After his Maple Grove High School football team had surrendered 28 second-quarter points and trailed 28-14 at half-time at Elk River last Friday, Crimson coach Craig Hansen was anxious to see how his players would react in the second half. What he saw was encouraging.
The Crimson battled back gamely, dominated the second and came close to winning the game twice in the final minutes. They were stopped inches short on a fourth-and-two near the goal line with about four minutes left. They got the ball back and drove down again. The game ended when Maple Grove missed a 36-yard field goal.
"You hate losing when, you had a good chance to win, Hansen said. "But this game is a big step for us as far as maturing as a team. After that second quarter, instead of falling apart and pointing fingers, we became more deter-mined and came together."
The game had started well for Maple Grove, which took a 14-7 lead on Ryan Iskierka's 2-yard TD run and a 10-yard TD pass from Mitch Brecke to Bobby Usset. But the Elks exploded for three touchdowns late in the second quarter to grab a commanding lead.
"Elk River has so many explosive offensive players and they just popped big plays," Hansen said. "But our defense just buckled ip in the second half. They had 190 yards in the first half and we held them to just 59 in the second half."
The Crimson climbed back into the game with two touch-downs in the third quarter. Brecke hit Josh Laurent for a -yard pass and 1. Ryan Holland had a 20-yard TD run. Maple Grove continued to dominate in the final quarter but came inches short of a big comeback win.
Linebackers Todd Frykman and Ted Leonard led the Maple Grove defense with 10 and 9 tackles, respectively. Safety Chase Mudd followed with 7 and tackle Brian Olson had a big fumble recovery.
Offensively, Iskierka had 91 yards on 19 carries, Brecke ran 13 times for 79 yards and Holland had 51 yards on 8 runs. Brecke completed 9 of 16 passes for 125 yards. Junior receiver Gregg Martin had 5 receptions for 89 yards.
While disappointed with the loss, Hansen and the Crimson are heading into this Friday's tilt at Osseo with their heads high.
"It was a huge education for the kids and I am so proud of them," Hansen said. "They were upset that they didn't play well in the second quarter and they came back in the second half and played so strong."