Déjà vu? Eagles trounce Woodbury for second time in as many weeks to advance in section playoffs

There were no twists and turns in the Eden Prairie Eagles’ 42-15 victory over Woodbury at Aerie Stadium on Friday night.

The Eagles had dominated the Royals by a nearly identical score the week prior, posting a resounding 42-13 win in the regular-season finale.

About the only unexpected moment during the first round of the section football playoffs on Friday was Eden Prairie’s own Will Sather coming home from Princeton University to surprise his younger brother Ethan, a junior guard, and leader of the Eagles’ offense, a mantle he’s taken up where his brother left off.

“He came up when I was stretching before the game,” Ethan said. “That was the first time I’ve seen him since August.”

Will is a freshman on the Princeton football team and will be wrestling for the Tigers as soon as the football season ends.

“I’m not on the travel squad and we’re playing at Harvard this weekend,” Will explained while watching the Eagles battle Woodbury from the Eden Prairie sideline. “So I came home and surprised everyone.”

On the field, everything went as planned. But playing the same opponent for the second week in a row was a new twist for everyone up and down the Eden Prairie roster.

“Honestly, it was just weird. I’ve never done it before,” senior defensive back Max Kukla said. “I think they came out with a little bit different of a scheme than we had prepared for; a couple things we just hadn’t seen before. But once we kind of figured it out and got rolling, we made it work.”

Eagles head coach Mike Grant said his teams had played the same opponent in back-to-back games only once before, in 1998, but he shrugged off any issues with seeing the same team twice in as many weeks.

“I think we’re more worried about us than we are about them. So we’ve got to play great no matter who we played here,” he said. “They’re a fifth seed, they’re not an eighth seed, so we had to really prepare.”

The Eden Prairie offense looked like they’d done their homework, having no issues moving the ball and taking up where they left off the previous week.

On their first series from scrimmage, the Eagles put together a 10-play, 59-yard drive capped off with Elijah Rumph’s four-yard touchdown.

Wesley Whipkey’s pass to Justice Bates on the two-point conversion gave Eden Prairie an early 8-0 lead.

Rumph had 10 carries for 137 yards and three touchdowns on the night.

“Offensively, I felt like our line blocked out well, our backs had big gains and we ran well,” Grant said, pointing out that Woodbury was stacking the line of scrimmage to slow down the prolific Eagles’ running game.

“They were doing everything to stop the run with eight or nine in the box, so I thought we played well,” he said.

The Royals managed 303 total yards offensively, but the Eagles’ defense came up with big plays in key situations.

“Obviously there’s things we could do better,” defensive back Vaughn Feely said. “But overall, it was a good game.”

Isaiah Hazecamp recovered a fumble in the first quarter, setting up Eden Prairie at the Woodbury 16-yard line.

Three plays later, Eagles quarterback Jackson Bakkum found receiver Max Lorenson for a touchdown and a 15-0 Eden Prairie lead with 6:58 remaining in the first quarter.

The Eagles amassed 374 yards of total offense, most of it on the ground. Senior running back Jeremy Fredericks led with 173 yards rushing on 15 carries and a pair of touchdowns, both coming in the second quarter.

Over the past two weeks, Fredericks and Rumph have combined for 520 yards rushing and nine rushing touchdowns. Fredericks added one receiving touchdown last week against the Royals.

On the season, Rumph has put up 1,067 yards on the ground, while Fredericks has 764.

Rumph capped off the scoring on Friday with a 75-yard romp, untouched to the end zone and a 42-7 Eden Prairie lead with 2:08 remaining in the third quarter.

That score was preceded by exceptional coverage on a Woodbury pass, resulting in a tipped ball by Whipkey as the Royals threatened near the goal line.

The ball found the arms of Kukla, who returned the interception 24 yards to the Eden Prairie 24-yard line.

“Wesley Whitkey had great coverage,” Kukla said. “I saw the ball go up, obviously tipped, and it kind of fell right into my hands, and I just started running.”

Defensively, the Eagles were led by Hazecamp, who had seven tackles, with Feely adding five.

“We’ve got a lot of momentum going,” senior defensive tackle Gavin Walden said. “We’re all playing as a team now. We’re getting our plays down. We’ve got a few packages on offense, so we’re looking good.”

The Eagles move on to the second round, where they will face undefeated and top-ranked Maple Grove next Friday night.

“They’ve got a lot of good players,” Walden said. “They’ve got a few D1 guys, but I think we match up well, and we’ve got the team to battle with them.”

After Friday’s game, Grant told his players that “great challenges are never easy,” sharing a story about how Eden Prairie teams from previous years faced ranked teams all the way through the playoffs before reaching the state finals. 

“You’ve got to beat the top teams to go to state. We’ve done it before,” Grant told his players. “It’s up to you whether you want to do this.”

The Eagles will travel to Maple Grove for their clash with the Crimson on Friday. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m., with an opportunity to move on to the state playoffs.

Winners of four straight games, the Eagles are playing their best football of the season. But they are well-aware that their best performance is needed to take the next step in the postseason. 

“Four quarters. Four great quarters and we go to state, like we have for 30 years,” Grant said. “That’s what we do in this situation, four great quarters.”