In the midst of a scoreless first half — something Eden Prairie’s Class 6A, No. 1-ranked football team hadn’t experienced this season — the Eagles fell back on a foundation built on two decades of state championship team experiences.

“Once you don’t have the lead, you go into the grind-it mode,” Grant said. “Just grind it and wear ’em and, you know, eventually …”

Grant didn’t finish the sentence, but he didn’t need to. No team is more synonymous with wearing down opponents than Eden Prairie, which did exactly that in a 28-7 victory over Maple Grove.

Eden Prairie’s offense started sluggishly, with three-and-outs on its first two possessions, largely due to a fired-up Maple Grove defense. The Eagles’ defense matched their hosts stop-for-stop, keeping the game scoreless until the offense found its road-grader groove midway through the second quarter. They went 75 yards in eight plays, capped by a 25-yard bootleg scoring run by quarterback Cole Kramer.

“Maple Grove came to play,” said Antonio Montero, Eden Prairie’s linebacker/running back/kicker/do-everything backbone. “They were playing aggressive, pounding us a little bit. Our offense, we just had to find our groove, wear them down.”

Leading 7-0, Eden Prairie (5-0) got the ball to start the second half and did what it’s done to opponents so often over the years. The Eagles went 73 yards in 18 plays, taking nearly seven minutes on the drive. They took a 14-0 lead on a pretty play-fake by Kramer, who found a wide-open Davis Jaeger in the end zone.

Maple Grove coach Matt Lombardi knew that having a chance to defeat Eden Prairie meant playing error-free football. The Crimson played tough but they weren’t perfect. When they made mistakes, Eden Prairie made them pay.

Twice in the second half, Eden Prairie turned Maple Grove turnovers into quick touchdowns. Grant Harstad went 48 yards for a score one play after a Maple Grove fumble. And Solo Falaniko ran 70 yards to the Maple Grove 4-yard line moments after an Eden Prairie interception deep in its own territory. Montero scored two plays later.

“You can’t play 93 percent of a football game and beat them,” Lombardi said. “I felt the whole game like we had a chance to win it, but they capitalize on mistakes better than anyone. That’s what they do.”

Eden Prairie started slowly but found its groove midway through the second quarter, methodically turning a close game into a comfortable 28-7 victory over Maple Grove.

The Eagles, No. 1-ranked in Class 6A, didn’t get a first down until early in the second quarter. They then took a 7-0 lead into halftime thanks to a 25-yard bootleg run by quarterback Cole Kramer.

Eden Prairie did what Eden Prairie does on the first drive of the second half, going 73 yards in 18 plays, taking 6:54 off the clock and bumping its lead to 14-0 on a nine-yard pass from Kramer to Davis Jaeger. Grant Harstad added a 48-yard scoring run for a 21-0 lead before Maple Grove scored to cut the deficit to 21-7 midway through the fourth quarter.

Eden Prairie (5-0) salted away the game on its ensuing drive on a five-yard run by Antonio Montero.

Check back later for more on the game.