6-1 Hornets Have 'Quiet Confidence to Believe in Themselves'

Another week, another opponent expecting an easy homecoming win against the Edina High School football team. If the last three games are any indication, the Hornets could be the ones getting the last laugh in Eden Prairie.

This is a football team that appears to love defying all expectations. The 6-1 Hornets have been proving their mettle every week of the 2012 season, taking down powerhouses like Wayzata and Minnetonka along the way.

Coming off of a 4-4 season in 2011, Coach Reed Boltmann said a number of Lake Conference rivals opted to book the Hornets as their homecoming opponents to ensure an "easy win."

"We kind if knew after how we finished last season that people thought we might be easy to beat for homecoming," Boltmann said. "To do what we've done this season is a tribute to our seniors and captains really working to become a team, playing together, caring for one another and sacrificing for one another. They have a quiet confidence to believe in themselves."

At this point, it's not really much of a surprise the Hornets are ending most Friday nights with another win under their belts. Outside of a three-point loss to Totino-Grace earlier this season, Edina has been managing upset victories left and right.

Lakeville South. Minnetonka. Hopkins. Wayzata. And that's just the past four weeks of the season.

They aren't blowouts, but Edina is still piling up victories. They're sitting atop the Lake Conference standings as well, having gone 3-0 this season against some of their fiercest rivals.

The Hornets close out their season against Eden Prairie (6-0 overall, 2-0 conference) on Friday, Oct. 12.

Be sure to visit Patch Friday night for a LIVE video broadcast of the game.

Boltmann said "it's always a challenge" to head over to Eden Prairie for a game, given the football program's successes and tradition of winning.

"They (Eden Prairie) expect to win when they take the field," he said. "It's a steep hill to climb, but our players have to have the confidence to go over there and believe we can win against them."

The Hornets have been putting on defensive clinics all season long. Just last week, they managed to hold Wayzata to less than 1.2 yards per carry, something Boltmann and the rest of the coaching staff "take great pride in."

"My hat goes off to our defensive guys for how well they've been playing all year against the run," he said. "If we're able to control the line of scrimmage and force them to throw the ball a bit more, we could win this one."

Regardless of how things go against the Eagles, Edina seems poised to make a deep run in post-season tournaments. Boltmann said the change to the state's playoff rules is a welcome one as far as he's concerned.

This year, the 32 teams making up Class 6A will be playing under a brand new playoff format approved last fall by the Minnesota State High School League's Board of Directors. The 32 teams will be matched up in traditional section quarterfinal games, with No. 1 seeded teams facing the No. 8 seeds, No. 2 facing No. 7, etc.

But after that initial round, the four remaining teams in each section will square off in section crossover games. Whichever eight teams win those games advance to the state tournament, at which point they'll be seeded all over again by coaches' votes.

What that means for Edina is the Hornets don't have to face the possibility of being knocked out by the powerhouses of their section without ever getting a shot at the state tournament, which Boltmann says has "energized" his team all season.

"It allows us if we have a good season to get out of sectional play without facing Eden Prairie or Minnetonka," he said. "Maybe we get to see some new scenery, maybe we'll face some new teams. It's a breath of fresh air and the kids took that to heart this summer."

Like Edina Patch on Facebook | Follow us on Twitter | Sign up for our daily newsletter