Reece Hunt scores game-winning touchdown as Lakeville North beats rival Lakeville South in final seconds of high school football showdown

Almost six years have passed since Lakeville North last defeated rival Lakeville South, the 2020 and 2021 Class 6A state champions.

North coach Brian Vossen put it in perspective. Rosters turn over. Starters change. And not every player feels the weight of that streak.

Except for Riley Grossman.

Grossman, North’s senior quarterback, remembers losing to South last year on a game-winning field goal. The year before, they were held scoreless.

“[We knew] we can’t get embarrassed again,” Grossman said. “And we sure didn’t get embarrassed.”

On Friday, the University of Minnesota Duluth commit strung together a two-minute, game-winning drive that ended with a 10-yard passing touchdown to senior Reece Hunt with 16.4 seconds remaining, giving North a 35-31 victory over South.

Grossman finished 15-of-21 for 247 yards with three touchdowns.

“Every coach on this staff, I bet if they could sign on a sheet of paper and have their son turn out to be like Riley Grossman, we’d do it in a second,” Vossen said.

North (3-0) found the edge in a back-and-forth second-half battle that saw six lead changes, with senior running back Sam Ripplinger scoring two rushing touchdowns.

Two passing touchdowns from Grossman to senior receiver Ayden Forsgren put the Panthers ahead 14-0 in the first quarter. South senior running back Bo Bokman returned a punt 96 yards to put the Cougars on the scoreboard in the second quarter. Quarterback Gaven Dean found receiver Coltin Smith in the end zone to tie the game at halftime.

Junior kicker Max Zagorski gave South its first lead of the game at 17-14 with a 22-yard field goal in the third quarter.

Dean finished with three passing touchdowns, including a 42-yard heave to Jonah Shine and a 30-yard toss to Connor Cade in the fourth quarter that gave South a 31-28 lead with just over two minutes remaining.

South (1-2) won last year’s meeting 24-21 on a game-winning field goal as time expired.

“There was a stretch when we won 10 in a row [against South],” Vossen said. “This last stretch, we lost five. In a hundred years, it’s going to be near 50 percent.”