After a year of dwelling on failure, Wayzata celebrates 2005 success

The Star Tribune is celebrating 50 years of high school football state tournaments one day at a time for 50 days.

"They had a lot of heart. I think we had a little more." — Mahtomedi's Matt Symanietz, about his team's victory over Holy Angels

For 364 days, the Wayzata football players had been thinking about how their 2004 season ended. That year's Trojans played in the Prep Bowl for the first time in school history, and the sting of a 23-14 loss to Minnetonka stayed with them.

A new day — day No. 365 — had arrived, and that's when the pain of the past was finally washed away. Wayzata defeated Cretin-Derham Hall 28-24 in the Class 5A state championship game, replacing 2004's sour taste with the sweetness of a state title.

Senior running back Joey Miller rushed for 252 yards on 39 carries, the biggest when he rambled 49 yards on fourth-and-1 from midfield. Teammate Jimmy Sharpe scored on the next play to give Wayzata a 28-24 lead with 2 minutes, 20 seconds remaining.

"The monkey is off our back," Wayzata coach Brad Anderson said. "We had a lot of guys step up and make plays."

In two other finals:

In overtime with Mahtomedi trailing by six, Symanietz slipped through the line and blocked an extra-point attempt by Holy Angels. Three plays later, his Mahtomedi teammates were celebrating a 27-26 victory over the Stars in the Class 4A championship game.

"That was the toughest football game I've been in," Symanietz said.

In overtime, Holy Angels had the ball first and scored on a 1-yard run by Rob Tennyson. But Symanietz blocked the extra point that followed. Mahtomedi followed with a 5-yard touchdown pass from Matt Jeans to Sam Moen and Sean Barrett added the extra point to give the Zephyrs their first state championship.

"This team has so much character," said Jeans, who directed a 15-play, 99-yard drive before halftime. "The other team scored first in our last three games, too, and we've come back. That just shows you about the character we have on this team. We never quit."

"We made some plays at the end, and our defense came up big in the final three minutes," Dunn said. "Our defense has done the job all year."

State championship games

Class 5A: Wayzata 28, Cretin-Derham Hall 24

Class 4A: Mahtomedi 27, Holy Angels 26 (OT)

Class 3A: Becker 28, Albany 0

Class 2A: Eden Valley-Watkins 21, Caledonia 7

Class 1A: Springfield 21, Goodhue 16

Nine-Man: Stephen-Argyle 45, Cromwell 15