To grow a football tradition, just add water

Edina football coach Kim Nelson, already soaked from standing on the sideline in the rain, was celebrating with his jubilant players Wednesday night moments after they defeated Wayzata 10-7. As Nelson offered high-volume congratulatory remarks, he was struck by the second round of precipitation.

After being dumped with the traditional bucket of water, the coach hollered, "I'm not even cold!" And the Hornets responded with a thunderous cheer.

There was plenty cheer about, too. Fourth-ranked Edina closed out a perfect regular season, won its first Classic Lake Conference championship since 2002 and handed No. 3 Wayzata its first loss.

On a night when rain and defenses dominated in Edina, the Hornets made enough plays to win a contest that was scoreless for the last 2½ quarters.

Wayzata ended all of its second-half possessions with punts. Edina punted four times in the final two quarters, came up short on one fourth-down play and threw an interception.

"Our defense won the game by themselves," Nelson said. "There's no doubt about it. We couldn't get anything going in the second half on offense. Obviously that's a credit to Wayzata. We knew their defense was really good and they proved it."

The Trojans (7-1) scored in the first quarter, when a 30-yard run by Jauhem Byrd set up a 1-yard score by Taylor Boegel. Edina scored its points in the second quarter on a 26-yard field goal by John Eppel and a 2-yard pass from Anders Lee to Jason Schaefer.

Edina (8-0) stayed alive for the field goal when Wayzata was called for roughing the passer on third-and-long, putting the ball at the 7. And the touchdown pass was set up by one of four interceptions in the game, two by each team.

In the second half, all Wayzata coach Brad Anderson wanted was one good scoring opportunity.

"I kind of thought, 'Hey, they're not going to put much more on our D. Let's play for maybe one score and try to squeeze them back into their end and play field position.' I thought we were able to do it for the most part, but we couldn't break the play that would give us the touchdown."

Lee was sacked seven times by the blitzing Trojans and neither team was able to run the ball consistently. That's probably no surprise, considering that Wayzata had posted four shutouts in seven games, including the previous three. And nobody has scored more than seven points against Edina since the second week of the season.

Wednesday's result means more than the league title. The mid-October focus is always on the section playoffs, which begin next week. And Wayzata had more to lose.

Had they won, the Trojans would be the No. 1 seed in Section 5. Osseo now will be No. 1, which is worth a first-round bye in the seven-team section and home field through the section playoffs.

Edina faced a different, less-pressured scenario. The Hornets are one of eight teams in Section 6, which is led by top-ranked Eden Prairie. So win or lose, Edina was a lock to be the No. 2 seed.

Wednesday's result means something else, too: Edina might be a team to watch. The Hornets have been to state just once (in 1981; Edina West also won the large-school title in 1978), long before any of the current players were born. But it's a new day in Edina.

"I'm just so proud of our guys," Nelson said. "Our defensive effort tonight was unbelievable. If we can get that every night, who knows?"

John Millea • jmillea@startribune.com