Eden Prairie wins 6A title at Prep Bowl, 38-17 over Minnetonka

To defeat Eden Prairie, it's really just a matter of removing the rock. Which no one has been able to do all year.

As they have done to so many teams in the past, the Eagles wore down Minnetonka in a 38-17 victory for the Class 6A championship Friday at U.S. Bank Stadium. It's the 11th state title for the Eagles under coach Mike Grant.

"What we like to talk about is that we want to be a rock that we put on somebody's back on the first play," Grant said. "Eventually, if we keep that rock on them, they're just going to wear down."

The formula has worked for Eden Prairie (13-0) for years, and it proved successful again. The Eagles placed a very large rock on the Skippers' back in the first half, taking a 21-3 lead.

Minnetonka battled back, cutting the lead to 24-17 on a 40-yard Hail Mary touchdown throw from quarterback Aaron Syverson to Jackson Owens on the final play of the second quarter. The Skippers took buoyancy into halftime and created a palpable buzz in the stadium.

"I was hoping that, going into the half, we had the momentum," Minnetonka coach Dave Nelson said.

Syverson, Minnetonka's strong-armed junior quarterback, had moved the Skippers through the air consistently in the first half. He was 12-for-16 for 199 yards and two scores before halftime and felt that the second half would be more of the same.

The rock became too much for Minnetonka to bear.

Eden Prairie knocked the Skippers backward on their first possession of the second half, forcing them into a fourth-and-39 from their own 3. A short punt led to a 13-yard touchdown run by D.J. Johnson, bumping the Eden Prairie lead to 31-17.

The next time Eden Prairie had the ball, the Eagles went 70 yards in 13 plays, taking 5:36 off the clock. When Antonio Montero scored his third 1-yard touchdown run of the game, the lead was 38-17. Minnetonka's back was broken.

Montero, Eden Prairie's emotional leader, said Minnetonka's momentum-grabbing touchdown at the end of the first half didn't worry the Eagles as much as it motivated them.

"It lit a fire, a pretty big one," he said. "We're a second-half team, too. Coming out after that tough break in the first [half], we were just going to keep pounding them."

"This has been a great, great season," Grant said. "This group, from the first week, we thought we had a chance because they're just great, great kids."