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No. 2 Eden Prairie rallies in second half in 24-14 victory over No. 3 St. Michael-Albertville

By JIM PAULSEN, Star Tribune, 11/11/20, 9:15PM CST

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Trailing by seven points at halftime, the Eagles took control with two touchdowns three minutes apart in the fourth quarter.


Eden Prairie running back Johnny Hartle (2) ran for the end zone during a 71-yard catch-and-run touchdown in the first quarter. Photo: CARLOS GONZALEZ ¥ cgonzalez@startribune.com

Mike Grant has been around football long enough to know you get much further with high school players when you’re up front with them. So he made no effort to hide his feelings about Wednesday’s monster regular-season finale, pitting his undefeated, Class 6A, No. 2-ranked Eden Prairie team against similarly undefeated and third-ranked St. Michael-Albertville.

“I told the kids that this was the state championship game, right here,” Grant said, acknowledging the lack of a state tournament this season. “[St. Michael-Albertville] is that good.”

It turned out to be a game worthy of a state final, with the Knights outplaying the Eagles in the first half, only to see their hosts score 17 unanswered points after halftime en route to a 24-14 victory.

Quarterback David Warren-Mitchell threw two touchdown passes for the Eagles, sandwiched around a 37-yard field goal by Connor Reynolds and an 8-yard touchdown run by bruising fullback Javon Palmer-Pruitt.

Eden Prairie started quickly when Warren-Mitchell hit running back Johnny Hartle on a short crossing route on the game’s second play from scrimmage. Hartle accelerated and raced to a 71-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead.

St. Michael-Albertville clapped back on its first possession, going 65 yards in 14 plays, capped by an 8-yard pass from Jack Drobinski to Jack Hulting for a game-tying touchdown.

The Knights made it 14-7 in the second quarter when Drobinski turned a third-and-10 quarterback draw into a 57-yard touchdown, stunning the home crowd. To that point, St. Michael-Albertville had been controlling the line of scrimmage, stifling Eden Prairie’s offense after Hartle’s big play.

First report

Eden Prairie spotted visiting St. Michael-Albertville a 14-7 halftime lead, then scored 17 consecutive second-half points en route to 24-14 victory in a battle of undefeated, top-three teams.

The Eagles took advantage of a St. Michael-Albertville turnover to cut the lead to 14-10 on a 37-yard field goal by Connor Reynolds.

The Eagles took control of the game with two touchdowns less the three minutes apart in the fourth quarter. Javon Palmer-Pruitt scored in an 8-yard run to take the lead 17-14 and a 24-yard pass from David Warren-Mitchell to Cade Kramer resulted in the game’s final score.

Eden Prairie, No. 2 in Class 6A, improved to 6-0. St. Michael-Albertville, No. 3 in 6A, fell to 5-1.

St. Michael-Albertville was forced to play much of the game without running back David Collins, who entered the game tied for the metro lead in rushing with 998 yards. He injured his leg in the second quarter and spent the rest of the game on crutches.

Check back later for more on the game.

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