Cretin-Derham Hall senior Izaak Johnson threw for seven touchdowns on Friday night and his team needed every one of them to hold off late-charging Mahtomedi 49-44 on the road in the Class 5A, Section 4 championship game at a cold and rainy George Smith Field.
Despite trailing by 13 at halftime, and by as much as 21 in the fourth quarter, the top-seeded Zephyrs managed to cut the gap to as little as six with just under five-and-a-half minutes remaining, and to only five in the final minute of play.
But it wasn’t enough to overcome a huge night by Johnson, whose 45-yard touchdown pass to senior Sam Heath with 3:08 to play provided the margin of safety the second-seeded Raiders (7-3) needed to seal their second straight trip to state.
“Mahtomedi is a great team,” said Johnson, who finished the night 23 of 32 passing for 425 yards. “They’re well-coached and we knew we’d have to play our best football all four quarters. That’s what we did.
“I’m so proud of our guys and the way we fought.”
The Zephyrs — who held off a late Cretin-Derham Hall rally to win 28-27 when the two teams faced off in the regular season on Oct. 10 — finished their season 8-2 overall.
“I was telling our guys that we can’t stop believing,” said Mahtomedi senior quarterback Mark Graff, who threw for two touchdowns, caught another and rushed for a pair of scores, including a 22-yarder that cut the gap to just five with 46 seconds to go.
The Raiders, though, recovered the ensuing onside kick attempt and were able to run out the clock.
“We’ve put in so much hard work and we didn’t want to see it go to waste,” Graff continued. “This team really gave it all we had tonight and that’s all we can ask for.”
After throwing for 199 yards and three touchdowns in the first half to put his team on top 21-8 at halftime, Johnson picked right up where he left off to start the third quarter — connecting with Ja’Dale Thompson for the first of three second-half touchdown passes to the senior running back.
Mahtomedi cut the gap when Graff threaded the needle to find junior Jacob Sokoll on a 7-yard touchdown pass with 5:56 to go in the third quarter. The 2-point conversion trimmed the Raiders’ lead to 27-16.
But four plays into his team’s next possession, Johnson again connected with Thompson on a 48-yard touchdown pass followed by a 2-point conversion.
“He brings extreme leadership and passion,” Cretin-Derham Hall first-year head coach Kim Royston said of his starting quarterback.
“He has great internal confidence and I think that transfers down to the entire team.”
Senior Jacob Reubish scored for the Zephyrs on an 11-yard run early in the fourth quarter, but once more Johnson responded with a touchdown pass to Thompson — this one a 5-yarder that made the score 43-22.
“They’re a good team and they had an answer for everything we had tonight,” Mahtomedi coach Dave Muetzel said. “I give them credit and wish them all the luck in the world.”
But things were still far from over.
The Zephyrs cut the gap to 13 when junior Trevor Rogosheske threw a 45-yard touchdown pass to Graff, who ran for the 2-point conversion to make the score 43-30.
Then, after recovering the onside kick, Mahtomedi pulled within six, 43-37, on a 34-yard pass from Graff to junior Luke Torgrude with 5:29 remaining.
And even after Johnson’s touchdown pass to Heath, the Zephyrs didn’t quit, scoring again on Graff’s second touchdown run.
It was only after securing the onside kick that Johnson and his teammates could breathe easy.
“We felt like we left a lot out there the first time we played them,” Johnson said. “That was tough. So it felt great to get things done tonight.”
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