Teams representing the northern suburbs didn’t get a lot of love in the Star Tribune's preseason top-10 rankings, with Totino-Grace the lone representative at No. 9. But just as we know winter is coming, the north’s top teams are surely going to elbow their way into the best-of-the-metro discussion.
Top candidates for early northern supremacy are Blaine, a 26-22 winner over Totino-Grace last Friday, and Maple Grove, which rolled to an impressive 25-3 road victory over Edina to open its season.
Neither Blaine or Maple Grove had a winning record or advanced past the second round of the Class 6A playoffs last season but, based on Week 1 results, both appear to be primed for turnaround seasons.
Maple Grove (1-0, 1-0) got two touchdown runs on Oct. 9 from senior quarterback Nate Elmes, and another from sophomore wide receiver Jacob Kilzer, who had a 45-yard scoring burst against the Hornets.
Blaine (1-0, 1-0) senior quarterback Tyler Schuster rushed for two touchdowns, of 53 and 19 yards, respectively, against the Eagles last Friday.