Maple Grove ended its two-game losing streak at homecoming in style.

Strong performances on both sides of the ball completed a 35-7 rout of Wayzata Friday, Sept. 30. The Crimson football team amassed 424 yards of total offense and the defense held the Trojans scoreless until the fourth quarter.

“We kind of changed up our approach,” Crimson coach Matt Lombardi said. “I thought the kids did good job with it, and Friday night it showed it.”

Jake Hanson led the Crimson defense with seven tackles and a couple pass breakups. The Crimson junior linebacker also forced and recovered a fumble.

“Every game he plays, he’s getting more and more confidence,” Lombardi said. “We really like him. He’s a kid that plays with a lot of speed, and goes out there without much fear.”

Senior linebacker Zion Allen also forced a fumble, and he garnered four tackles. Eugene Horton, a senior defensive lineman, picked up his first sack of the season. Senior defensive back Carter Kitterman had six tackles.

Junior kicker Andy Peterson preserved the shutout late in the first half with tackle on a long kick return by the Trojans.

“He was one-on-one in the open field, and that was a huge play,” Lombardi said.

Maple Grove had the game in hand at that point with a 21-0 lead, sparked by Brad Davison and Ryan Hanscome. Davison, the Crimson senior quarterback, rushed for a 1-yard TD and threw for another of 14-yards to Hanscome. The senior running back also ran for a 4-yard TD. Hanscome finished with 101 yards in 19 attempts, his first time over 100 yards this season.

“Our offense general did a really good job in general of mixing it up and spreading the ball out,” Lombardi said. “Brad did a good job of getting the ball to a lot o players.”

Davison had his most efficient game of the season, a QB rating of 147, with 225 yards and three TDs on 18-23 passing. He also rushed for 96 yards on 21 carries, including his TD run.

“We tried to do a lot more quick passes, get the ball out of my hand quicker,” Davison said.

Five different players catching passes aided Davison’s strong performance. Senior wide receiver Ky Carlson caught seven passes for 77 yards to lead all receivers.

“They were sharp all game, and they were sharp all week in practice,” Davison said.

Junior receiver Erik Christensen caught one of Davison’s TD passes and tallied 31 yards on four catches. Jack Dugan, a senior receiver, also grabbed a TD pass among his three receptions for 46 yards. Fellow senior receiver Teddy Raasch chipped in 46 yards on four catches.

Raasch and company will look to spark the offense again when the Crimson visit No. 6-ranked Minnetonka (4-1) on Friday at 7 p.m. The Skippers’ only blemish came in a 20-0 defeat against No. 3 Eden Prairie (4-1).

Since the Crimson haven’t visited Tonka since the shift to district play, only Davison has played there in 2014 when he led the team to a state tournament win against Prior Lake. Davison hopes this team can take a similar step on Friday toward another big postseason.

“It’ll be a big win, a big confidence boost for us to get going here towards the playoffs,” Davison said. “The goal is to keep getting better every practice and every game.”