamed up to convert a two point try to tie the game 20-20.

Cretin drove down field quickly but the Crimson held and forced the Raiders to attempt a 28-yard field goal. The kick was wide but the Crimson were called for roughing the kicker and Cretin was awarded a first down. The Raiders cornered and went in to score on a 5-yard TD run.

“We were trying to block the field goal and our player just hit the kid.” Hansen said of the roughing the kicker penalty. “It wasn't flagrant, but he made contact and you can’t do that. You have to be aggressive to go after the block. Unfortunately, he ended up making contact.”

The Crimson weren't done. Starting on their 20, Woodrow completed passes of 15 and 20 yards and drew a roughing the passer penalty. He then fired a 15-yarder to Lehman to bring the ball to the Cretin 20 late in the game. With about 1:30 to go, Maple Grove almost scored when Justin Dering caught a pass from Woodrow in the end zone but he was just out of bounds. Woodrow's next pass was intercepted in the end zone with 1:05 left, ending the Crimson’s bid to tie or win the game.

“We competed real well. I could not be more proud of them," Hansen said “We played real well and Cretin made adjustments at halftime and started moving the ball on us. Cretin is a very good team, you aren't going to shut them down. We did enough to win, but we just didn't have enough points on the board.”

The Crimson finished with 459 yards of total offense and Cretin had 403. Woodrow completed 11 of 26 passes for 201 yards and the Crimson had 258 rushing yards. Lehman ran 22 times for 164 yards and Marx had 55 on 15 carries. Dering caught three passes for 67 yards. Hesse had four receptions for 44 yards and Brent Lawson had two for 58.

The Crimson finished the season with a 9-2 record.

“It was a great season. We had an awful lot of fun and every day was pure joy." Hansen said. “The hard thing is it's over. But only one team ends on a happy note and that's the one that wins it all. We did a lot of hard work and good things and we improved every week. It’s quite a growing and developing experience to see the guys stick with it and buy into the program and improve.”

Hansen said the seniors are special because they were the ones who started the program three years ago and endured two tough seasons before blossoming this year.

“In high school you may get to work with the kids for one or two years,” Hansen said. “These kids have been with us for three years and having been through those early tough times you developed an even a stronger bond and the roots go pretty deep. We talked about how Cretin has this long standing tradition and our guys are making it. So it’s really different and fun. These guys have really set a standard for all the kids. The kids behind them now know this no how you do it, this is how you go about things.”