The Maple Grove Crimson earned their second straight trip to the state football tournament with a 35-0 rout of White Bear Lake last Friday at home. Last year, the Crimson had to fight until the final seconds to edge perennial power Minnetonka in the section final. This time around they dominated and made quick work of the Bears.

“We were in a little bit more control this year,” Maple Grove coach Matt Lombardi said. “I said last year when we beat Minnetonka it’s really hard to get over that hump that first time. I think now our expectations are we want to do some good things at state and so they feel this is just our second step along the way and I thought we had a better frame of mind coming into it. They played really well on all three facets of the game. We were the favorites but White Bear Lake is still a tough opponent and the kids responded well, took nothing for granted, prepared very hard and played that way.”

Clark Wieneke sparked the offense with three touchdowns and the defense recorded its fifth shutout in the last six games.

Wieneke carried 17 times for 114 yards and scored two touchdowns. He also caught four passes for 74 yards and made a TD catch. Isaac Collins had 94 yards on 12 rushes and scored twice. Kyle Anderson had 52 yards. Brad Davison completed eight of 11 passes for 132 yards with one touchdown.

Defensively, Adam Brant, Grant Hemze and Lukas Barrington had 10 tackles each, Collins and Jack-Dahl McGlone had eight apiece and Christian Uhelyi, Anderson and Kraig Uquhart each had seven.

Even though this year’s section title game paled in terms of dramas and suspense to last year’s, the Crimson still savor another journey to state.

“The experience last year was it was great getting there and the school was excited,” Lombardi said. “Now I think we are still very excited to be there but I think our goals are beyond that a little bit. It’s our third step.”

The Crimson are seeded fourth and will take on fifth-seeded Prior Lake Friday, Nov. 7, at 7 p.m. at Minnetonka.

“We respect Prior Lake a great deal. They are a great team having a great year and well coached. We have to play our best to beat them,” Lombardi said. “Prior Lake is a big physical team, plays really good defense, runs the ball well and does a good job with play action passes.”

Last year, the Crimson lost to Roseville in a close state quarterfinal game. Both the 2013 and 2014 squads have a solid defense and a powerful running game. The major difference is that the 2014 team has an effective passing attack led by Davison, the sophomore quarterback.

“I think the emergence of Brad has been big for our team,” Lombardi said. “He has grown leaps and bounds over this year and in the playoffs he is doing a great job. He is averaging 200 yards a game and has an 80 percent completion rate. He is doing a great job and with our running game being still what we are about it helps a big deal to be able to mix it up a little bit.”

On paper, the 2014 defense is enjoying an even better season than their 2013 counterparts. They have blanked five of their last six opponents.

“Defensive coordinator Tommy Becker has done a great job, they prepare great and they play their hearts out,” Lombardi said.  “The D has good momentum going into the playoffs. The funny part is I think as a team we all think we can be even better on that side of the ball.”

The Crimson are heading into this year’s state tournament with a different attitude. Last year they were the new kids on the block. This year they feel they are on the same level as the other seven.

“We absolutely belong there,” Lombardi said. “Our goal is to win every game. If you look outside of the one hiccup we had, we controlled our opponents and we out-scored them 30 to 35 points a game. We absolutely feel we belong to this group and we are excited for the challenge to go up against them.”

Defending state champion Eden Prairie heads a very strong eight-team AAAAAA field.

“It’s such a great tournament. You have two teams with no losses and six teams with one loss,” Lombardi said. “It really looks like what the state wants when they went into this format. You have eight of the very best teams playing and that’s all you can ask for. It should be fun for the state to watch.”