The Star Tribune is celebrating 50 years of high school football state tournaments one day at a time for 50 days.
When Blaine went for it and missed in 1996, an Eden Prairie trend began
50 years in the making: Stopping a two-point conversion started a run of dominance for the Eagles.
November 8, 2022 at 5:53AM
Year: 1996
"I'm more exhausted than relaxed right now." — Eden Prairie coach Mike Grant, after his team won Class AA by stopping a two-point conversion attempt
Eden Prairie junior Kevin Carney was growing tired of being victimized by Blaine quarterback Jesse Albrecht.
Blaine had marched 60 yards in 42 seconds, capped by Albrecht's 9-yard touchdown pass to Marvin Spencer, to pull within a point with 55 seconds remaining in the Class AA championship. Blaine coach Dave Nelson didn't waste any time deciding to go for the two-point conversion and the win.
"It was the right thing to do," Nelson said. "When you have a chance to beat a great team like Eden Prairie from the 3-yard line, you take it. In that situation I figure you have a one in three chance to win it, and this was as good as any. I don't second-guess it at all. ... We had three options. It just didn't work."
Albrecht zeroed in on tight end Jason Sievert over the middle. Carney arrived just in time, slapping the ball from Sievert's hands to preserve the Eagles' first state title, 23-22.
"The tight end started coming over the middle, and I saw the quarterback look at him," Carney said. "That's when I forgot everything else and leaped in there.
"Their quarterback kept throwing strike after strike. That Bereket Kiros [six catches for 106 yards] is a great receiver, and he was just eating me up all night. He beat me on that long pass to get them down there in the first place."
Three touchdowns and two lead changes in the final three minutes kept emotions vacillating. Eden Prairie took a 23-16 lead with 1:37 left on Ricky Fritz's 25-yard pass to wide receiver Ryan Iversen, who made the catch in the left corner of the end zone and got one foot inbounds.
Two other team won their first state titles in 1996:
- In Class A, Mora pulled off its third consecutive upset, beating No. 4 Northfield 7-3 in a defensive battle. Travis Lagasse scored the lone touchdown in the second quarter.
"Those were two great defensive teams," said Mora coach Clark Bergloff, whose team earlier in the playoffs beat No. 2 Albany and No. 1 Detroit Lakes.
- In Class B, Breck held Windom Area to 2 yards rushing and intercepted six passes en route to a 24-7 victory. Junior Jon Simmons ran for 135 yards,
"This is great for Breck football," Mustangs quarterback Gavin Hoffman said. "No one has ever given us any respect for our football team, and to go out and win the state championship is wonderful."
State championship games
Class AA: Eden Prairie 23, Blaine 22
Class A: Mora 7, Northfield 3
Class B: Breck 24, Windom Area 7
Class C: Chatfield 12, Hawley 7
Nine-Man: Cromwell 46, Verndale 44
Six players plus head coach Garrett Raboin and assistant coach Ben Gordon are from Minnesota. The tournament’s games will be televised starting Monday.
