A handful of turnovers and big plays from Mark Mathis sent Woodbury into the postseason on a winning note Wednesday night.
The junior running back rushed for a pair of touchdowns and caught another as his team recovered a fumble and recorded three interceptions en route to downing crosstown rival East Ridge 23-15 at TCO Stadium in Eagan.
The Royals finished the regular season 6-2, likely locking up a No. 2 seed in the Class 6A playoffs. They also clinched a tie with Forest Lake for the Metro East Sub-District title. The Rangers — who beat Stillwater 27-7 Wednesday — are likely to get the No. 1 seed by virtue of their head-to-head win over Woodbury.
A No. 2 seed means the Royals’ path to state consists of two home games.
The Raptors – who had won four of the last five meetings in the series – finished the regular season 4-4. East Ridge is a good bet to get the No. 4 seed, with Mounds View seeded third.
East Ridge held the ball for nearly 10 minutes on the game’s opening possession, keeping the drive alive twice on fourth down, but using all three of its timeouts.
And on 4th-and-1 at the Woodbury 21, the Royals defense held strong, stopping the Raptors for a loss of two.
Then, on East Ridge’s second possession, Woodbury senior Cooper Crane recovered a fumble at midfield.
Each time, however, the Royals had to punt the ball away.
That luck changed on their third drive, when a 31-yard catch by junior Nolan Freymiller set up an 11-yard touchdown run by Mathis that put Woodbury on top 7-0 with 3:24 to play before halftime.
The Raptors managed to put together a late drive in the final minute-and-a-half of the first half, advancing as far as the Woodbury 12 yard line with under 10 seconds to go.
But two-straight passes to the end zone fell incomplete.
From there, it was Mathis making the plays – scoring on a 3-yard run with 8:09 to play in the third quarter, then catching a 32-yard touchdown pass from senior Emmett Snuggerud one play after Freymiller picked off a pass for the Royals’ third turnover of the night.
East Ridge finally got on the board when senior Cedric Tomes found junior Leo Stalsberg on a 32-yard touchdown pass that cut the gap to 20-7 late in the third quarter.
But Woodbury extended its advantage to 23-7 when junior Brayden Schmitz hit a 38-yard field goal with 11:07 left to play.
The Raptors advanced to the Royals’ 23 on their next possession, but a false start penalty cost them five yards. Then, two plays later, Woodbury picked up turnover No. 4 with an interception in the end zone.
East Ridge did get a late touchdown run by senior Vince Hurley with 19 seconds left to play and converted the two-point conversion. But the Royals recovered the ensuing onside kick to seal the win and, with it, prime postseason positioning.
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