East Ridge-Mounds View Football: A Student's Perspective

A lot of buzz over Friday’s game that pitted SEC rivals East Ridge and the Mustangs of Mounds View High School.

Many students were excited to see if the Raptors could pull out a win after starting the season 1-1 with a win against Forest Lake and a loss to perennial state championship contender Cretin-Derham Hall.

We saw a packed house for the game, and both student sections were filled with enthusiastic fans. The East Ridge side was completely full as the Mustangs kicked off to the Raptors to start the game. Chants coming from the students section cheered on the Raptors and jeered the Mustangs.

Both defenses started off strong, but it was Mounds View that broke the seal on an 11-yard touchdown run by Jeremy Redmond.

The Raptors still held strong though, and the thousands of fans at the Nest would not be deterred from cheering on their squad. The Raptors defense continued to look good while the offense failed to put points on the board.

After numerous chants—most of them lead by the East Ridge cheerleaders and super fans—the Raptors looked motivated to score. Fumbles and interceptions throughout the night, however, thwarted Raptor drives and Mounds View scored once again, this time through a second quarter field goal from 30 yards out by Alec Tolson.

The score held at 10-0 Mounds View as the first half came to a close.

The classic East Ridge halftime followed—highlighted by the tradition of the Raptor Rollercoaster, traditionally lead by the East Ridge Super fans and East Ridge faculty shooting Raptors T-shirts into the students section. The optimism didn’t stray as the Raptors kicked off the ball to start the second half.

The score stayed at 10-0 as the Raptor defense did a fantastic job of keeping the Mustangs offense in check.

The offense, however, still continued to struggle and as the third quarter closed the score remained 10-0.

The Mustangs went on to score one final time, this time on a six-yard touchdown run by Jimmy Jaeger, as Mounds View handed the Raptors (1-2) their second loss of the season and themselves improved to 2-1, winning their second game of the season after opening with a 13-6 victory over the Hastings Raiders.

The Raptors look to rebound next week as they face one of their two biggest rivals in the Woodbury Royals, lead by running back Junius Wilson, wide receiver Connor McKeen and breakout quarterback Sawyer Moon.

The annual game will be held at Woodbury High School as the Raptors, lead by three-year starting quarterback Brandon Johnson, leading rusher Val Huerta and versatile lineman Marcus Kelly, try to knock off the Royals for the second-year in a row.

Kick-off is at 7 p.m. and will most likely be a popular destination for many Woodbury residents.