Lakeville North fans would go "Rah rah!" for RaJa Nelson as he scored three touchdowns to lead the Panthers to a 28-21 win over the Eden Prairie Eagles in the Class AAAAAA championship game Friday night at US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.
The game was a rematch of the September 7 game where the Panthers shut out the Eagles 14-0. It was also the first state title for the city of Lakeville since 2003 prior to the split into North and South high schools.
Eden Prairie would get the early lead on a 49 touchdown pass from Cole Kramer to Daejon Wolfe. But the Panthers would vault into the lead with two straight touchdowns. Nelson would score on a seven yard right side run and Brennan Kuebler fired a 68 yard pass to Keaton Mohs to put Lakeville North ahead 14-7.
The Eagles would score a couple of rushing touchdowns in the second quarter. First, Felipe Izumi would score on a one yard run. The second would come as Jordan Amundson would break two tackles and score on an 80 yard run to put Eden Prairie ahead 21-14. The lead wouldn't last as Nelson scored his second touchdown on a one yard run to tie the game at 21 at halftime.
Once again, it was Nelson, the junior running back who would land the ball in the end zone for the eventual game winner in the third quarter as he scored on a 10 yard run up the middle. The Eagles had a chance to send the game into overtime in the fourth quarter as future Gopher Cole Kramer faced fourth and 25 and he threw a 22 yard pass to his brother Cade with :24 left and the Panthers ran out the clock to clinch the win.
Eden Prairie was led by Cole Kramer, who completed seven of 16 passes for 146 yards. Brian Curtis Jr. led Lakeville North with 22 rushes for 100 yards.
Lakeville North ended their season 13-0 and Eden Prairie finished with a record of 10-2.
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