Crucial mistakes undid the Cretin-Derham Hall football team Saturday, leading to a 23-19 loss to Chanhassen in a Class 5A quarterfinal at Osseo High School. The third-seeded Raiders (7-4) were stopped at the same stage last year after winning their first section title since 2017.

Chanhassen lineman Owen Linder — a 6-foot-5, 280-pound behemoth who’s committed to play at Iowa next season — blocked a Cretin-Derham Hall point-after kick attempt two minutes before halftime. That play loomed large when the Raiders scored with 5:34 remaining in the game to pull within 21-19.

Raiders quarterback Izaak Johnson scrambled right and threw back left on the ensuing 2-point try, but the pass fell incomplete. Johnson said he was forced to his third read on the play.

“My tight end (Dre Frierson-Hollie) ran a delayed cross on the back side,” said Johnson, who completed 23 of 34 pass attempts for 273 yards and two touchdowns and had a toss intercepted. “I tried to give him a chance, but I had pressure in my face when I threw.”

Second-seeded Chanhassen drove 67 yards to the Cretin-Derham Hall 2-yard line and took a knee with a minute remaining. The Storm attempted to do the same thing on the next play, but quarterback Nathan Ramler couldn’t handle the snap and the Raiders recovered at their own 4 with 32 seconds on the scoreboard.

Two plays later, however, Johnson was sacked for a safety and Chanhassen (10-1) advanced to next week’s semifinals at U.S. Bank Stadium to play St. Thomas Academy, a 21-14 victor Saturday over Rochester Mayo.

Cretin-Derham Hall was also hurt late in the first half when Elias Brasel made an ill-advised attempt to handle a rolling ball off the foot of Chanhassen’s punter. The Storm recovered at the Raiders’ 5-yard line and Ramler’s 5-yard touchdown pass to Kade Bush a play later led to a 7-all tie.

Cretin-Derham Hall couldn’t convert a fake field-goal attempt midway through the second quarter and Johnson had a pass intercepted by Logan Smith with 18 seconds remaining in the first half.

After a nice return on that play, the Storm set up at the Raiders’ 37 and Ramler ran for a 1-yard touchdown five seconds before intermission. Michael McDowell’s extra point gave Chanhassen a 14-13 lead at the break and it never again trailed.

“One of the points of emphasis for today was to avoid self-inflicted errors,” first-year Cretin-Derham Hall coach Kim Royston said.

Raiders tailback Ja’Dale Thompson, who could manage only 55 yards in 12 carries, added: “We came back out in the second half with energy, and we were communicating instead of arguing. We could have come back, but we did it a little too late.”

Cretin-Derham Hall drove 67 yards in five plays and opened the scoring when Johnson threw a 57-yard touchdown pass to Frierson-Hollie five minutes into the contest. The Raiders’ muffed punt return to the Storm’s tying effort at 7-all.

Cretin-Derham Hall marched 94 yards in 11 plays and went up 13-7 on Johnson’s 5-yard touchdown pass to Owen Welk with two minutes remaining in the second quarter. Linder blocked the extra-point kick attempt and although the Storm punted on its next possession, it soon intercepted Johnson’s pass and scored seconds before halftime.

Chanhassen went up 20-13 midway through the third quarter on a 1-yard Ramler run and a McDowell extra point.

Cretin-Derham Hall turned the ball over on downs at the Storm’s 8 on its next possession but scored the following time it had the ball, this time when Johnson hit Frierson-Hollie for an 11-yard touchdown. The Raiders couldn’t convert on their 2-point pass attempt, effectively ending their season.

Frierson-Hollie caught four passes for 98 yards and two touchdowns. Chanhassen’s Ramler completed 18 of 26 pass attempts for 218 yards and a touchdown to Bush, who hauled in seven tosses for 80 yards.

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When the Seattle Sounders beat Minnesota United in the 2020 Western Conference final, it was a slow and painful death for the Loons, giving up two goals in the final minutes to lose 3-2.

In Saturday’s decisive Game 3 of their first-round series, Seattle scored two goals in the opening eight minutes, and Minnesota looked dead just after arrival.

The Loons rallied from a two-goal deficit, while going down to 10 men, with three unanswered goals.

While Seattle scored a late equalizer, it was Minnesota that delivered the final blow after 10 rounds of penalty kicks. In the final round, Loons goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair buried his PK, while Sounders ‘keeper Andrew Thomas put his off the cross bar, and Minnesota won 7-6 at Allianz Field.

The Loons will play the winner of the San Diego-Portland series in the Western Conference semifinals on Nov. 22 or 23.

The Loons edged Seattle 3-2 in PKs to capture Game 1 on Oct. 27, while Seattle rollicked to a 4-2 win in Game 2 on Monday.

On Saturday, Loons left wing back Anthony Markanich got his head on the end of a Joaquín Pereyra corner kick for United to take a 3-2 lead in the 71st minute. That lasted for 18 minutes until Jordan Morris scored off a Sounders corner kick in the 88th.

Down 2-0, Minnesota got a lifeline from an outstanding free kick goal from Joaquín Pereyra. The Argentine midfielder had a quiet start to the series, but he provided a stunning strike from 29 yards to make it 2-1 in the 19th minute.

The uphill climb grew steeper in the 41st minute when Joseph Rosales drew a head card for contact to Jesús Ferreira in the 41st minute. Rosales kicked out at a passing Ferreira and then got in his face, leaning out with his forehead, making contact with Ferreira, who went down to the turf.

Loons head coach Eric Ramsay screamed in reaction on the sideline as Minnesota went down to 10 men for the final 60 minutes.

Minnesota got its equalizing goal from Jefferson Díaz on a back-post header in the 62nd minute. The Colombian center back had not scored across 36 regular-season games since joining Minnesota in 2024.

Loons center backs Jefferson Diaz and Morris Duggan were woeful on the Sounders’ first-half goals. Diaz let himself get pulled wide by a Ferriera run, which opened up the space Albert Rusnak needed to score in the fifth minute.

Duggan then whiffed on a clearance attempt, and it bounced right to Danny Musovski to finish in the eighth minute.

After getting beat down the left side in Games 1 and 2, Ramsay switched from Anthony Markanich at wingback and Nico Romero at center back, going with Rosales and Duggan.

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Class 2A

Hawley defended its Class 2A title in dramatic fashion Saturday in St. Paul, rallying from a two-set deficit to top Chatfield in five sets: 20-25, 21-25, 25-17, 25-16, 15-8.

The champions responded as such when backed into a corner, dominating play over each of the final three sets. Katie Vetter had 15 kills to lead Hawley’s offense.

But Hawley’s greatest strength was simply playing a cleaner match than Chatfield, which tallied 10 attack errors in the third set, 12 in the fourth and six in the fifth.

New Life Academy placed third, topping Albany in four sets. Marisa Michaelis paced the Eagles with 18 kills, while Alexa Lilly added 14.

Class A

Top-seeded Mayer Lutheran won its second straight state title via a three-set sweep of Russell-Tyler-Ruthton, winning 25-17, 25-15, 25-23.

Mayer Lutheran has played in each of the last five Class A championship bouts, winning three of them.

Ada Hahn, Courtney Tuttle, Hallie Hunter and Izabelle Keaveny all finished with nine-plus kills for the champs.

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Brooks Borman provided a spark for St. Thomas Academy early in the second half, and he led a swarming defense that clinched the game in the final minute.

With 33 seconds left and Rochester Mayo 13 yards away from a potential game-tying score, Isaac Peterson took the handoff on 4th-and-1 and tried to go into the right side of the line. Borman and fellow inside linebacker Kristian Cercioglu were the first Cadets to meet the senior quarterback.

“We had an inside linebacker blitzing. I wrapped around, and we got enough guys to the ball and stopped him,” Borman said. “Seeing the ref call him short just got all the boys hyped.”

It only seems appropriate the defense had the game-deciding play because that side of the ball was the difference Saturday afternoon in a 21-14 Class 5A quarterfinal win.

“These are the ones you remember; you don’t remember the 40-point blowouts. It makes them a little more special and it puts our guys in a situation where they realize every play matters,” St. Thomas Academy coach Travis Walch said.

Borman provided another of those early in the second half, blocking a punt that was recovered at the Spartans’ 29-yard line. Three plays later, Dominic Baez broke multiple tackles en route to an 18-yard touchdown run and a 14-7 St. Thomas Academy lead.

Two drives that started in Rochester Mayo territory later in the quarter resulted in no insurance points. The Cadets went up 21-7 on a third when Baez scored from the 4 with 6 seconds left in the quarter, one play after a Grant Young interception.

St. Thomas Academy (11-0) entered the game averaging 35 points per game but struggled to consistently put together drives against a 6-5 Rochester Mayo squad that held the Cadets to a season-low 17 points in Week 2.

On an afternoon when the feel-like temperature was 28 degrees at kickoff, the Cadets went three-and-out on four of six first-half drives. The other two ended on an 11-yard touchdown reception by Todd Rogalski and a punt. St. Thomas Academy finished with just six first downs for the game.

“Our defense has won games for us this year, so has our special teams and offense,” said Walch, whose team next meets Spring Lake Park in a state semifinal at 2 p.m. Nov. 14 at U.S. Bank Stadium. The Panthers beat Alexandria 13-2 in overtime Saturday.

The Rochester Mayo offense largely revolves around throwing the football. Peterson threw for 179 yards, but the senior was repeatedly under heavy pressure.

“It was just about grit, winning a lot of one-on-one battles,” Young said. “Defense Coordinator (Joe) Ties is an incredible coach, and his schemes are super effective to get there.”

His team down by two scores, Max Durgin had the second of two fourth-quarter interceptions for the Spartans. A 3-yard Gavin Werneburg touchdown reception got Rochester Mayo within 21-14 with 3:26 left.

Another three-and-out by St. Thomas Academy followed by a short punt gave Rochester Mayo the ball on the Cadets’ 45 with 2:18 to play. Five completions moved the ball to the 13 before Peterson overthrew Werneburg on third down. Then came the game-sealing stop by Borman, Cercioglu and the Cadets.

“They had some big plays, but we just reset and just kept fighting,” Borman said.

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