Eagles eager to start new season

Nine months ago seems like ancient history for Mike Grant’s Eden Prairie Eagles football team.

But the memory of their stunning 28-7 state semifinal loss to Edina at U.S. Bank Stadium still burns for players like linebacker Matthew Ivey.

“It does feel like it was a long time ago, but we were getting better the whole way (through the off-season),” Ivey said after the Eagles three-team preseason scrimmage on Saturday at Aerie Stadium. 

Ivey is one of five senior captains on this year’s squad. And he’s looking forward to finally putting a long off-season of conditioning to the test.

“We were there the first week after we lost at the Bank,” he said. ”We were in the weight room, working. We were getting better.”

The Eagles have had Sept. 6 circled on their calendar for months. 

That’s when they’ll have the opportunity to avenge their loss to the Hornets, the team that ended their season four quarters shy of the state championship game, handing Eden Prairie its only loss in 2023.

The Eagles had defeated Edina handily in Week 2 last season on Eden Prairie’s home field. Their second-week matchup this year will be at Edina, where the Hornets will have something to prove as well. Edina fell to Centennial in the state title game last November.

But before there’s any talk of retribution, Eden Prairie has more pressing business with the season opener at Buffalo on Thursday night. The clash with the Bison is the current focus before any talk of payback.

“We’ll watch this film, we’ll evaluate, but by tonight, we’re full Buffalo,” Grant said emphatically on Saturday. “We’re trying to figure out how to beat Buffalo.” 

Saturday’s scrimmage with Chanhassen and Champlin Park provided a good measuring stick for Grant’s 2024 team ahead of the new campaign.

“It’s gone great,” senior captain Elijah Rumph said of the pre-season workouts. “Everybody showed up to practice, and we’re all focused, and we’re ready to make a trip to the Bank and hopefully win it all this year.”

Rumph returns to lead a talented ground unit on the Eagles’ offense this season. As a junior, Rumph led Eden Prairie with 798 yards rushing on 137 carries in 2023.

“It’s very deep,” Rumph said of the Eagles backfield. “I have a lot of confidence in our running back core.”

Rumph partners with senior Jeremy Fredericks, who churned up 611 yards on 118 carries last year.

“We have some good running backs, some veteran kids that have played well,” Grant said, adding that last season’s formidable offensive line started the 2023 campaign with a number of players needing to grow into their roles.

“We had to replace a very veteran offensive line last year,” he said. “Our right guard, he didn’t start the year before, or right tackle didn’t start the year before. Our left guard didn’t start the year before. The only ones that had played were the left tackle (Ethan Sims) and the center (Will Sather). So, we get better every week with our offensive line.”

Calling signals behind Eden Prairie’s revamped O-line is junior quarterback Jackson Bakkum, who looked sharp in passing drills throughout the scrimmage on Saturday. Thursday’s game with Buffalo will be Bakkum’s first varsity action at Eden Prairie.

“Anytime you’re playing a junior, you’re gonna have to see mistakes, but you’re also gonna see flashes of his talent,” Grant said. “He made some great throws, and I thought commanded the team well.”

Defensively, the Eagles will be led by Ivey and fellow senior co-captains, linebacker James Anderson and defensive back Max Kukla.

“I know we’ve got a lot of talent, a lot of speed,” Kukla said. “We’re competitors, so I’m just excited to see what we’re able to do.”

Expectations are always high for the perennial power. And while the Eagles have their sights set on getting back to downtown Minneapolis in November, Kukla stresses the importance of focusing on the task in front of them each week.

“Obviously, we’ll take it one game at a time,” he said. “But at the end of the day, we’d like to make a run in the playoffs and have our eyes on that state championship.”

Senior Vaugn Feely returns at defensive back, joining Kukla in the secondary.

Eden Prairie will also look to junior Gavin Walden to be a big presence along the defensive line. 

The 6-foot-1, 245-pound tackle got off to a slow start in 2023, spraining his lateral collateral ligament (LCL) early in the season. But Walden broke into the starting lineup by Week 4 and finished the year with 41 tackles as a sophomore.

“It’s been great. We were lifting all offseason,” Walden said of the team’s preparation. “We put in that work. It’s just great to see us all come together at the start of the year.”

Like the rest of his teammates, Walden is eager to get to Buffalo and begin another promising season for Eden Prairie. 

He’s also looking forward to turning the pages of the calendar this weekend to find a big red circle around the first Friday night in September.

“We’re all driven by that loss,” Walden said of the state semifinal defeat against Edina. “We put in a lot of work. The first Monday back after that loss, we’re in the weight room putting in that work.

“We’re all excited for Week 1 and 2 to come. So, yeah, it’s driven us a lot.”