Osseo put up a determined fight but Maple Grove escaped with a 7-6 victory in a Tuesday, Oct. 17, Section 6 football quarterfinal game.

Despite the huge difference in win-loss record, the seventh-seeded Orioles gave No. 2 Maple Grove all it could handle before losing by the slimmest of margins.

All the scoring took place in the second quarter. Maple Grove struck first behind the passing of quarterback Ryan Koch. First, Koch put the Crimson in scoring position when he hooked up with Peter Dering for a long completion. He then connected for a 22-yard touchdown pass to Jake Johnson, who made a juggling catch before scoring. The extra point kick by John Hicks was partially blocked but had enough distance to sneak over the uprights. It turned out to be the difference.

Osseo came right back with its scoring drive that culminated with a 15-yard TD pass from Josh Anderson to Bryan Foss. However, the extra point kick failed.

That turned out to be the difference. The Crimson defense, which had improved with each game, got tougher as the game wore on and completely stymied Osseo's offense the rest of the way. The Crimson had a couple of good drives but the Oriole defense was equally stubborn and came up with key stops.

"The game was a defensive thriller, the kind that is usually won/lost on field position," Osseo coach Claud Allaire said. "As you can imagine, in that type of game, there are many plays which by themselves can turn the game around. The bottom line is that there were many plays and many coaching calls that could have turned the game around one way or the other and that resulted in a great game. It was the type of game that you hate to see either team lose but that's the way it has to go. I think both teams really felt that they were part of a great football battle afterwards and that's what it's all about."

Maple Grove coach Craig Hansen agreed. "Osseo was really fired up to play us and played really well," he said. "We didn't play as well as we wanted but you have to give Osseo a lot of credit. They played extremely hard and were very physical. Osseo moved the ball well on us in the first half but in the second half our defense improved and we were able to get the ball back."

The Crimson were led by the passing of Koch, who completed six of 15 passes for 139 yards. Dering had three catches for 81 yards and Johnson had three for 58.

Josh Throndson led the ground game with 92 yards on 21 rushes.

For Osseo, Allaire cited the strong play of Aaron Johnson, Jon Steinert and Caleb Truax on defense.

"Truax is a fairly new starter and Aaron played safety all year and was playing in a new position at line-backer," Allaire said. "Both of them were filling in for some of the players we lost along the way. Offensively, Anderson played one of his best games, moving the ball mostly in the air for 125 yards versus a very stingy defense."

The Crimson advanced to the next round where they beat Armstrong while the Orioles went home with the knowledge that they played their best in the season's finale. "It was a really good way for us to end the season because it was like we finally saw the team that we waited to see all year," Allaire said. "It's a great way to head into our off-season and for the seniors, they can say they went out playing their best football and giving us a valiant effort."