The Blaine football team played their biggest game of the season on Friday night in Edina, but saw their season draw to a bitter close, and watched the Edina Hornets clinch a state tournament berth for the first time in 30 years.

The team showed heart against a very talented Edina team, who is 9-1 during the season, in a full and loud Kuhlman Field in Edina.

It didn’t take long for the home crowd to get fired up.  Blaine’s junior quarterback, Alex Copa(11), had his first pass attempt of the game tipped into the hands of Edina’s Jack Follen(12), who returned the interception 43 yards for a touchdown.  An extra point made the score 7-0 Hornets.  Copa’s pass was batted down on 4th down in Edina territory, and the first quarter ended with Edina leading by a touchdown.

In the second quarter, Blaine stifled Edina’s offense on the goal line, forcing sophomore kicker Patrick LeCorre(10) to chip in a 21 yard field goal.

On the following Blaine possession, Copa led the boys down to the Edina 20 yard line, only to have his pass picked off by Edina senior Derek Todd.  Todd returned the pass all the way back down the field for a touchdown, but not without effort from Copa, who was in pursuit of Todd until he crossed the goal line.

The home crowd was in a frenzy.  It didn’t look good for the Bengals, who desperately needed a spark.  Blaine head coach Tom Develice decided to run the ball after watching his quarterback throw his second interception of the game, and it turned out to be a brilliant decision.

The kickoff went for a touchback, and the first play of the drive from the 20 yard line was a handoff to senior Kunle Ayinde(12).  He broke free for a crowd-silencing dash and put his team on the board, and flashed a glimmer of hope across the eyes of his teammates.

Senior captain and defensive back Joe Robel(12) seemed to be inspired when he intercepted a pass from Edina’s Mark Handberg in the back of the Blaine endzone.

On the next Hornets possession, just a few seconds remained on the clock when LeCorre was sent out to attempt another field goal.  This time, the Bengals blocked the kick, and Sam Kriegler (12) picked up the loose ball and took it to the house for 76 yards as time expired in the first half.  However, kicker Zach Wright(12) hit the post on his extra point attempt, and the teams headed to the locker room with Edina ahead 17-13.

Edina’s first drive of the first half ended prematurely with a fumble on the Blaine 31 yard line.  Two plays later, Copa connected with Robel for a 72 yard pass down the left sideline, that gave Blaine their first – and only – lead of the game at 20-17.

The momentum seemed to be barreling in Blaine’s direction, as their defense forced Edina to punt for the first time in the second half.  Joe Robel fumbled the punt however, and on the next play, Handberg threw to wide receiver Marley Allison(12) for a 35 yard touchdown to bring Edina back in front, 24-20.

Another touchdown connection between Handberg and Allison came early in the fourth quarter.  Allison was flagged with an “unsportsmanlike” taunt to the Blaine defender, but the touchdown stood, and a missed extra point kept the Bengals within 10 at 30-20.

With five minutes left in the game, Copa led the guys charging down the field, and he scored on a quarterback draw play from one yard out.  After a Wright extra point, Edina would have the ball up by only three points.

A motivated defensive team from Blaine stood up the Hornets, with a Handberg pass falling incomplete on the fourth down.

With under two minutes to play, it looked like Copa and the Bengals would have plenty of time to go down the field for a chance to at least tie the game. But on the first play of the drive, the Edina big men stormed to and sacked Copa for a loss of eight yards, a loss so big that Blaine just couldn’t recover.

Copa’s fourth down pass to Robel fell incomplete.  The ball would belong to Edina, who would drain the clock and await their next game in the metrodome.  Robel sat there on the field for a moment, knowing that he just got his last taste of high school football.

For the Hornets, it’s on to the dome to face Rosemount as the number one seed in the tournament.

For the Bengals, this is the start of a long offseason for its returning players.  They will look to build on this season to make it one step further, and reach the state tournament themselves.