Eden Prairie's 35-14 victory Wednesday night at previously undefeated Stillwater left no doubt about the Eagles' abilities when they are at their best. But how will Class 6A coaches evaluate Eden Prairie's overall body of work when casting their votes for seeding purposes?
Eden Prairie wields a strong running game to topple Stillwater
The Eagles got four touchdowns from running back Tyler Walden in handing the Ponies their first loss.
October 20, 2022 at 3:48AM
The 32-team big-school bracket gets released Friday morning. The Eagles will be judged on a 6-2 record featuring victories against defending Prep Bowl champion Lakeville South, plus Prior Lake and Stillwater. Their losses came against a pair of top-10 teams in Rosemount and Shakopee.
Stillwater coach Beau LaBore believes his team clinched one of the four No. 1 seeds even before kickoff against Eden Prairie. After his team's domination of the Ponies, Eagles coach Mike Grant feels his team also earned a top seed.
"We're going to argue for it," Grant said. "If we are, we are. But I think we did enough tonight."
All No. 4 Eden Prairie did was neutralize one of the state's best quarterbacks in Stillwater's Max Shikenjanski. First by playing staunch defense. And then by the offense playing keepaway.
Cade Hutchinson intercepted a Shikenjanski pass on the Ponies' opening drive. Taking over at the Stillwater 45-yard line, Eden Prairie's offense produced a 7-0 advantage on the first of running back Tyler Walden's four touchdown runs and the PAT.
No. 3 Stillwater (7-1) ended its next two possessions with punts as the Eagles defense clamped down. Then Eden Prairie's offense doubled the lead as Walden crossed the goal line again.
"We knew how good this team was and we knew what we had to do to get the win," Walden said. "It's great when our defense gets us the ball back. And they trust us to get in the end zone."
After limping around in the second quarter, Eden Prairie starting quarterback Nick Fazi was replaced by junior David Ivey after halftime. The backup led an 11-play touchdown drive to open the third quarter and the Eagles took a convincing 21-7 lead.
"The thing that was frustrating for us tonight and for a lot of teams over the years when they played Eden Prairie is you know what's coming," LaBore said, "and you're having a difficult time doing anything about it."
Six players plus head coach Garrett Raboin and assistant coach Ben Gordon are from Minnesota. The tournament’s games will be televised starting Monday.
