Ryan Hanscome and Brad Davison scored fourth-quarter touchdowns, but Maple Grove came up shy of Eden Prairie again, 28-15.

Last season, the Crimson football team fell a TD shy of the Eagles in Eden Prairie 28-20. Maple Grove had a to climb out of a 28-3 hole this time around Friday, Sept. 23.

“I don’t know if we came in as prepared as we should have been,” Davison said.

After mustering three points through the first three quarters, Davison opened the final quarter on a 10-yard TD run. The Crimson senior quarterback rushed for 63 yards on 15 carries in addition for throwing for 158 yards on 12-22 passing.

Davison didn’t through a TD pass for the first time this season against a tough Eagles defense that allowed nine points in their previous two contests. He did have success getting the ball down field though.

“We tried to do more quick throws,” Davison said. “They have a very talented front seven and a very talented, quick defensive ends.”

Ky Carlson caught one pass for 28 yards, and Jack Dugan hauled in two for 45. Teddy Raasch grabbed two for 20 yards.

“The quicker throws were really working,” Raasch said. “Corners would play a little deep at times, and we started to really take advantage of that.”

Hanscome led all receivers with six catches for 69 yards. He also rushed for 61 yards on 15 attempts. The Crimson senior running back scored 4-yard rushing TD with 3:46 left to trim the lead to 28-15.

It spelled too little too late though since the Eagles amassed a 28-3 lead going into the fourth quarter. Eden Prairie got a jump start with two TDs in the first seven minutes of the game, one rushing and the other on a punt return. Missed opportunities for the Crimson didn’t help either.

Raasch said, “We had so many opportunities to score in their red zone but didn’t convert, and that’s something we really need to work on.”

Maple Grove’s defense spent lots of time on the field throughout in facing 45 Eagles rushing plays for 218 yards. Curtis Haugen led the Crimson defense with 11 tackles, and Zion Allen and Michael Engelken each had 10.

Evan Jones produced the only Crimson takeaway with a forced fumble. He also had five tackles as did Ben Paschke, Jake Hanson and Gabe Hanson. Carter Kitterman and Adam Skogman each had seven.

Maple Grove’s only points in the first half came off a 30-yard field goal by Andy Peterson. It marked the second-straight week where the Crimson offense did not score a first-half TD.

“We really struggled in the first quarter, which has happened to us quite a bit this year,” Davison said.

With Wayzata (1-3) coming to town on Friday at 7 p.m., the Crimson (2-2) will look to end that trend and a two-game losing streak. The Trojans average 21 points per game, and their losses all came against preseason ranked teams.

Preseason ranking, which the Crimson had, means nothing at this point midway through the season. Moreover, Maple Grove coach Matt Lombardi wanted his team to put the first half of the season behind them.

“He just told us that the season starts now, 0-0 record and we’ve got to win our next four,” Davison said.