Maple Grove and Osseo have a long-standing, intense rivalry with one another. On Thursday night, that rivalry lacked intensity as Maple Grove had total control over Osseo in a 28-7 victory. 

Maple Grove coach Matt Lombardi acknowledged that Osseo has been a big rival for his team for a long time, but he believes the Crimson are starting to develop rivalries throughout their schedule. 

“Don’t get me wrong, Maple Grove-Osseo is a great rivalry, but there’s many teams on our schedule that are kind of becoming rivals,” he said. 

He mentioned that the Crimson will be playing teams such as Minnetonka, Eden Prairie, Prior Lake, Wayzata and Lakeville North, so it was “great to start with Osseo because throughout the whole year we’re going to have games that are against top 10 teams…those all kind of feel like rivalries when you go at it.” 

The Orioles were no match for the Crimson on the field tonight, as Maple Grove was pitching a shut out until Osseo scored with 2:41 left in the game, against Maple Grove’s second unit. 

Lombardi described this as an ugly win, but he feels that “winning ugly” can be an identity for this team all season. 

“We ain’t gonna be pretty,” Lombardi said about his team, “and I kind of like that.” 

The first three touchdowns that Maple Grove scored were not pretty touchdowns, as all three were rushing touchdowns of 3 yards or less. Two of those touchdowns were scored by Joe Raymon, and just like his head coach, he said to get used to those kinds of ugly touchdowns.  

“I feel like the offense, we’re going to be a hard-nosed team, we’re going to run the ball, we’re going to pound it down their throats. Short-yardage touchdowns, that’s what it’s going to be,” he said. 

After all the hard-nosed running, the Crimson did have a flash of “prettiness” to start the fourth quarter. With the defense playing the run, Curtis Haugen hit Jake Kampsula for a 41-yard touchdown to put the Crimson up 28-0. 

Osseo would score late to avoid the shut out. Reggie Dupree ran for a 1-yard touchdown after Greg Arrell threw a 47-yard pass to Elijah Whitner to get the Orioles near the goal line. 

After the loss, Osseo coach Ryan Stockhaus said his team “shot (themselves) in the foot a lot.”

“Gave them short field, went backwards on offense, didn’t feel very aggressively on defense, and when you play a good team, that really doesn’t bode well for you,” he said. 

The Orioles had 60 penalty yards in the game, something that Stockhuas described as “frustrating”. He pointed out that a lot of his players were playing their first varsity game, so there is an expected learning curve. 

Despite the frustrating loss, Stockhaus did see some positives from his players tonight. 

“I thought some of our guys really stepped up and showed that they can play,” he said. “We need to look for consistency and we need to look for confidence right now, and until we find that, we’re going to struggle.” 

Maple Grove opened its season on a perfect note, beating Osseo 28-7 on Thursday night at Maple Grove High School.

The game started as a defensive stalemate. The Crimson did score 14 points in the first half, but they were held to just 86 total yards on offense. The Orioles gained 106 yards in the first half; a large chunk of those coming off a 44-yard reception by Quelyn Nelson.

After the half, the Crimson completely took over. After receiving the second-half kickoff, they drove down the field and finished the drive with a 2-yard touchdown run by Joe Raymon, his second of the game.

Raymon wasn’t done making plays. On the first play of Osseo’s following drive, Raymon got an interception to set up the Crimson with great field position. The Crimson ended that drive with a missed field goal, and it seemed like Osseo might have a chance to get back in the game.

That wouldn’t be the case. The Orioles’ drive stalled out, and the Cimson got the ball on Osseo’s 41-yard line. The Crimson wasted no time to extend their lead as Curtis Haugen hit Jake Kampsula for a 41-yard touchdown catch. That was the official dagger in Osseo’s heart. This year’s northwest metro rivalry goes to Maple Grove. 

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