Eden Prairie beats Totino-Grace for 6A title

Eden Prairie outlasted Totino-Grace for a 28-27 Prep Bowl victory and earned consecutive state title No. 4, a number indicative of the four-quarter effort required to win.

The Eagles joined Mahnomen (four) and Stephen-Argyle Central (five) as the only programs to win four or more consecutive state titles. No. 1-ranked Eden Prairie (13-0) also won its 10th big-school title overall.

Down 21-7 at halftime at TCF Bank Stadium, Eden Prairie rallied for a 28-21 lead. Then Totino-Grace scored with 1 minute and 39 seconds remaining to get within one point. Both teams called timeout before the next play, which became a Totino-Grace two-point conversion pass. Eden Prairie's Matt Carson knocked the ball from the receiver's grasp and it fell incomplete.

"To be on a team like this in a game like this in a stadium like this — I'm just blessed and fortunate," Carson said.

Totino-Grace's enrollment of 769 students fits the size of a Class 4A school. But since 2011 the Eagles have opted up twice, to Class 5A and then Class 6A. Three previous meetings with Eden Prairie, which has 2,845 students, ended in routs.

Friday's game looked different from the start. Great play-calling and better execution resulted in three Totino-Grace touchdowns in as many drives. Ben Mezzenga dashed to a pair of touchdowns while Kez Flomo pounded out 106 yards and a score.

Totino-Grace led 21-7 at halftime and coach Jeff Ferguson was encouraged to see his players "acting like they expected it" in the locker room.

But key fourth-down conversions and big runs by Will Rains brought Eden Prairie back. Rains' 57-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-3 cut the Totino-Grace lead to 21-14.

Facing fourth-and-16 in the fourth quarter, quarterback Grantham Gillard found Blake Cashman down the right sideline on an improvised play. The touchdown tied the score 21-21.

Eden Prairie went 5-for-5 on fourth-down conversions.

Tied 21-21, the teams' fortunes changed on a pair of big plays. Carson's open field tackle of Mezzenga turned Totino-Grace over on downs. Then Rains sprinted 75 yards for the go-ahead score. He finished with 26 carries for 230 yards and three touchdowns in what he called "the most emotional game" of his career.

"We are a four-quarter team," Rains said. "That's what we showed today."

But Totino-Grace, a program with nine state titles and a team that came back to win seven games this season, refused to yield. Quarterback Lance Benick scored to cut the lead to 28-27. When his two-point conversion pass was knocked loose, Eden Prairie clinched its 20th consecutive playoff victory.

"We just needed to make another play," Ferguson said. "But our kids battled … That's why Eden Prairie is the premier program in Minnesota and there's no close second."

Carson begged to differ.

"They hit us harder than any team we've played before," Carson said. "They played their hearts out, and they were the best team we played all year."