A handful of turnovers and big plays from Mark Mathis sent Woodbury into the postseason with a lot of momentum Wednesday night.

The junior running back rushed for a pair of touchdowns and caught another as his team recovered a fumble and recorded three interceptions en route to downing crosstown rival East Ridge 23-15 at TCO Stadium in Eagan.

“Coming off last season, we didn’t really have the year we wanted,” said Mathis, whose team finished 2-7 in 2024. “But this season, we’ve come back and proven ourselves.”

Indeed, with Wednesday’s win, the Royals finished the regular season 6-2, locking up a No. 2 seed in the Class 6A playoffs when the brackets get announced Thursday morning.

They also clinched a tie with Forest Lake for the Metro East Sub-District title, marking the first time that’s happened since Woodbury won it outright in 2022. The Rangers — who beat Stillwater 27-7 on Wednesday — will be the top seed by virtue of their head-to-head win over Woodbury.

Head coach Andy Hill referenced that contest, noting Woodbury’s current position is a far cry from where things seemed to stand after Forest Lake beat his team 51-0 on Sept. 19.

“If you’d have told me after Forest Lake beat us by 5,000 that we’d come into tonight playing for a share of the sub-district title and a No. 2 seed, I’d have been grateful,” Hill said. “That game made us question a lot about ourselves as a team, and it made me question a lot about myself as a coach.

“But our guys went back to work. That’s all you can do when something like that happens – humble yourself and get back to work. I’m so proud of our guys for doing that.”

It was East Ridge that held the ball almost 10 minutes on the game’s opening possession Wednesday, keeping the drive alive twice on fourth down.

But on 4th-and-1 at the Woodbury 21, the Royals defense held strong, stopping the Raptors for a loss of two.

“In a rivalry game, you want to score first,” said East Ridge coach Dan Fritze, whose team finished the regular season 4-4 and appears poised to receive a No. 4 seed and a first-round home game in the Class 6A bracket. “Getting stopped there was a big momentum swing.”

East Ridge was again on the move during its second possession, but Woodbury senior Cooper Crane recovered a fumble at midfield.

“Offensively, we moved the ball well tonight,” Fritze said. “But we had some costly penalties and turnovers killed us. It’s hard to win when you turn the ball over like that.”

Still, the Royals were unable to score on either of their first two offensive series.

That luck changed on their third drive, though, when a 31-yard catch by junior Nolan Freymiller set up an 11-yard touchdown run by Mathis that put Woodbury on top 7-0 with 3:24 to play before halftime.

“The big change off some of those turnovers really lit us up,” Mathis said. “It gave us a lot of energy, and we’ve said all season, we’re a second-half team. So we knew we were going to come back strong after halftime.”

Which is exactly what happened after the Raptors couldn’t score despite having the ball at the Woodbury 12 in the final seconds of the first half.

That kept the momentum with Mathis and his teammates. He scored on a 2-yard run with 8:09 to play in the third quarter, then hauled in a 32-yard touchdown pass from senior Emmett Snuggerud one play after Freymiller picked off a pass for the Royals’ third turnover of the night.

“We were setting up plays defensively,” Freymiller said. “There were tips in the air. Our cornerbacks were going to get the ball. We were ballhawking tonight. It was fun.”

East Ridge finally got on the board when senior Cedric Tomes – a University of Minnesota basketball recruit – found junior Leo Stalsberg on a 32-yard touchdown pass that cut the gap to 20-7 late in the third quarter.

But Woodbury extended its lead to 23-7 when junior Brayden Schmitz hit a 38-yard field goal with 11:07 left to play.

The Raptors advanced to the Royals’ 23 on their next possession, but a false start penalty cost them five yards. Then, two plays later, Woodbury picked up turnover No. 4 with an interception in the end zone.

East Ridge did get a late touchdown run by senior Vince Hurley with 19 seconds remaining and converted the two-point conversion.

But the Royals recovered the ensuing onside kick to seal the win. Woodbury’s path to the state tournament now consists of a pair of home games.

“After being part of a down year last season, this is just so much fun,” Freymiller said. “It feels great and we want to keep the momentum rolling.”