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Maple Grove overcomes defending champion Osseo’s big start

By admin, 09/08/16, 10:15AM CDT

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by Matthew Davis

Osseo’s state football title defense looked well on its way to a strong start with a quick 13-0 lead at Maple Grove.

“It was such a ragged start,” Crimson coach Matt Lombardi said. “Our leaders stepped up and took ownership of it and decided, ‘you know what, this isn’t what we are and let’s go out there and our play our style and hopefully that will be enough.’”

That did the trick for the Crimson as they beat Osseo 23-13 on Thursday, Sept. 1, for the first time since 2009. Osseo could not score again after the 13-0 start aided by four Crimson turnovers.

“We came out fired up, but we got too high when we had a big lead, and we started going downhill,” Osseo senior lineman Nash Jensen said.

Junior Eric Lundstrom got the nod as the Orioles’ starting quarterback, but the scoring plays came on passes from senior wide receiver Mar Mar Hughes. The senior receiver threw touchdown passes to junior running back Alphonso Gbalea and senior wide receiver Ron Gray.

“We’re really going to have to draw on the experience of Mar Mar,” Orioles coach Ryan Stockhaus said. “Mar Mar and two of our offensive linemen are really kind of the only guys playing with any experience playing at varsity football and understanding the speed and the adjustments that have to happen.”

Osseo’s defense came in with even less experience but made noise early with interceptions by Junior defensive back Adam Plumbhoff and junior corner back Johnson Fallah. The Orioles’ defense also recovered a fumble, and the punt return unit gained a takeaway on a botched snap by the Crimson. It all looked bleak early for the host Crimson.

“Our defense obviously did a great job getting us through that phase because at least we were down just 13-0,” Lombardi said. “It could have worse than that.”

It also gave enough time for the Crimson offense led by senior quarterback Brad Davison to get going. He led a scoring drive after the miscues to cut the score to 13-7 in the second quarter. The Wisconsin basketball recruit and third-year starting QB capped the drive with a 4-yard TD.

“I was really proud of how he played the second, third [and] fourth quarters because he had to overcome adversity,” Lombardi said. “In that time, he kind of took ownership of the team and took charge of the game.”

Davison went on to run for another TD of 46 yards, and he tossed one score for five yards to senior wide receiver Jack Dugan. The Crimson also tacked on a field goal by junior kicker Andy Peterson of 29 yards in the 23-0 run.

“I really had a chip on my shoulder the rest of the game to make sure that we could get the job done,” Davison said.

Osseo (0-1) threatened once in the second half but missed a field goal. The Orioles will host Andover (0-1) next week on Friday at 7 p.m.

“We need to work on finishing drives as an offense, and we need to be mentally stronger overall as a team,” Jensen said.

Osseo’s film session the next day after the Maple Grove loss held promise going into week two of the season to get mentally stronger. Stockhaus gets the need for his young team to grow.

“You could start to see the light bulbs click [and] things start to make sense for the guys,” Stockhaus said.

Stockhaus wants to see his team win the time of possession battle against Andover, which could help secure a win in the Orioles’ home opener. The Huskies amassed 354 yards of total offense in a loss at Edina.

Maple Grove (1-0) will also have a test with a high-octane offense at Hopkins (1-0) on Friday at 7 p.m. The Royals piled on 52 points to beat Coon Rapids handily lest week.

“It’s going to be a great game,” Davison said. “They have a really talented team, very athletic. They have a lot of guys who can make plays.”

It will behoove the Crimson defense slow down the Royals. Fortunately, the first game of the season tested the Crimson defense in other ways besides and early deficit. They had to play without captain and senior linebacker Zion Allen for most of the second half due to cramps.

Lombardi liked how junior outside linebacker Jake Hanson stepped in passing situations. The Crimson coached also liked the performance of junior defensive lineman Adam Skogman.

“All of those guys did a good job and picked up the slack,” Lombardi said.

Defense helped the offense pick up the slack too in the program’s win over it’s cross town rival. It doesn’t complete the one-week-old season by any means though.

“We have bigger goals,” Davison said. “Our goal is to play in U.S. Bank Stadium when it’s all said and done. That was just step one, and I’m looking forward to the rest of the year.”

It continues with Hopkins.


Maple Grove quarterback Brad Davison scores his first touchdown in the game against Osseo on Sept. 1. (Photo by Rich Moll- richmollphotography.com)


Osseo running back #44 Alphonso Gbalea celebrates a touchdown in the Sept. 1 game against Maple Grove. (Photo by Rich Moll- richmollphotography.com


Maple Grove wide receiver #85 Teddy Raasch catches and runs to the Osseo 18 yard line, setting up the second Maple Grove touchdown. (Photo by Rich Moll- richmollphotography.com)


Osseo defensive back #32 Adam Plumbhoff intercepts Maple Grove’s Brad Davison pass. (Photo by Rich Moll- richmollphotography.com)