Isaac Collins put on a show for Maple Grove’s homecoming Friday, Sept. 25.

Collins had four touchdowns for the Crimson football team in a 35-14 victory over Minnetonka. The senior do-it-all skill player rushed for three scores and returned a punt for a TD.

The recent Division I Creighton baseball commit shine in his final football homecoming game for the Crimson, and he gave the team a boost in the final quarter when the game still looked in doubt. Tonka traded scores with the Crimson through the third quarter and trailed by just a score, 21-14.

“What we learned from the game, is that you’ve got to come out from the get-go,” Crimson coach Matt Lombardi said.

Maple Grove’s offensive line, which already had a big game made a few more big blocks in the fourth quarter to allow Collins to put the game away. Collins ran for a 60-yard TD in the first minute of the final quarter, and he scored on an 18-yard less than three minutes later.

Lombardi said, “we kind of had a six-minute stretch there where we took over the game.”

Overall, the Crimson had 306 yards rushing with Collins at 185 on 12 carries, a 15.4-yard per carry average. Ryan Hanscome also had a solid game with 108 yards rushing on nine touches.

“Our offensive line had a very good game,” Lombardi said. “I thought they did a nice job of opening holes for Isaac and Ryan Hanscome.”

Maple Grove averaged 14 yards per carry.

Crimson quarterback Brad Davison had plenty of support from the running game, but he still found the end zone once on an 18-yard TD pass to Will Reul.

Defensively, the Crimson held an opponent under 20 points for a third-straight week. Lombardi still sees plenty of room for improvement though. The Crimson allowed 219 yards passing but 70 yards rushing.

“They really haven’t gotten in rhythm the whole game defensively, but they’ve found ways to stop [them],” Lombardi said.

Joseph Wallick and Grant Hemze each had a team-high of 13 tackles. Lukas Burrington picked off one pass and had eleven tackles.

Getting an even stronger defensive performance behooves the Crimson on Friday at Prior Lake next. They met in a defensive battle during the 2014 state tournament, a grueling contest won by the Crimson  10-7 in Minnetonka. Venues switch this time to Prior Lake’s home field and a homecoming crowd in addition.

“It’s a school that brings a lot of fans, and they’re very excited about their football,” Lombardi said. “They’ve got a great coaching staff, they play physical [and] they’re a  top-five, top-six team in the state.”

Both teams rank in the top seven and stand at 4-2 in the West Metro District. The Crimson and Lakers kick off at 7 p.m.