The clock finally struck midnight on the East Ridge football team’s Cinderella postseason run. But it took until the final moments to make it happen.

Lakeville South junior Jonah Shine scored on a 2-yard run with 2:25 to play, then the Cougars blocked what would have been a game-winning 42-yard field goal as time expired to beat the surprising Raptors 35-34 in a Class 6A state quarterfinal Friday night at St. Michael-Albertville High School.

Lakeville South (10-1) advances to meet Centennial in a Cougars vs. Cougars matchup in the semifinals at 7 p.m. next Thursday at U.S. Bank Stadium. Centennial beat Rosemount 24-0 in the quarterfinals this past Thursday in Stillwater.

East Ridge — which won as many games in the postseason as it did in the regular season (2) — finished its season 4-7 overall.

The Raptors got on the board first, marching 60 yards in 12 plays to score on a 5-yard pass from Zolnosky to junior Kyle Frendt on a game-opening drive that ran over six minutes off the clock.

But it didn’t take Lakeville South long to hold serve as junior Connor Cade rumbled 69 yards for a touchdown on the third play of the Cougars’ first possession, tying the score 7-7.

The two teams then traded touchdowns with Zolnosky scoring on a 1-yard run, then Lakeville South junior Bo Bokman hauling in a 35-yard touchdown catch early in the second quarter. A two-point conversion put the Cougars in front for the first time at 15-14.

From there, though, the rest of the first half belonged to the Raptors with 6-foot-2, 215-pound sophomore Ben Knaup scoring on a pair of 1-yard runs — the first of which was set up by a 55-yard catch by Frendt, who also had a 57-yard catch to set up Zolnosky’s scoring run.

That put East Ridge in front 27-15 at halftime.

The Raptors looked on the verge of adding to their lead when they recovered a fumble on the second-half kickoff at the Lakeville South 40. But an interception by Cougars senior Isaac Cin gave his team the ball back at the 23. Cade then struck again on a 39-yard touchdown run that cut the gap to 27-22.

After forcing an East Ridge punt, Lakeville South elected to go for it on fourth-and-1 at its own 39. The Cougars picked up the first down but fumbled, and the Raptors recovered at the 42, setting up a 6-yard touchdown pass from Zolnosky to senior Deontae Flemino that expanded the East Ridge lead to 34-22.

But the Cougars were far from out of it. Cade scored on a 58-yard touchdown catch on the second play of his team’s next possession, then Lakeville South recovered a fumble at the Raptors’ 42.  That set up Shine’s game-winning score on a drive the Cougars kept alive on fourth-and-2 at the East Ridge 18.

But Zolnosky led his team all the way to the Lakeville South 24 where the Raptors called timeout with 3.7 seconds to go. But junior Luke Ryerse’s kick was blocked, and time ran out.

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