Andover 17, Anoka 13

There was neither panic nor gloom on the Andover sideline Friday when Anoka -- the No. 1 seed and two-time defending Class 5A, Section 7 champion -- took its first lead of this year's section title game with six minutes remaining. Not that there couldn't have been.

"We could have had the feeling of 'Here we go,'" said Andover coach Rich Wilkie. "We'd held them off for as long as we could. But that's not the way these kids think."

Clearly not. Andover, 5-3 during the regular season, calmly marched 80 yards in the final 3:31, securing a 17-13 victory on Wes Satzinger's 11-yard scoring pass to tight end Ben Graham with 26 seconds remaining.

"We just refuse to lose," Satzinger said. "That's the way we've played all year."

Andover becomes the Cinderella entry of the Class 5A state field, one of the smallest 5A schools making its first tournament appearance in only its sixth year of existence with a modest 56-player roster.

Oh, yes, the Huskies' state quarterfinal foe: No. 1-ranked and defending 5A champion Eden Prairie, with its legions of players.

"We're going to let the kids soak this one in first, before we start thinking about our next game," Wilkie said.

Anoka had taken its first lead, 13-10, on a 4-yard run by Kaleb Pierson with 6:11 to play in the fourth quarter.

Before that, whatever could go wrong generally did for Anoka. The Tornadoes were stopped on a fourth down just inside midfield on the game's opening drive, lost a possession after an Andover kickoff hit an Anoka lineman in the back and had another drive end on a fumble near midfield. And that was just in the first half.

A pair of third-quarter Anoka scoring chances ended on interceptions by Andover's Ryan Dietz and Casey VanKrevelen.

And yet, without the Satzinger-led 80-yard drive, there would be no showdown with Eden Prairie awaiting.

"We're one of the 10 smallest schools in Class 5A, but I always tell my kids that being small is just an excuse to work harder," Wilkie said.

Dennis Brackin • dbrackin@startribune.com