Knowing his team’s intra-district rival well, Chanhassen coach Cullen Nelson stressed to his players before meeting Chaska on Friday the importance of not letting the Hawks play the type of game they wanted to play.

“They’re a running team,” Nelson said. “We couldn’t afford to go three-and-out, give them the ball, let them eat clock and win the field position battle. We had to start fast.”

And so they did. The Storm scored the first two times they had the ball, built a 21-point lead late in the first half and rode that momentum to a 28-14 victory in front of an overflow crowd at Chaska.

Quarterback Nathan Ramler capped the Storm’s opening drive, a 68-yard, eight-play affair, with a 12-yard scoring strike to Loghan Gustad. After Chanhassen, ranked fourth in Class 5A, forced No. 8 Chaska into its second straight three-and-out, the Storm struck quickly.

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Ramler found Kade Bush, the Storm’s Arkansas-committed tight end, down the right sideline. Bush showed off his Division I speed, outracing the Chaska defense for a 56-yard score and a 14-0 first-quarter lead.

“Our plan was to make a statement early, try to get everyone a touch and get our rhythm going,” Ramler said. “That’s been our biggest thing this year, trying to get in a good rhythm with everybody contributing.”

While the offense what putting up points, the Chanhassen defense was at its stubborn best. The Storm’s front seven was in fine form, not letting the Hawks get a first down until late in the first half.

Chaska had a bright spot. Colton Wacker took a short pass over the middle and turned it into a 91-yard touchdown just before halftime, but that was about it for the Hawks.

Chanhassen sealed the victory in the fourth quarter when Logan Smith stepped in front of a pass and returned it 94 yards for a touchdown and a 28-7 lead.

Chaska added a late touchdown for the final score.

It was Chanhassen’s fifth straight victory over Chaska.

“I thought our defense really set the tone tonight,” Nelson said. “The defensive line did a really good job of being assignment-sound and not trying to do too much. They just did a really good job of carrying over what we practiced all week into the game. And we tackled well, which was really important.”

Chanhassen improved to 5-1 while Chaska fell to 4-2.