The last time Eden Prairie’s D.J. Johnson scored a touchdown was one year ago, in the Class 6A quarterfinals, on the Chanhassen High School field.

Given similar circumstances Thursday, Johnson allowed himself to dream a little.

The senior running back/defensive back made the most influential play of the game, returning a fumble 97 yards for a first-quarter touchdown, sparking the Eagles to a 35-0 victory over Lakeville North.

“Going back to last year, the same thing happened. I brought one back the other way,” Johnson said. “Before the game I said this is my lucky field. I’m going to do it again.”

Eden Prairie (11-0) was leading 7-0 at the time, staked to an early lead when running back Solo Falaniko bounced off a pair of Lakeville North defenders and raced 50 yards for a touchdown on the Eagles’ fourth play from scrimmage.

After the two teams traded punts, Lakeville North mounted a drive that reached the Eden Prairie 3-yard line, setting up Johnson’s game-changing return.

Eden Prairie’s heart and soul, Antonio Montero, laid the hit that forced the fumble.

“I just put my head down and it popped out,” Montero said. “I ran over to the sidelines, screaming ‘That was me! That was me!’ ”

Instead of a tie game, Eden Prairie led 14-0 and Lakeville North’s momentum was ebbing. It completely drained away when the Panthers fumbled on their next possession, also in Eden Prairie territory.

“You can’t make those mistakes,” Lakeville North coach Brian Vossen said. “You have to tackle better, you have to take care of the football. We didn’t do either.”

Eden Prairie effectively salted the game away with a 1-yard touchdown run by Montero with 31.3 seconds left in the first half, for a 21-0 lead at halftime.

“We got a wake-up call against Champlin Park,” said Montero, referring to Eden Prairie’s 34-24 victory the previous week. “That got us recalibrated and hopefully back on track for a state championship.”

At the top of the list of things not to do when playing Eden Prairie is make mistakes. The Eagles are tough enough to beat without giving them a hand.

Lakeville North made mistakes Thursday. Eden Prairie took advantage.

Ball game.

The Eagles scored on a 50-yard run by Solo Falaniko less than two minutes into the game. Lakeville North had Falaniko bottled up at the line of scrimmage, but the 5-6 running pulled out of the grasp of Lakeville North defenders and outran them to the end zone for a 7-0 lead.

Mistake No. 1.

After the two teams traded punts, Lakeville North took its second possession and moved briskly to the Eden Prairie 3-yard line. A game-tying touchdown appeared imminent. But Raja Nelson fumbled and Eden Prairie’s D.J. Johnson picked up ball and ran 97 yards untouched for a touchdown. The fumble sapped Lakeville North momentum and staked Eden Prairie to a 14-0, first-quarter lead.

Mistake No. 2

The Panthers responded by moving into Eden Prairie territory the next time they had the ball, but Braden Walsh, in the game at quarterback, fumbled at the Eden Prairie 44.

Mistake No. 3

With 2:40 left in the half, Eden Prairie took over at its own 31 after a short punt and went 69 yards in seven plays, all on the ground. Antonio Montero scored from a yard out with 31.3 seconds left in the half, bumping the lead to 21-0 at halftime.

Eden Prairie spent the third quarter using the clock and avoiding the kinds of mistakes that doomed their opponent. The Eagles scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns as Lakeville North was forced to take chances while trying to mount come back that never came.

The Panthers turned the ball over two more times in the second half.
Falaniko finished with 25 carries for 212 yards and a touchdown. Montero added two short touchdown runs and five extras points.

Lakeville North finished the season 7-4. Eden Prairie improved to 11-0.