Playing through adversity is one of the hallmarks of any successful football team.
So, when the Eden Prairie Eagles encountered “off-the-field” challenges before and after their game against Rochester Mayo on Friday, they did what great teams do: they stepped up.
The Eagles trounced the Spartans 46-7 in a dominating offensive performance. The win comes off Eden Prairie’s upset of No. 3 Minnetonka last week, a 21-20 overtime thriller on their home field at Aerie Stadium.
But the long road to Rochester was made even longer when the team was “ghosted” by one of the buses designated for the trip.
Not a Halloween prank: one of the Eagles’ two charter buses never arrived at Eden Prairie High School on Friday afternoon, requiring the players on the no-show vehicle to hitch a ride on the school bus transporting the Eden Prairie cheerleaders.
“We get on the road, we get about 20 minutes to warm up because of the bus problems, and we still play well, it’s a good thing,” Eden Prairie head coach Mike Grant said after the game.
But to add insult to victory, the cheerleaders’ bus broke down in Rochester after the game, leaving only one functioning means of transport back home to Eden Prairie.
“One of the buses broke down right here, but they were supposed to have three buses,” Grant explained. “They only sent us two, so we had problems.”
Parents who had made the trip packed players and cheerleaders into their cars for the journey home, which was lengthened by a weekend closure of Interstate 494 for road construction that began at 10 p.m. Friday.
Road to victory
Once they were off the highways and onto the field, the Eagles made up for lost time and travel delays, cruising down the fast line to a 23-0 lead before Mayo even got off the (metaphorical) bus.
Eden Prairie running back Jeremy Fredericks scored on runs of three and 84 yards to start the game.
Fredericks rushed for 173 yards on 16 carries to lead the Eagles on his way to five touchdowns in the contest.
“On the run for that very long touchdown, I saw the hole and ran as fast as I could,” Fredericks said. “I lost some stamina on the way, but still scored the touchdown.”
The Eden Prairie defense held Mayo to just 38 rushing yards and only 261 yards of total offense. And they put points on the board as well, coming away with a safety with 5:57 remaining in the second quarter.
“I think the Tonka game just showed us that if we play together and we’re doing what we can do, that everything will work out,” Eagles linebacker James Anderson said. “So we’re just playing hard and having fun now.”
After the safety, the offense was given a short field as a result of Vaughn Feely’s 43-yard kickoff return to the Rochester 19-yard line.
Three plays later, Fredericks scored his third touchdown from 11 yards out.
Fredericks found pay dirt yet again on a 15-yard romp with 1:36 remaining in the half, but the Eagles had more points to put up before halftime.
Anderson picked off Mayo’s Isaac Peterson, giving the Eagles’ offense the ball at the Mayo 26-yard line with 1:13 remaining in the half.
Two plays later, Eden Prairie running back Elijah Rumph cruised 25 yards for an Eagles touchdown and a 37-7 lead at halftime.
Rumph finished with 100 yards on 10 carries. Both Rumph and Fredericks averaged 10 yards or more per carry on the night. Eden Prairie’s Braden Cole averaged 9.3 yards on four rushes, churning up 37 yards in the game.
The Eagles put up 396 yards of total offense.
“All week in practice, we’re just going as hard as we can,” Anderson said. “We kept that momentum going this week and it carried over. And we’re playing good together. And that’s what you can ask for.”
Fredericks found the end zone again from five yards out in the third quarter. The score capped off a nine-play, 80-yard drive for the Eagles and was Frederick’s fifth touchdown of the game, a milestone mark for the senior.
“No, only four,” Fredericks said when asked if he’d ever scored five touchdowns in a game. “Four was the career-high.”
Cole Stern booted a 32-yard field goal with 10:19 remaining in the fourth quarter to cap the scoring.
The 46-7 victory puts the Eagles back above the .500 mark with one game remaining in the regular season.
“As the year goes on, you hope you’re getting better,” Grant said. “And I always say, ‘if teams are going to beat us, they’ve got to beat us early.’ Because we’ll continue to coach. And a lot of kids played better tonight, and they played better last week. So yeah, we had a great game.”
Only the beginning
The players want to make sure last week is not defined as a high point for the season. While they’re looking to build on their success against a top-ranked team, the Eagles are setting their sights higher than a regular-season upset.
“A lot of preparation went into this week,” Fredericks said. “We know we’re riding on the success from last week against Minnetonka, but it was very clear to us that game wasn’t our Super Bowl; that wasn’t our state championship game. Our state championship game is in November.”
The Eagles will finish the regular season on Thursday when they host Woodbury for a 6 p.m. kickoff.
Grant hopes to see continued improvement from his young roster, one which he believes is capable of defeating any opponent they face.
“It’s just whether they can play great every week, and continue to get better,” he said. “We’re as good as anybody. They don’t have to take a backseat to anyone, and we’ll find out if they can play that well.”
And thankfully, their commute on Thursday will be a short walk across the parking lot to their home field.
Editor’s note: EPLN photographer Rick Olson contributed to this story.
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