Hornets Suffer First Loss of Season Against Totino-Grace

The football team suffered its first loss of the season Friday, Sept. 7, in a close battle against Totino-Grace High School.

The Eagles were able to effectively eliminate the Hornets' running game—Edina finished the game with a combined 23 yards rushing—forcing quarterback Mark Handberg to throw the ball for much of the contest. Handberg completed 20 of 29 passes for 187 yards, with one touchdown and two interceptions.

Totino-Grace drew first blood in the contest, on a 38-yard touchdown pass from quarterback AJ LaPanta to wide receiver Charlie Miller with 7:01 remaining in the first quarter.

Edina went three quarters without finding the end zone, settling for a pair of field goals from Patrick LeCorre in the second and third quarters. Handberg finally connected with Marley Allison in the fourth quarter on a 19-yard touchdown pass to take the lead, 12-7. Edina attempted a two-point conversion, but failed to score.

Totino-Grace marched back down the field to score a game-winning touchdown with 3:44 remaining on the clock, then completed a two-point conversion pass of their own to take a 15-12 lead. 

The Hornets are now 2-1 on the season, while Totino-Grace maintains its undefeated record at 2-0.

UP NEXT

The Hornets return to to host Lakeville South at 7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 14.

A special thanks to Frank Heffelfinger for sharing photos from the game. If you want to send in local sports scores, recaps or photos, send an email to Ryan.Gauthier@patch.com.

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