The team with a blue-collar, lunch-pail mentality left U.S. Bank Stadium with gold medals.

Forget the flash, the glitz or the glamour, Centennial wants to line up against its opponent and go mano a mano.

Marcus Whiting had two rushing touchdowns and a game-saving stop, Dylan Cummings ran for a score and passed for another and the bruising Cougars held off Edina 28-27 Friday in the Class 6A championship game for the school’s first state football crown.

A few hearts may have skipped beats, too.

Sonny Villegas had a 21-yard touchdown reception from Mason West with 16 seconds left to get the Hornets within one.

Coach Jason Potts had Edina, down 28-14 early in the fourth quarter, go for the win.

But Whiting stopped Chase Bjorgaard less than a yard away from the goal line and the Cougars escaped.

Maverick Harper added 74 rushing yards for the Cougars (12-1), in a title game for the second time in school history. Centennial fell to Hutchinson for the 1984 Class A crown.

A big difference was Centennial coming up in the clutch.

The Cougars were 5 for 7 on fourth down. And their defense made a couple big plays early in the final frame and again at the end.

Edina (9-4) got within one touchdown on a West 6-yard run with 3:47 left.

Down 21-14, Edina’s John Warpinski — who had a pair of 1-yard scores — was stopped on fourth-and-2 by Centennial linebackers Timothy Ball and Caden Coopersmith near the Cougars 44 on the opening play of the fourth quarter.

Two plays later, Cummings went around the left end for a 38-yard dash to the Edina 17. Three plays later, Whiting scored from the 11 for a 28-14 lead.

Cummings finished with a team-high 119 rushing yards and was 6 of 12 for 70 yards passing.

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