Minnetonka recaptures that winning feeling over Edina

More than a month had passed since Minnetonka had won a football game. So while Friday's 21-16 victory over host Edina — the team that started the Skippers' regular-season-ending three-game skid — wasn't a masterpiece, it was exactly what Minnetonka needed.

"Our guys played hard," coach Dave Nelson said. "It's nice to get out of here with a win."

Senior running back Jason Witherspoon, who was No. 3 on the depth chart at the start of the year, was the Skippers' featured back Friday in the Class 6A, Section 6 quarterfinal and came through when they needed him. He rushed 36 times for 166 yards, both career highs, and a touchdown.

Perhaps more important, Witherspoon kept the Skippers defense — which had struggled against the Edina offense in the first meeting, a 27-20 Hornets victory — off the field.

"We told him we were going to ride him tonight, and he stepped up," Nelson said.

Meanwhile, the Minnetonka defense made amends for its shortcomings in the first meeting. It held Edina's offense in check for most of the game and didn't give the Hornets a chance to establish any sort of offensive rhythm.

"It was important to us to step up and show what we can do," said Skippers linebacker Careino Gurley, who spent much of his night creating havoc in the Edina backfield. "We know we have to take the pressure off of our offense sometimes, so we did."

A second-quarter face mask penalty wiped out a fourth-down stop by the Minnetonka defense. A few plays later, Edina turned its second chance into points on a 6-yard touchdown pass from Troy Peterson to Joe Jenkins. The Hornets added a field goal just before halftime to cut the lead to 14-9.

A third-quarter Nick Rooney-to-Jack Bennett 4-yard touchdown pass bumped the lead to 21-9. The Skippers then looked to be salting the game away with an impressive 13-play, 71-yard drive that took more than seven minutes off the clock.

But Rooney made an ill-advised pass on third-and-goal from the Edina 4-yard line and Ted Goltzman intercepted it, returning it 102 yards for a touchdown and cutting the lead to 21-16.

"Hey, I gotta make it interesting, right?" said the irrepressible Rooney. "No, seriously, that was bad. I shouldn't have done that."

Edina had one last shot to win the game, but a pass by Peterson was intercepted by Minnetonka linebacker Jack Burns with less than two minutes left, clinching the victory.