WOODBURY, MN - On the final night of the 2011 Minnesota High School Football season, you had two teams that seemingly were in two different points of the season. The White Bear Lake Area Bears came into the game 5-2 overall and in the Suburban East Conference, where as the East Ridge Raptors sat at just the opposite at 2-5 overall and in the SEC. The season records though as many sports fans know, should be thrown out the window, because any team can win on any night; even a Wednesday night.

The Raptors set the tone for the game early as East Ridge drove 61 yards on the opening possession covering eleven plays and they handed the ball effectively to Senior three-way player Dayo Ogundepo. Ogundepo punched it the first score of the contest from 9-yards out and gave East Ridge the 7-0 lead.

East Ridge continued to roll in front of the Senior Night crowd and forced the White Bear Lake offense to punt on a three and out on the Bears opening offensive series. With everything feeling like it was going the Raptors' way, they fumbled and turned the ball over after Senior Quarterback Brandon Johnson connected with Senior Wide Receiver Luke Mlsna and Mlsna had the ball knocked out from behind and it was then recovered by Senior WBL Linebacker Tyler Urban.

With the change of possession, the Bears started their drive on the East Ridge 32 yard line and pounded the ball on the ground into the endzone thanks to a 19-yard touchdown run by Senior Quarterback Eric Gebeke. The Bears tied it at seven and silenced the home crowd for just a few moments.

East Ridge answered back quickly on just the third play from scrimmage after starting from their own 34. Dayo Ogundepo broke off a 53-yard run off the left edge and down the sidelines out-running multiple defenders and continuing to impress everyone in attendance. This run closed out the 1st Quarter 14-7 in favor of East Ridge. The score would stay that way through the remainder of the 1st Half and East Ridge looked like the stronger team on both sides of the ball.

Coming out of Halftime, White Bear Lake knew they needed to make a statement and force action in the 2nd Half. It helps when they return the opening kick of the half 65-yards to the East Ridge 29 yard line and on just three plays tie the game at 14 with a 25-yard TD run by Senior Running Back Shane Warner.

East Ridge would retake the lead at 11:41 of the 4th Quarter following a 14-play, 68-yard drive, which finished with a 2-yard TD run by Senior Raptor Running Back Austin Fischer. Things seemed to be still going East Ridge's way, but the extra point try by Senior Placekicker Justin Pahl missed wide and put the score at 20-14.

This missed XP would turn costly for East Ridge as Nick Truen would score from 5-yards out on the next Bears drive and give them the 21-20 lead. Treun's scoring on the night wouldn't be over as he would again score at 2:26 of the 4th Quarter to put the final points on the board for White Bear Lake. East Ridge would attempt to mount a comeback and would actually find the endzone on a 7-yard TD reception by Luke Mlsna from Brandon Johnson with under 35-seconds remaining in the 4th Quarter.

Needing the 2-point conversion, the Raptors had multiple options as their offense had big play potential all night. Brandon Johnson took the snap and rolled to his right, keeping the personal run into the endzone as an option, but decided to throw it to the goal line on an attempted pass to Austin Fischer. The pass from Johnson was thrown out in front of Fischer towards the front right pylon and landed just past the outstretched arms of the senior fullback.

The game ended after East Ridge failed to execute an onside kick attempt and White Bear Lake was able to run out the clock to solidify the victory in the contest. Bears win 28-26 in a back and forth game on a chilly October night in Woodbury. Both teams await their fortunes as the Section Playoff seedings will be announced soon. White Bear Lake finishes the regular season 6-2 overall and in the Suburban East Conference. East Ridge ends at 2-6 overall and 2-6 in a very tough Suburban East Conference.

Players of the Game:
East Ridge - RB Dayo Ogundepo
White Bear Lake - RB Nick Truen