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Two days ago in my preview of this game, I called Eden Prairie and Cretin-Derham Hall two of the heavyweights in Minnesota high school football. This championship game had every element of a prize fight, with one team trying to win the fight by landing big punches while the other tried to wear their opponent down. In the end, the team throwing the haymakers, Cretin-Derham Hall, landed enough big blows to defeat Eden Prairie 16-5 and win the Minnesota large school football championship.
Quarterback Mark Alt of Cretin-Derham Hall (12-1) was the man throwing those haymakers, delivering two monster touchdown passes after eluding Eden Prairie (12-1) pressure. He was also cool down the stretch, engineering an 11-play, 78 yard drive after Eden Prairie had closed to within eight. Alt, doing double-duty as the quarterback and the kicker, kicked the game-clinching field goal from 27 yards. The key play on that drive was a 43-yard completion on 3rd and 6 from Alt to Brooks Hitchcock with 5:12 to go, a play that not only moved the ball down the field but allowed the Raiders to continue to run precious time off the clock. For the night, Alt completed 10 of 19 passes for 216 yards and two touchdowns, only took one sack and threw no interceptions.
Eden Prairie moved the ball down the field after the Cretin field goal, but there just wasn’t enough time left for the Eagles to pull off the comeback. They got the football down inside the Raiders’ 5, but were stopped at the 1 yard line as time expired as the Raiders were able to hold the Eagles outside the end zone for the first time all season.
Alt’s biggest pass of the night came in the third quarter after his defense forced Eden Prairie to go three-and-out on the first drive of the second half. Facing 4th and 12 from the Eagles 29, Alt managed to step away from the Eden Prairie pressure, step up and find an open Clay Horne in the end zone for a 29-yard scoring strike. Alt then missed the extra point- about the only negative for him all game- and at that point, the score was 13-0, Cretin. Earlier that drive, Alt hooked up with Hitchcock for a 17-yard gain on 3rd and 12 to keep the drive going.
Eden Prairie returned the ensuing kickoff to their own 45 yard line and picked up a first down before having to punt it back to the Raiders. A good punt pinned Cretin-Derham Hall inside their own 5, and the Eagles defense continued to push the Raiders back toward their own goal line. On fourth down at the 2, the Raiders chose to take an intentional safety with 51 seconds left in the 3rd quarter rather than risk a blocked kick or give Eden Prairie great field position. The safety gave Eden Prairie their first two points of the game and made the score 13-2.
After the safety free kick, Eden Prairie went 41 yards in 5 minutes and 51 seconds, but had to settle for a 25-yard David Platner field goal to cut the Raiders’ lead to 13-5. On the drive, Eden Prairie twice converted 4th and 4 plays, both on complete passes by Brian Athey.
Eden Prairie dominated time of possession in the game, holding the football for over 30 minutes while Cretin had it less than 18, but numerous long possessions ended without the Eagles getting into the end zone. In addition to that 5:51 drive in the second half which resulted in a field goal, the Eagles had a 6:59 drive in the second quarter that resulted in no points. After being stopped on 4th and 2 from the Cretin-Derham Hall 40 their previous possession, the Eagles began a long, methodical march that began on their own 12 yard line with 7:38 remaining. They converted four third downs on the drive, but an offensive pass interference penalty at the Cretin-Derham Hall 20 on third down backed the Eagles up to the 35. The penalty also included a loss of down, forcing Eden Prairie to punt the ball away with 39 seconds left in the half.
The lone score of the first half came when Alt found Hitchcock for a 75-yard touchdown on the Raiders’ second possession. The play came on third down, when Alt scrambled to his right to avoid pressure from the Eagles and launched a perfect strike on the run to Hitchcock, who hauled it in at the Eden Prairie 30 and was able to jog in to the end zone. Alt then added the extra point, making the score 7-0 in favor of the Raiders.
GAME NOTES: Brooks Hitchcock ended his night with five catches for 152 yards, including that 75-yard touchdown in the first quarter…Eden Prairie outrushed Cretin 176-41, but Cretin had the edge in total yardage 257-248…2009 AL MVP Joe Mauer is an alumnus of Cretin-Derham Hall, leading the Raiders to a state championship in 1999 and a title game appearance in 2000…the two schools have combined for 26 section championships in the last 14 years…Eden Prairie and Cretin-Derham Hall had met in the finals twice before, with the Eagles winning both previous matchups in 2000 and 2007…Eden Prairie, a suburb west of Minneapolis, is home to the Minnesota Vikings’ practice facility…Cretin-Derham Hall is located in St. Paul.
The 2009 Prep Bowl results:
Class 5A: Cretin-Derham Hall 16, Eden Prairie 5
Class 4A: Totino-Grace 45, Sartell-St. Stephen 7
Class 3A: New London-Spicer 28, Glencoe-Sliver Lake 21
Class 2A: Waterville-Elysian-Morristown 33, Moose Lake-Willow River 22
Class A: Minneota 42, Adrian 21
9-Man: Stephen-Argyle 37, Nicollet 22
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