The Star Tribune is celebrating 50 years of high school football state tournaments one day at a time for 50 days.
Two tips and a flip will always be what's remembered about 2007
50 years in the making: Totino-Grace's Micah Koehn scored a dramatic, head-over-heels touchdown.
October 28, 2022 at 4:29AM
Year: 2007
"What a great way to end a high school career." — quarterback Jordan Marshall on Totino-Grace's victory
A dramatic turn of events left two teams stunned, one by victory, the other by defeat.
A twice-tipped desperation pass on the final play of the game wound up in the hands of Totino-Grace wide receiver Micah Koehn for a 50-yard touchdown and a 13-8 victory over Mahtomedi in the Class 4A championship. It's one of the most memorable plays in Prep Bowl history.
Winners and losers alike looked up at the scoreboard replay following the postgame handshake, aware of what had just happened but not exactly sure how. Totino-Grace fullback Pierce Lubinski gave it a name: the New Immaculate Reception. Mahtomedi coach Dave Muetzel said: "That's the game of football.''
Jordan Marshall's pass tipped off the hands of Mahtomedi defender Nick Cedergren, off the hands of intended receiver Jake King and into the hands of Koehn. Koehn broke one tackle and tiptoed down the right sideline, Koehn then flipped into the end zone, where he was mobbed by teammates.
"Jake wasn't open, but with only 10 seconds to go I had to let a prayer go,'' Marshall said. "Micah wasn't even supposed to be there, he was supposed to be clearing out.''
Koehn, who also scored the Eagles' first touchdown on a 2-yard run, said he wasn't sure why he didn't do what he was supposed to do.
"I just stayed there with Jake, figuring the ball might get tipped up in the air,'' Koehn said. "It was just luck. I'm going to remember this forever.''
Mahtomedi used a 15-yard touchdown pass from Vaughn Schmid to Matt Groff and a two-point conversion pass with the same combination to take an 8-7 lead with 52 seconds left.
"With 50 seconds left, I just told the guys we weren't losing this game," Marshall said. "What a great way to end a high school career."
In three other finals:
- Eden Prairie, prominent nationally in 2007, made it 6-for-6 in title games under Mike Grant with a 50-21 victory over Cretin-Derham Hall in Class 6A.
- Glencoe-Silver Lake quarterback Matt Muenchow threw for four touchdowns and ran for another score while engineering 506 yards of offense in a 56-20 victory over DeLaSalle in Class 3A.
- Stephen-Argyle made it five titles and 67 victories in a row with a 43-21 triumph over Waubun in Nine-Man.
"There's a lot of people who don't even get to be a part of one championship team," Stephen-Argyle senior lineman Kolby Gruhot said. "Four was really amazing, you could say. But my senior year? This is a special one."
State championship games
Class 5A: Eden Prairie 50, Cretin-Derham Hall 21
Class 4A: Totino-Grace 13, Mahtomedi 8
Class 3A: Glencoe-Silver Lake 56, DeLaSalle 20
Class 2A: Caledonia 14, Luverne 7
Class 1A: Goodhue 28, Adrian 7
Nine-Man: Stephen-Argyle 43, Waubun 21
Six players plus head coach Garrett Raboin and assistant coach Ben Gordon are from Minnesota. The tournament’s games will be televised starting Monday.
