Totino-Grace coach Jeff Ferguson was worried, and with good reason.

His Eagles are the defending Class 6A champions, but that was last year. This year’s team is as raw as any he’s ever coached.

“We’re more inexperienced than I can ever remember in my career,” he said. “We’re starting five sophomores. On defense.”

Totino-Grace’s young Eagles — Eaglets? — spent the first half figuring things out, then played the second half like the Totino-Grace teams of the past, rallying past Cretin-Derham Hall for a 13-12 season-opening victory.

Cretin-Derham Hall owned the first half, running 42 offensive plays to Totino-Grace’s 12, outgaining the Eagles 161-50 and taking a 10-0 lead. What’s more, the Raiders scored a touchdown 11 seconds before halftime, the kind of thing that can drain an opponent of confidence.

“That was a killer,” Ferguson said.

Instead, the Eagles came out in the second half and played much more like their usual selves. They shut down Cretin-Derham Hall’s running game, which had been moving with consistency, and started to generate a little offense of their own.

Sam Hanson put Totino-Grace on the scoreboard with a 32-yard burst up the middle early in the fourth quarter, cutting the lead to 10-6.

The Eagles’ defense did its part on the next possession, forcing Cretin-Derham Hall to punt from its own end zone.

Totino-Grace proceeded to go 40 yards in five plays, benefiting from a 15-yard unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty and a 13-yard pass from quarterback Peyton Schuler to Nate Schutz to the Raiders 4-yard line. Kameron White scored from a yard out three plays later to cap the comeback and give the Eagles the lead for good.

Totino-Grace took a deliberate safety on the game’s last play for the final score.

“With a young team like ours, we knew we had to keep grinding,” said Hanson, a senior running back. “We knew we had to keep fighting and play TG football.”

“I was curious how this team would come out,” Ferguson said. “These guys were super nervous. I’m thrilled for them. This was a good test against a great team.”

Sometimes, it’s good to be the champs.

Defending Class 6A champion Totino-Grace survived a first half that could generously be called rough, didn’t panic and scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to rally past Cretin-Derham Hall 13-10.

The game Thursday at the University of St. Thomas was the first-ever matchup between to the two Catholic school powers,

Totino-Grace went into the game with huge holes to fill on both sides of the ball, most notably in the backfield, and spent the first half working out the kinks.

The Eagles, trailing 10-0, finally got things going in the fourth quarter. Sam Hanson scored on a 32-yard burst up the middle to cut the lead to 10-6. The Eagles then pushed Cretin-Derham Hall back to the shadow of its own end zone before forcing a sort punt.

Totino-Grace took full advantage of the wonderful field position, going 40 yards in five plays – buoyed by an unsportsmanlike conduct call on Cretin-Derham Hall – and took the lead on a one-yard dive by Kameron White.

Cretin-Derham Hall moved into Totino-Grace territory on its next possession but turned the ball over on downs at the Eagles' 22.  Totino-Grace took a deliberate safety on the game’s final play for the game’s final score.

Cretin-Derham Hall dominated the first half. The Raiders took the opening kickoff and went 67 yards in 17 plays, running nearly six minutes off the clock before the drive stalled at the Totino-Grace 8-yard line. Louis Rottjakob kicked a 25-yard field goal to give Cretin-Derham Hall a 3-0 lead.

Neither team mounted a serious threat for much of the rest of the first half, but the Raiders continued to dominate the line of scrimmage. Totino-Grace managed just 50 yards of total offense before halftime – half of that on a single pass play – and suffered the added indignity of having two potential turnovers waved off.

Despite a clear advantage on the field, Cretin-Derham’s lead remained just three points until the final minute of the half. Totino-Grace, which had just forced Cretin to turn the ball over on downs deep in its own end of the field, fumbled with 20 seconds left before halftime. The Raiders turned the gift into points two plays later on a 23-yard fade from QB Danny Callahan to 6-foot-4 receiver Peter Udoibok in the corner of the end zone.