Edina won the Boys DI HS championship in Minnesota in dramatic fashion, scoring a late try to go up by one and then holding off Duluth in a furious goal-line stand to end the game.

"This was like one of those Hollywood endings," said Edina Coach Chris Babiash. "Just an amazing game."

USA Men's 15s assistant coach Nate Osborne was in attendance and agreed that the excitement and standard of the game was of the highest order. "These kids are playing at a level that we see in Australia. It was just an amazing game, and great to see it in a stadium with all the other games, and so competitive."

Duluth punished Edina with their forward game, running pick-and-goes and daring Edina to stop them.

"They had a game plan; we knew what they were going to do," said Babiash. "But we couldn't stop it."

Duluth went up early but then Edina scored twice to lead 12-7. Duluth replied, taking the lead at 14-12, before an Edina penalty nudged them ahead 15-14.

They traded tries after that. Duluth took the lead 21-15, only to see Edina come back 22-21. Duluth took the lead once more, 28-22, and then Edina scored again to lead 29-28. 

Edina received two yellow cards in the second half, with the second one occurring with five minutes to go on the clock. Duluth ran their pick-and-go offense and made it down to th Edina line, but the Edina defense held. Five minutes after the clock had hit 0:00, Edina forced a knock-on, won the scrum, and kicked it into touch to end the game.

It was a heroic effort from both teams. For Edina, Sam Benkowski was a leader and scored two tries. HS All American Evan Holm was brilliant, and wing Kyle Fowlkes, still new to the game, scored two thrilling tries from long range.

Perhaps the biggest performances were from unexpected quarters. Hayden Vosbeek was drafted into the front row after a concussion sidelined one of Edina's props. That forced some shuffling and Vosbeek, who wrestles at 135 pounds, was put in at hooker.

"I told him this was the time we needed him to step up, and he stuffed their big prop and their No. 8 several times," said Babiash. "It was just that wrestler's mentality that he was going to take them down."

And with 15 minutes to go, Freshman Nick Bloom was put in at second row, and asked for 15 minutes of mayhem, which he provided, putting several Duluth players right on their backsides. 

"What has been the benefit for us in winning three straight state championships is that we find a way," said Babiash. "We were behind but we said, let's kick it downfield and play in their end, and we can do this. Earlier this season we lost a couple of close games, but I knew we had a young team, and I told them, keep believing in what you're doing and at the end of the season, no one's going to want to face you."

That may not have been compeltely correct, because Duluth certainly fronted up as well as can be expected, but Edina did find a way to win theiier fourth-straight state championship.