2022 is the 30th year of Mike Grant overseeing the Eden Prairie High School football team. To mark the occasion, a number of players and coaches from his first team will appear at a ceremony before the game.
Nearly all of the seniors who played on Grant’s first team, along with coaches and others, will be honored prior to the Eagles’ first home game of the 2022 season vs. Farmington on Sept. 9.
Grant took over the reins of the EP program before the 1992 season. The two seasons prior had seen the Eagles struggle as they won one game each season.
In his first season, Grant led the team to a 7-1 regular season record before falling to defending state champion Burnsville in the region playoffs.
Since then, Grant has turned EP football into one of the state’s top programs. The Eagles have won 11 state championships in Grant’s three-decade run and have produced countless players who have gone on to play football in college.
Though the 1992 team did not win a state championship, the group will be celebrated and continues to be known as “the team that started it all.”
“It’s going to be a pretty special event,” said Aaron Clark, a senior on the 1992 team who helped coordinate the reunion. “We were a special class that helped start the road to success. We’re excited to be back together again.”