Statistically, the Maple Grove Crimson football team had its best of game of the season when it visited Elk River last Friday. However, almost 400 yards of offense was not enough as the Crimson suffered a frustrating 17-13 loss.
"It's more like we gave ourselves a hard time," Crimson coach Craig Hansen responded when asked if Elk River gave his team a hard time. "Let's not take anything away from Elk River. Their secondary is by far the best we've seen. But we hurt ourselves with untimely penalties and missed assignments. We did everything but score."
The Crimson started well as they took their first possession and scored.
Senior back Ryan Gust capped the six-play, 57-yard drive with a 25-yard touchdown run.
Maple Grove dominated the rest of the first quarter and most of the second quarter but did not score as drives bogged down because of penalties or misplays.
Then the Elks' defense struck, picking up a fumbled Maple Grove pitchout and re-turning it for a touchdown. Just like that the game was tied 7-7.
The Elks then forged ahead later in the second quarter by putting together their only touchdown drive of the night, a 60-yard march culminated by a one-yard TD plunge. The Crimson had 189 yards of offense in the first half but found them-selves down 14-7.
The Crimson continued to march up and down the field in the second half as they compiled 201 yards. But the mistakes continued and their drives kept stalling. Elk River padded its lead to 17-7 with a 33-yard field goal in the third quarter. The Crimson did not score until sophomore quarterback Mitch Brecke hit senior end Nick Brenckman for a one-yard touchdown pass with 14 seconds left.
The Crimson finished with 390 yards in total offense com-pared to 185 for Elk River. They had 18 first downs to Elk River's nine. Brecke completed 17 of 35 passes for 170 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions. Greg Martin had six catches for 69 yards, Brenckman had eight for 59, Gust had one for 16, Josh Lorenz caught one for 12 and Ryan Iskierka had one for 14.
Iskierka, starting in place of the injured Ross Muellenberg, led the ground game with 118 yards on 13 carries. Gust had 71 yards on 14 runs and Brecke had 31 yards on 15 rushes.
"Offensively, it was our best night of the year statistically," Hansen said. "But we just took two steps forward and one step back with mistakes and un-timely penalties. We kept shooting ourselves in the foot."
The Crimson defense led by Luke Grader, Jordan Muro, Brandon Barth and Ryan Schulz gave another solid effort. They surrendered their first down since the third quarter of the season-opener at Roseville.
"Our defense did great to hold Elk River to 185 yards," Hansen said. "They have a great quarterback who is very athletic. Our defense was challenged but we stood up real well."
The loss, coupled with Blaine's win over Coon Rapids, puts Maple Grove, Coon Rapids and Blaine in a three-way tie for first place in the conference, all with 3-1 records. The Crimson next host the Cardinals for their homecoming Friday, Oct. 4.
MUELLENBERG OUT
Muellenberg, the Crimson's top rusher and all-conference performer, will most likely miss the rest of the regular season with the injury he suffered in the Osseo game. Hansen said Muellenberg suffered a broken tibia and strained ligaments and is not likely to heal in time for the regular season. "I would not expect him back for the regular season, at least," Hansen said. "The good news is he will not need surgery. It will heal so I am glad to hear that."