Coon Rapids went about business just the opposite way it had conducted its business the previous two weeks.

That is, instead of taking an early lead of nine points or more which it did against both Anoka and Blaine, it spotted the opposition, Andover, a 12-0 lead in the first quarter.

While Coon Rapids lost the games in which it led 9-0 and 14-0 to Anoka and Blaine, it came back to beat Andover 25-19.

Head coach Jon Young, however, said it was hardly a part of a master plan.

“The kids were a little nervous coming out in this game with our 1983 state championship team present,” he said.

“The kids wanted to show those guys [the 1983 team] what they could do, but got off to a slow start. But when it counted, this time, this game we showed a sense of urgency, which we didn’t have in either the games against Anoka or Blaine.”

An opening kickoff out of bounds set up Andover on the 35-yard line and quarterback Wes Satzinger moved the offense up the field into scoring position before hooking up with Jay Ekman on an 8-yard touchdown pass play for a 6-0 lead. On its second possession, Andover took over just past midfield and thanks to a pair of drive-perpetuating encroachment penalties and a 15-yard pass interference penalty, moved in for a another score — on a Satzinger to Kyle Rademacher 19-yard touchdown pass play — and 12-0 lead.

 Carter Adams broke away for Coon Rapids.

“We made some mistakes, but they were aggressive mistakes — something that can be fixed,” said Young of the penalties.

“We got some opportunities and made the most of them early,” said Rich Wilkie, head coach of Andover. “We knew it was going to be a tough game to the end, however.”

And it was a tough game.

Showing that sense of urgency in the second quarter, Coon Rapids came back to cut the Andover lead in half on a short pass from Blair Townsend to Carter Adams. Later in the quarter after Andover fumbled the ball away to at the 40-yard line, Coon Rapids moved in again to tie the game. This time it was a 12-yard Townsend-to-Jerad Zimmel pass with 76 seconds remaining before halftime.

In the third quarter, Townsend directed Coon Rapids on a time-consuming 81-yard touchdown drive that (with an extra point after two earlier misses) gave Coon Rapids a 19-12 lead. The scoring play was a 21-yard Townsend-to-Michael Jacob touchdown pass.

In the fourth quarter, Andover and its quarterback Satzinger put together a long scoring drive of its own of 78 yards.

Key passes from Satzinger to Jason Schneider, including a long pass of 37 yards to Coon Rapids’ 15-yard line put Andover into scoring position. Ultimately, Satzinger kept up the middle for three yards and the touchdown. And with its first successful extra-point kick, Andover had tied the game.

“This was beginning to be a fun football game,” said Wilkie.

It became especially fun for Coon Rapids, which started what proved to be a game-winning drive with less than seven minutes to play on its own 12-yard line.

Townsend converted a series of big plays on this drive, but none bigger than an early third-down-and-three from the 19 when he scrambled out of the pocket, directed his receivers to open spots, then hit a wide open Zimmel near midfield. When the Andover defense pulled him down, Zimmel had a first down on Andover’s 30-yard line.

“We had a couple of shots at him [Townsend] for the sack, but missed our opportunities,” added Wilkie.

From that point it was a series of pounding rushes by fullback Joe Novak to get the ball to the 1-yard line. After an Andover time out, the ball was given to Evan Lowe, who shot through the hole into the end zone for what proved to be the game-winning score with 93 seconds remaining.

Townsend finished the game by completing 14 of 18 passes for just under 200 yards. Satzinger finished with 160 yards passing, but Coon Rapids’ defense limited the Andover rushing game to less than 50 total yards...