Maple Grove football coach Matt Lombardi down played the personal meaning of the Crimson’s 34-7 win at his former school Wayzata last Friday. Instead, he called the victory a great night for the Maple Grove program.

“It’s kind of a different feelings walking into a place where you had great memories and great times and you were standing on the other sideline,” Lombardi said. “But it’s an exciting game for the kids because they got to go against a team that had won three state titles in the last 10 years and it’s a program that everybody respects. It was a good win for our program. It was a pretty high profiled game and we performed really well. Maple Grove was put on a stage a little bit that night and we performed really well in all facets.”

Isaac Collins gave Maple Grove the early spark when he returned the opening kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown. Collins then capped a nice drive by scoring on an 8-yard TD run to make it 14-0 after one quarter. The Trojans defense stiffened and Wayzata got on the scoreboard when it blocked a MG punt and returned it for a touchdown.

“We got a little lax in the second quarter,” Lombardi said. “Give Wayzata credits. They buckled down and blocked a punt for a touchdown and it was 14-7 at halftime and we knew we were in for a fight.”

But the Crimson regrouped at halftime and gave an impressive second half showing that turned a close game into a rout. Maple Grove engineered a nice drive in the third quarter that culminated in a six-yard touchdown run by Clark Wieneke. The Crimson put together another scoring drive and quarterback Brad Davison capped it with a one-yard plunge early in the fourth.

The defense then got into the scoring act. Luke Barrington forced a fumble and Adam Brant ran it back 39 yards for the final TD.

“I was really proud of our play in the second half,” Lombardi said. “We played the way we wanted to. We ran the ball really well. In our last three drives we used up almost five minutes. And our defense was dominant and kept getting three and outs.”

The Crimson had 272 yards rushing. Wieneke had 131 yards on 23 carries and Collins added  95 yards on 14 runs. Davison completed six of 13 passes for 86 yards. Brant had three catches for 42 yards.

“Our sophomore quarterback Brad Davison did a really nice job getting us first downs when were in long yardage situations,” Lombardi said.

Brant and Christian Uheyli led the defense with nine tackles. Kyle Anderson had seven, Grant Hemze and Barrington each had six and Chris Fondakowski had five.

“Cornerback Sam Franta did a really nice job,” Lombardi said. “He got called out four times when they went after him one-on-one and he made the play every time.”

Lombardi said it was the first time Maple Grove won at Wayzata since the 2002 season, making it a night to remember.

“Our team was excited and Maple Grove High School was excited,” he said. “As a coach I was proud of the whole environment. We had students filled their stands and parents and former football players. The place was going crazy, it was fun and we came out and performed well. It was a great Friday night.”