East Ridge High School’s football stadium was a riot of color and noise early Friday evening, a near-capacity crowd excited to see the host Raptors meet Metro East Conference rival Mounds View.
Fewer than three hours later, however, most of that throng trickled out of the stadium in disappointment after watching the Mustangs break a scoreless game at halftime en route to a 21-0 victory. East Ridge fell to 3-2 overall and 1-1 in conference play, while Mounds View improved to 2-3 and 1-1.
Mounds View running back Cayden Tran carried eight times for 46 yards and his first two touchdowns of the season, which came on runs of 7 and 4 yards. Quarterback Beckham Wheeler completed 5 of 7 passes for 81 yards. He rushed 10 times for minus-10 yards but scored on a 1-yard plunge.
East Ridge took the second half’s opening kickoff but had to punt, and Mounds View took over at its 47-yard line. The Mustangs needed seven plays to open the scoring on a 1-yard run by Wheeler, his feet churning and his body turned as he backed into a pile and across the goal line.
The hosts punted on their next possession and Mounds View again drove for pay dirt. Tran ran on four of the 63-yard drive’s six plays, including the last carry, a 4-yard touchdown effort.
The Raptors turned the ball over on downs had a punt blocked on their next two possessions. Liam Berlien was credited with smothering the ball, giving his team a first down at the East Ridge 7-yard line.
Tran took a handoff on the next play and, after spinning out of a tackle, sprinted into the end zone. Tran has rushed for 289 yards this season. Finn McArthur kicked his third extra point of the night and is perfect on 11 such boots this fall.
East Ridge’s Ben Knaup ran 14 times for 79 yards. Junior quarterback Leo Stalsberg — substituting for senior starter Cedric Tomes, who’s out with a broken finger — completed 2 of 10 pass attempts for 25 yards. Both completions were to Akeed Ali, who briefly moved into the quarterback role late in the game, as did Logan Tretter.
The latter threw two incompletions and had his third attempt intercepted by Ben Mugisa with 39 seconds to play.
East Ridge is at Forest Lake next week and Mounds View is at Woodbury.
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