ROSEMOUNT, Minnesota - In a rematch of a South Suburban conference game, the Rosemount Irish defeated the Eastview Lightning 29-18 to claim the Section 3AAAAA championship. Just 3 weeks ago the same two teams met in Rosemount and the Irish were victorious that night 34-20 while on their way to the South Suburban championship.

While the stakes were much higher Friday night and Rosemount came in as the #1 seed in Section 3, the underdog and #2 seed Lightning delivered a blow in the game's opening minute. On the second snap of the game, junior QB Ryan Reger slid through an opening and bounced off two defenders on his way to a 70-yard touchdown run. The extra point was blocked, but Eastview had a 6-0 lead just 59 seconds into the contest.

The Eastview defense forced a three and out on Rosemount's first possession, but fumbled the Rosemount punt and the Irish regained some momentum. The lost fumble would be one of four turnovers on the night for the Lightning as Rosemount finished a +3 in the turnover battle. The ensuing drive stalled at the Eastview 15 yard line, but the Lightning could not move the chains and were forced to punt back to Rosemount.

That punt was returned 56 yards by senior Tony Prostrollo to the Eastview 6-yard line. Andrew Hausmann capped the short drive by plunging in from the one. Logan Lindberg's kick was good and Rosemount led 7-6 at the end of the first quarter.

The 2nd quarter followed the same script as the first. Both defenses were stout against the run, but Eastview was able to capitalize on a big play. Facing third down from the Rosemount 44-yard line, Eastview gave the ball on an end around to LeAndre Kennedy, who had come in motion from the left slot. Kennedy sailed untouched to give Eastview the lead 12-7.

Following punts from each team, Rosemount got the ball back with just under 2 minutes remaining in the half and all three timeouts. Following two plays that stayed inbounds, Rosemount connected on a 36 yard pass play to Goaner Deng for a first down at the Eastview 30-yard line. The Irish appeared content to head into halftime without pushing for a score as they failed to use any timeouts until calling one with 14 seconds left in the half with the ball at the Eastview 27. Out of the timeout, Kevin Larson found 6'4" senior wide receiver David Morgan for a 26 yard gain. Timeout Rosemount. After Nick Liska was stuffed for no gain, Rosemount used its last timeout with 4 seconds left in the half. Andrew Hausmann made the unique time management pay off with his second 1 yard run of the game and following a 2 point conversion, caught by Hausmann, the Irish led 15-12 going to the locker room.

Rosemount added to their momentum by taking the 2nd half kickoff on a nice touchdown drive that increased their lead to 22-12. Andrew Hausmann capped that drive as well with a 10 yard run. The senior would finish the night with 21 carries for 62 yards and the 3 TD's.

Eastview would get it as close as 22-18 in the 3rd quarter when Reger ran in from 10 yards out, but mounting turnover thwarted any comeback hopes the Lightning had after that. Reger finished with 113 yards rushing and 132 passing, but threw 3 costly interceptions.

Kevin Larson completed the nights scoring with 4:29 remaining by scoring a 9 yard run.

The loss ended Eastview's season at 7-4. Rosemount improves to 10-0 as they head into the State Quarterfinals. They will play Lakeville South on Thursday night at Griffin Stadium in St. Paul in another South Suburban conference rematch. The two teams played on October 1 with Rosemount winning 35-3.


Players of the game:
Eastview - Ryan Reger: 10 rushes, 113 yards, 2TD and 132 yards passing.
Rosemount - Kevin Larson: 10 rushes, 92 yards, 1 TD
3-5-0 for 69 yards passing.