Explosive Second Half Wins Minnesota for Minnetonka
Explosive Second Half Wins Minnesota for Minnetonka
A second-half surge saw Minnetonka win the Minnesota Boys D1 HS championship Saturday, as they defeated the Albert Lea Freeborn Eagles to take the title.
This result was by no means obvious early on. Albert Lea was the stronger side in the first part of the first half. Some imprecise passing from Minnetonka led to an Albert Lea lead inside of two minutes. The Eagles snagged the turnover, worked it through the hands, before flyhalf Dylan Groess tapped and helped set up prop Evan Schroeder to break though, powering over the final tackler to score and make it 5-0.
Albert Lea built on that, punishing a couple of Minnetonka penalties to set up a maul inside the Minnetonka 22. From there No. 8 Esteban Mixteco picked up and thundered through for the try and a 10-0 lead.
Albert Lea responded with some better continuity. A quick tap from center Jerry Mbonde got them close and flanker Felix Schneider finished it off.
The Freeborn Eagles responded with a good run from Will Bielefeld, and after a penalty by Minnetonka, they powered over. Dylan Groess converted to make it 17-5. At this point Minnetonka was not looking good. They were not able to run phases well and the connections weren't quite there. But they started to fix it. By keeping the ball alive and working just short passes they began to cause the Eagles some problems.
With their defense stretched, Albert Lea infringed, Minnetonka kept coming, and finally a series of nicely-taken offloads put wing Ryker Magnuson down the sideline to score in the corner.
Minnetonka looked to keep that momentum, but Freeborn’s Bielefeld at center raced in to intercept a pass and run in from 30 meters. Groess slotted the extras and Freeborn Eagles had a 24-10 lead. For many teams, that might be the death knell, but Minnetonka didn't fold. They almost put Magnuson through for his second, but while he was stopped, a quick tap on a penalty saw Mbonde sidestep and go over.
Flyhalf Antonio Castillo slotted the difficult kick, and with halftime around the corner it was a one-score game at 24-17.
The second half saw Minnetonka keep up the positive play. Some iffy defense from Albert Lea allowed prop Noah Ralph to charge through from long-range. Castillo’s conversion tied it up 24-24. The rain started to come down at this point, but we wouldn’t see any letup in tries scored.
Freeborn got down close to the line thanks to an impressive run from Mixteco at No. 8. He was tackled before the tryline by fullback Cy Johnson. But Johnson’s tackle was penalized for being high, and he also got a yellow card, too.
From there Albert Lea sent prop Will Velasquez closer and after that flanker Evan Flores, with some shoving from hooker Ledger Studier, powered over. Freeborn Eagles had the lead again at 29-24.
With 20 minutes to go Minnetonka worked their way into the opposing 22. The Eagles managed to get the ball back but were penalized for not releasing (really for getting back up when they’d been tackled). Freeborn Eagles were slow to get back and Mbonde tapped and was through untouched. The kick was good and Minnetonka led 31-29.
The rain was pelting down at this point but both teams still looked to play some adventurous rugby. Minnetonka was a little more successful, and when the rain let up, they were pressing against the Albert Lea line. Freeborn Eagles got a goalline dropout but were unable to clear; instead the drop kick went straight to Magnuson, who beat two players to go over for his second try.
And then Minnetonka did to Albert Lea what had been done to them. Some slow passing was easily read and center Thomas Poston was able to snag the ball and run about 60 meters to paydirt. With the kick from Castillo what had been a nailbiter was now 45-29.
With time winding down Minnetonka sent the ball through the hands. Magnuson was moved over to the left side and he sliced through and fought his way down to score his third.
Now it was 50-29. The Eagles responded. Flyhalf Groess scored on a quick tap, and he converted, but there was too much to do.
Albert Lea kept fighting, and in fact got the ball over the tryline one more time—but the ball was held up, and that was the game. Final score Minnetonka 50 Freeborn Eagles 36.
For Minnestonka, that yellow card seemed to energize them and they exploded for three crucial tries in short order. Magnuson was a very good finisher in traffic, while Mbonde and Poston worked well together. The hard work in tight of the likes of Gavin Nelson at hooker and Felix Schneider at flanker showed, as well, while Ralph's power and athleticism at tighthead prop was outstanding.
This is Minnetonka's 3rd State Championship since the team was founded by Rob Clarno in 1999. This current coaching group of Josh Johnson, Isaac Lundy, Christian Harden, and Juan Pablo Salcedo have, for the first time, won twice in a row.
