Chazz Johnson scored three touchdowns Friday night, but Holy Family's four interceptions made the difference in a 27-23 victory over Hill-Murray in a Class 4A football state quarterfinal at Macalester College.
"Our defense really won this game today by great turnovers," Holy Family coach Dave Hopkins said. "We did a good job by not turning the ball over ourselves. Typical cliché, but turnovers won the football game."
Rob LaRose's fourth-quarter interception return into the red zone set up the tiebreaking touchdown for the Fire (9-3), a 4-yard score by Connor Byrnes to put Holy Family up 27-20.
That came after Hill-Murray rallied from a 13-point deficit to tie the score early in the third quarter on Dusty Krueger's 4-yard touchdown run.
After missing last week's section final because of a knee injury, Zach LaValle started the game at quarterback for the Pioneers (8-3) but ran into a feisty defense. The Fire capitalized on two first-half interceptions. Johnson dug for a 6-yard rushing touchdown and then caught a 4-yard halfback pass from LaRose for an early 13-0 lead.
"It was a team game," said Johnson, who added two sacks of his own on the defensive end.
Three big plays completed the first half.
Senior receiver Michael Alada took a direct snap 62 yards for a touchdown, but Johnson responded with his third touchdown of the half, busting a 64-yard run. LaValle followed that with a 53-yard touchdown pass to Alada to make it 20-13 Fire at halftime.
