The Star Tribune is celebrating 50 years of high school football state tournaments one day at a time for 50 days.
Year: 1996
"I'm more exhausted than relaxed right now." — Eden Prairie coach Mike Grant, after his team won Class AA by stopping a two-point conversion attempt
Eden Prairie junior Kevin Carney was growing tired of being victimized by Blaine quarterback Jesse Albrecht.
Blaine had marched 60 yards in 42 seconds, capped by Albrecht's 9-yard touchdown pass to Marvin Spencer, to pull within a point with 55 seconds remaining in the Class AA championship. Blaine coach Dave Nelson didn't waste any time deciding to go for the two-point conversion and the win.
"It was the right thing to do," Nelson said. "When you have a chance to beat a great team like Eden Prairie from the 3-yard line, you take it. In that situation I figure you have a one in three chance to win it, and this was as good as any. I don't second-guess it at all. ... We had three options. It just didn't work."
Albrecht zeroed in on tight end Jason Sievert over the middle. Carney arrived just in time, slapping the ball from Sievert's hands to preserve the Eagles' first state title, 23-22.
"The tight end started coming over the middle, and I saw the quarterback look at him," Carney said. "That's when I forgot everything else and leaped in there.
"Their quarterback kept throwing strike after strike. That Bereket Kiros [six catches for 106 yards] is a great receiver, and he was just eating me up all night. He beat me on that long pass to get them down there in the first place."
