Leaning on big plays for most of the first half, Lakeville South turned a 20-point halftime lead into a 41-27 victory over visiting Wayzata in the steamy Friday night air.
But what had seemed at one point like a comfortable stroll to victory proved more precarious than the Lakeville South players may have anticipated.
"We tell our kids that the game might sometimes come easy on the field, but it is not," Lakeville South coach Ben Burk said. "It's how do you respond?"
After taking a 20-0 lead midway through the second quarter, the ease of their early success dissipated. Lakeville South had allowed Wayzata a glimmer of hope, and the Trojans went 84 yards in 16 plays for their first touchdown of the game. A door ajar needed to be slammed shut.
His team having just given up a touchdown, junior Connor Cade was looking to for something to regain the momentum lost.
He leaned on his most ample talent: running fast. The junior took the ensuing kickoff, veered left, picked up a block from teammate Jay Winters and sped past the Wayzata defense for a school-record 99-yard kickoff return touchdown, restoring the advantage that proved important later on.
"Jay Winters made an amazing block for me, and that was all I needed," Cade said. "After that, I was winded."
It was the fourth long touchdown of the first half for Lakeville South, which also had a 41-yard scoring reception from Winters, a 77-yard run by Jonah Shine and a 66-yard scoop-and-score by Joe Hager preceding Cade's big play.
The Cougars also added a goalline stand in the first quarter that became a 14-point swing when Shine went the distance a few plays later.
For all of the long touchdowns, it was a slower, determined fourth-quarter drive that sealed the win for Lakeville South. After Wayzata had cut the lead to 27-21, the Cougars embarked on a 10-play, 70-yard scoring drive that was capped by a 27-yard touchdown by Cade with 6:57 left in the game
Wayzata's hopes for a come-from-behind victory wilted.
"We did some unforced things to hurt ourselves," Wayzata coach Lambert Brown said. "Against a really good football team, you can't make your own mistakes."
