Former Viking Ben Birk is in his second year as head coach of the Lakeville South Cougars and has won 19 straight games. Make that 20 on two keeper touchdowns from Camden Dean that led them to a 13-7 win over the Maple Grove Crimson in the Class AAAAAA Football Championship Game Friday night at US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.
It was the first state title for Lakeville South since 2006 in their seventh trip to state.
Both teams did not erase the zeros from the gigantic US Bank Stadium scoreboard in the first half. In the first quarter, the Crimson had a 15 play drive that consumed 6:49 but it would go for naught as Cayden Vogel was hit with a 10 yard loss. There were also field goal attempts that were missed or blocked, including a chance for Maple Grove to take the lead at halftime. But Connor Fournier's try was blocked by Lakeville South's Delainey Suraju.
There would be good news for Crimson fans in the third quarter when Tanner Albeck hauled in a 24 yard pass from Jacob Kilzer. The Cougars would even the score as Dean kept the ball, broke through two tackles and went down the right sideline into the end zone.
Dean would score the eventual game winning touchdown on a 48 yard keeper run with 3:05 left in regulation. Maple Grove would have a chance to tie or even win the game. The Crimson would go 2 for 2 on fourth down conversions. Could they get a third? Facing fourth and 10 at the Cougar 35 yard line, Kilzer kept the ball, headed toward the left sideline but came up one yard short and lost the ball to Lakeville South. A couple of kneels later, they would take home the championship trophy.
Dean would lead the Cougars with eight carries for 109 yards.
Lakeville South concluded their season at 13-0 and Maple Grove ended their campaign with a record of 11-2.
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