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Wayzata rules on the bay

By Brian Stensaas, Star Tribune, 09/30/11, 10:50PM CDT

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The Trojans rolled over Minnetonka with an unstoppable running game


Minnetonka's Joel Fuxa (81) was unable to hold on to a first half pass sent his way. /Marlin Levison, Star Tribune

The eastern edge of Lake Minnetonka is all that separates two teams that in recent memory had played to football scores just as close.

Friday it was different. For one half, anyway.
 
Wayzata scored all of its points after trailing early in a 35-7 homecoming victory over Minnetonka.
 
"Once you get the ball rolling, momentum is a powerful thing to stop," Trojans coach Brad Anderson said.
 
The Skippers couldn't, losing the Bay Bell trophy to Wayzata for the seventh time in the last eight meetings.
 
Said Minnetonka coach Dave Nelson: "You have to hand it to them. They're a good football team and they handed it to us."
 
His defense -- which shut out its first three opponents of the season -- was no match for the Trojans' 5-9, 200-pound wrecking ball of a running back in Antonio Ford. He rushed 22 times for 194 yards and two TDs in the rout. Quarterback Nick Martin threw two touchdowns 52 seconds apart to open the second half and also put three punts inside the Skippers 15 yard line, but he deflected the credit.
 
"Our defense was the most important thing," Martin said of his teammates on the other side of the ball, who recorded three sacks, picked off two passes and had a fumble return for a touchdown. "And just running the ball -- we hadn't been able to do that all year. But [linemen] Ben Lauer and Chandler [Wright] were clearing the way for everyone."
 
Unlike the last two times these Lake Conference foes met, overtime or a last-second hook-and-ladder play wasn't needed Friday. Though at first it appeared the overflow crowd was in for a nail-biter.
 
The Trojans, ranked No. 2 in this week's Star Tribune metro poll, controlled the clock and had far more yards of offense through 24 minutes. But they were plagued by five penalties, coughed up the ball at midfield and missed an extra point try in the process to trail 7-6 at halftime.
 
The Trojans orchestrated a 94-yard drive for its only score of the first half. Ford ran the ball nine times during the 13-play drive including scampers of 11, 13 and 14 yards.
 
Minnetonka's first-half TD was also from a yard out, a quarterback sneak by Scott Benedict.
 
It wound up being the lone highlight for the metro's No. 6 team that all of a sudden is down on its luck. Benedict, a senior captain, injured his left knee on the first play of the fourth quarter and left the field on crutches.

Wrapping up a one-sided victory

Told late Friday afternoon that the average margin of victory was 10.7 points in the last seven meetings with Minnetonka, Wayzata coach Brad Anderson blinked his eyes and nodded.

"We've had some good ones," he said.

Friday's victory over the Skippers was hardly a classic, but it wrapped up this much:

Wayzata is a serious contender in Class 5A; Minnetonka failed in its first big test of the season.

The Trojans scored on a 94-yard drive in the first half. Their next four touchdowns came on drives totaling 145 yards and a fumble recovery returned 13 yards.

"You give them a short field and they're going to get their points," Skippers coach Dave Nelson said. "It got away from us."

That was especially true to start the third quarter. Down 7-6, Wayzata marched 72 yards in five plays, capped by a 24-yard TD pass from Nick Martin to Jeff Borchardt.

Ryan Poppitz then picked off Scott Benedict on the ensuing Minnetonka drive, and Martin threw his second TD in 52 seconds one play later.

It was part of a 22-point third quarter, upping Wayzata's season-long domination in the first 12 minutes after halftime to a total of 88-20.

"Offense and defense were both clicking and that was the result," Anderson said.

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