Champlin Park coach Nick Keenan doesn’t use words like “young” or “untested” when he talks about his team.

He prefers something a little more saucy.

“We’re really young,” Keenan said in the aftermath of the Royals’ come-from-behind, 28-24 victory Friday at Andover. “But our junior class has worked their tails off and we coaches say that we’re not young, we’re marinating.”

After spotting Andover, ranked seventh in the Minnesota Top 25, a 14-0 first-quarter lead, Champlin Park got physical. The Rebels, ranked 13th, took advantage of their size and a couple of breaks that went their way to rally for victory.

Tight end Jack Axness, who had spent a good part of the evening running unencumbered down the middle of the field, caught a 19-yard pass from quarterback Miles Felton and strode untouched into the end zone for the winning touchdown with 59 seconds left.

Andover manufactured a late opportunity to steal the victory in the closing seconds.

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Quarterback Joseph Mapson threw up a Hail Mary pass that found the hands of an Andover receiver at the Champlin Park 19. But Mapson’s pass into the end zone on the ensuing play was picked off, sealing the Rebels’ victory.

Andover looked like it was preparing to run away with the victory early, jumping out to a two-touchdown advantage on a pair of scoring runs by Mapson.

But Champlin Park, which entered the game 1-0 for the first time since 2020, never backed down. The Rebels cut the margin to a single touchdown in the second quarter on the first Felton-to-Axness touchdown, a 30-yarder that Axness caught in full stride before barreling into the end zone.

The Rebels got their first big break on the next Andover possession. The defense, getting stronger as the game wore one, stopped Mapson on fourth-and-1 at the Andover 29-yard-line. It only took a few plays before running back Preston Nelson went 10 yards to pay dirt, making the score 14-14.

Keenan went with another barbecue analogy to describe the rally.

“At halftime, I said, ‘Now it’s time to put them on the grill,’ ” he said. “I’m just so proud of these kids because they got down early and they could have quit. We talk about ups and downs in the game, but they just kept believing in themselves.”