As the seconds on the clock ticked down, Eden Prairie squeezed in one more touchdown, with quarterback Grant Shaeffer lofting a beautiful 22-yard touchdown pass to Zach Hoey with 55 seconds remaining. The play made a dominant game a sure blowout and put the Eagles up by 35.

And that ended the first quarter.

Eden Prairie already had enjoyed a dominant start to the season, but Friday the Eagles took that command to another level. Playing against one of their strongest opponents to date, the Eagles established their authority nonetheless, getting on top of Hopkins early and barely letting the Royals breathe through the entire game. The final was 56-7, but it was really over after 12 minutes.

Coming in, that final score would not have seemed likely.
“On film, they had looked really good, so we were really worried about this game,” Eden Prairie coach Mike Grant said. “But I think our kids were well-prepared for what they were going to do.”

That would be an understatement.

Star running back Andrew Larson had 12 carries for 172 yards scored four touchdowns and set the tone of the game, rolling through defenders like a moving brick wall.

The Royals were not able to keep the ball for more than four consecutive plays until their sixth possession, when they made it to the 4-yard line but turned the ball over on downs, already down by 35 at that point. In Hopkins’ first four possessions, it went three-and-out twice, then quarterback Andy Wicklund, on the first play of a series, threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown.

“Our defense was playing lockdown. They shut down one of the top players in the state tonight,” said Larson, referring to Andre McDonald, who with six catches for 171 yards and one touchdown wasn’t exactly shut down, but his efforts were rendered all but meaningless.

Meanwhile, the Eagles notched a touchdown on each of their first six possessions, combining to use just 13 total plays for their first four scores.

At halftime, the score was 49-0, with the final touchdown of the half coming on an accidental onside kick that was recovered by the Eagles’ Ryan Gunderson and turned into a 41-yard touchdown by Larson one play later.

“Our backs were running hard, and they were going to have to do something,” Grant said. “It’s like any chess match.
They didn’t quite find the magic formula to stop us tonight.”

Nick Davidson didn’t know much about the school he would be going to when his family relocated from Charlotte, N.C. to Minnesota, for his father’s job as offensive line coach for the Vikings.

But after Eden Prairie’s 4-0 start, capped by a 56-7 routing of Hopkins on Friday, the offensive tackle knows all he needs to know about where he is.

“I moved to the right school I guess,” he said simply, after the most recent victory. “Everybody’s excited about it – I can’t really complain.”

Davidson said his dad, Jeff, came out here and scouted out schools before the move – coming away with a strong impression of Eden Prairie and the Eagles program. But the suggestion about which team to play for is one of the few “on field” recommendations the elder Davidson has made this year.

In the off-season, the Davidson family will spend a month or so in Montana and Nick and his father will “train” together, lifting weights and messing around with a football.
But come high school season – while Mom might try to sit down after games and go over the playbook, Davidson jokingly said -- Dad doesn’t butt in.

“Occasionally, I’ll ask him a small question or something,” Davidson said. “You always kind of have that football in your blood, but it doesn’t really affect how I play because I just follow whatever my coaches say. During the season, my dad is my dad and my coach is my coach.”

The senior – who is currently looking at Oregon, Clemson, Ohio State, Colorado and Stanford for next year --seems to be in good hands. Coach Mike Grant has pulled together a team that has had two shutouts and in the other two games held opponents to just 7 points each, while scoring more than 35 points in three of the four.

The offensive line has been a big part of that success; with the addition of Davidson and also Dan Urquhart – a 6-7, 310-pound tackle who transferred from Texas – the Eagles have a lot more size up front that last year. After Friday’s win star running back Andrew Larson praised the offensive line for helping allow several big runs by him.

“I feel like I ran pretty hard, but then again, I ran hard because I had some huge holes,” Larson said. “We have a great O-line and I’m happy to run behind them.”