HOPKINS, Minnesota - Last week in the final regular season game, these 2 teams met in Hopkins and gave the crowd an exciting game with 7 lead changes and a 36-34 Hopkins Victory...

Tonight, in the new class 6A (sec. 6) playoff game, Minnetonka kept it's offense rolling by scoring 35, while Hopkins fell short with 14.

The first half started off with Hopkins returning the ball to their own 39 yard line. The Royals put together a sustained drive of 61 yards in 15 plays and chewed up 7 minutes of the clock. They capped off the drive with a 4 yard touchdown reception by Zac Merie from QB JT DenHartog (PA good by Bolstad) and took the early lead 7-0. The next 2 scores came from Minnetonka's strong running game and KeAndre Singleton punched one in from 5 yards out, and on their next possession QB Nick Rooney ran one in from 1 yard out (both PA's good by Brett Soeder). The Skippers pulled ahead 14-7 with 5:09 left in the half. Hopkins answered back, however, starting on their own 32 and 6 plays later connected on a 27 yard touchdown strike from DenHartog to Terrance Bowers (PA good by Bolstad)and tied the game going into halftime 14-14.

The Skippers set the tone in the 2nd half by scoring on each of their 1st 2 possessions. Once again, the ground game was working and Minnetonka scored from 1 yard out on a QB draw from Nick Rooney (PA good by Soeder)and also on a 13 yard run by Ian Cote (PA failed). At 3:17 in the third quarter Minnetonka led 27-14.

Hopkin's next 2 possessions stalled with Minnetonka's defense stopping the Royals on 4th downs. QB Nick Rooney put the final touches on the victory with his 3rd touchdown run from 6 yards out (2 pt conversion good, Rooney to Joe Martinson) and the score would hold at 35-14 Skippers!

Minnetonka moves on in the 'round of 16' next week in Maple Grove (sec 5/sec 6 crossover game).

Players of the game:
Minnetonka - Nick Rooney, leadership, 3 TD runs
Hopkins - Terrance Bowers, 4 rec. 60 yards, 1 TD