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Class 6A Prep Bowl: Maple Grove downs Rosemount for first-ever state title

jace frederick, pioneer press
·4 min read

A year after falling on the doorstep of the program’s first state title, Maple Grove kicked the door down Friday at U.S. Bank Stadium.

The Crimson solved the riddle that has been Rosemount’s suffocating defense, making plays through the air in a controlling 27-10 victory over the Irish in downtown Minneapolis to win the Class 6A state title.

Last year, Maple Grove had its heart ripped out by a late fourth-quarter touchdown run surrendered in a championship game loss to Lakeville South. For years, Maple Grove has been an elite program under the guidance of Matt Lombardi but has come up just short of reaching the ultimate height. The same has been true for many Maple Grove teams across the athletic department.

A certain legend of a “curse” had developed at the school.

Not Friday.

“I think we overcame (that) here,” Lombardi said. “I’m really proud of them, and I’m hoping this gets the school rolling a little bit.”

After Rosemount claimed an early advantage via a field goal, Maple Grove quarterback Jacob Kilzer settled in and took over. Kilzer hit Jacob Anderson for a 45-yard scoring strike to put the Crimson in front, and they never really looked back.

Kilzer is one of the state’s top quarterbacks, possessing the ability to beat defenses with his arm or legs. The latter was necessary to finally get the better of a Rosemount defense that had successfully out-muscled seemingly every other top contender all season. Lakeville South and Eden Prairie were among teams that couldn’t quite match Rosemount in the trenches.

But Maple Grove compromised the Irish secondary time and again with its spread offense.

“We practiced all the stuff on film that we thought would work,” Kilzer said. “We executed it well today and it really worked out for us.”

A number of big plays through the air eventually opened things up for the Crimson’s running game. Tanner Albeck scored from a yard out to move Maple Grove’s advantage to 14-3 before Kilzer rushed in for an 8-yard touchdown to make it 21-3.

It was all part of a stretch of three Crimson touchdowns scored in a span of 1 minute, 25 seconds — a sequence aided by a pair of Rosemount fumbles.

“We felt at halftime that we’d given them 14 points,” Rosemount coach Jeff Erdmann said. “It was a tough hole to dig out of, and we weren’t able to.”

Rosemount pushed back, scoring at the end of the first half om a beautifully-designed fourth-down play in which Landon Danner hit a wide-open Kyson Leenderts for a 7-yard strike to pull the Irish (12-1) within striking distance heading into the final 24 minutes of play. Maple Grove then botched a snap on a field goal attempt on the opening drive of the third quarter, cracking the door open a bit further for the Irish.

But Maple Grove’s defense responded with a stop, and the Crimson essentially put the game away for good in the fourth quarter with a nine play, 65-yard drive that took 7 minutes, 5 seconds off the clock and ended with a 1-yard run by Kilzer to stretch the advantage back to three scores.

Erdmann noted that Friday’s loss did sting, and would for some time. But it did nothing to diminish the achievements of this year’s Irish. Rosemount won its first 12 games against an unfathomably grueling schedule, all the while setting a new physical tone for the program to live by.

“The reflection on what this group has accomplished, we as a coaching staff, we’re very optimistic that the legacy they’re going to leave is hopefully something we’re going to be able to reproduce in future classes with the discipline and that unselfishness that these guys have demonstrated,” Erdmann said. “It’s been a blast coaching them.”

Kilzer finished with 124 yards passing and a score through the air with an additional two rushing touchdowns. That all while playing through a shoulder injury Lombardi revealed after the game. Kilzer’s effort epitomized a Maple Grove team on which seemingly everyone was playing through something or sacrificing for the betterment of the team.

It’s those type of efforts that win championships, and maybe even shed curses.

“When it comes down to it, it’s whoever lays their heart on the line and whoever plays the hardest that night,” Albeck said. “We did that tonight. The curse is broke — if there is a curse, if there ever was one. But it’s just the start of a legacy and many more to come for Coach Lombo and future generations to come for Crimson football.”

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