High school football: A big run, and a couple big kicks, lead Totino-Grace past Orono and into Class 4A title game

Totino-Grace turned Orono over on downs at the Eagles’ 33-yard line with 70 seconds to play in the first half and Totino-Grace leading 17-7 in a Class 4A football state tournament semifinal game Friday at U.S. Bank Stadium.

It was a fine time to run out the clock and cruise into halftime with its double-digit advantage. And that was indeed the plan, with one caveat — giving Marquel Kenten the ball is never just “running out the clock.”

“Anytime he has his hands on the ball, it’s a chance,” Eagles coach Jay Anderson said. “So, were we trying to run the clock out? Yes. Were we calling a play that we thought Marquel could break one? For sure.”

That’s exactly what he did. On third and 7, the senior busted a 64-yard touchdown run to extend Totino-Grace’s lead to 24-7 at the break.

“My goal was to score, just because going into halftime, you always want to have a positive play so we could base the rest of the half off that,” Kenten said. “I got lucky enough to break it off and go into the end zone.”

Lucky, and good. The Eagles’ star running back finished with 189 yards rushing on 15 carries to key Totino-Grace’s 30-21 victory over Orono.

Totino-Grace will meet Becker in the Class 4A state title game at 1 p.m. on Nov. 22.

“The complexion of the game kind of changed at that point in time, and obviously, the way that game ended, we needed that out of Marquel,” Anderson said. “We had some good blocking up front, and then he got into the secondary really fast. I think that was huge for us, maybe even the turning point in the game, especially the way they came back in the second half.”

Because Orono did fight back. Totino-Grace won a meeting last month between the two teams, 11-8. This would not be a blowout, either. Orono coach Joe McPherson emphasized the importance of taking things one play at a time to his team at halftime, despite the massive deficit.

And, fresh out of the break, Orono scored a touchdown, forced a Totino-Grace punt and then found the end zone once more. Suddenly, Totino-Grace’s lead was trimmed to 24-21 late in the third quarter.

“We have great kids. And they played hard all year. They’ve always given it everything they’ve got,” McPherson said. “We just needed a break or two, and we got it early in the second half, and they just kept playing. Really proud of all of them.”

But Totino-Grace never wavered. The offense drove down the field to set up a 36-yard field goal from Jimmy McNeil, who’s also the team’s starting offensive tackle.

Orono (9-3) threatened to potentially take the lead on its next drive, only to have Emmanuel Benson come up with a massive interception on first and goal to get the Eagles the ball back.

“We put a couple plays together in a row and got back into the game. And then just had to make a couple plays that we didn’t make, and they ended up winning,” McPherson said. “It’s unfortunate, but you’ve got to lose. There’s only one team that wins at the end. It was great to see the senior class go out the way they did. They had a great season.”

Totino-Grace (12-0) went on a 75-yard drive and, again, McNeil’s leg came through, as he kicked another 36 yarder to effectively put the game on ice with 2 minutes, 19 seconds to play.

“There’s no doubt when you’ve got Jimmy back there, he’s going to put the ball through the uprights,” Totino-Grace quarterback Jake Person said. “He’s got a big leg, and he’s got ice in his veins, so that was a great job by him to get that one for us.”