Even when the Roseville offense failed on fourth down twice from inside the 5-yard line, and Farmington intercepted a pass at the 1, the Raiders defense was there to make sure nothing went array.
That defense prevented Farmington from crossing midfield in a 7-0 victory in the first round of the Class 6A football playoffs Friday night in Roseville.
"They just did a heck of a job keeping us in the football game when we were having trouble," Roseville coach Chris Simdorn said. "We had some opportunities in the first half to put some scores on and couldn't do it, and the defense just kept coming on and getting stops for us."
The Raiders (7-2) broke the scoreless tie when Max Sandin planted a stiff-arm on a defender and burst around the edge for a 63-yard touchdown against the Tigers (2-7).
Sandin intercepted a pass on Farmington's next play and nearly had another with time winding down on the Tigers' final drive.
"Slippery hands," the senior said, joking.
Either way, Roseville won a postseason game for the first time since 2014 while leaving plenty of room for improvement.
"We had a couple lackadaisical practices on offense before this game, so we're just going to get that together," Sandin said. "Once we get our offense together, we're just going to get rolling."
MICHAEL HUGHES
