The Class 6A final billed as a showdown between a pair of exceptional quarterbacks morphed into a showcase of very different offensive philosophies.

Edina, riding a record-setting game by senior running back Chase Bjorgaard, outscored Moorhead’s potent passing attack, giving the Hornets their first football state championship in a wildly entertaining 42-35 championship game.

Bjorgaard, a shifty, hard-charging senior, ran for 320 yards and tied a Prep Bowl record with six touchdowns. His explosive running more than offset a record-setting passing night by Moorhead junior quarterback Jett Feeney. Feeney completed 29 of 39 passes for a Prep Bowl-record 373 yards. Two of those completions went for touchdowns, and Feeney also ran for a pair of touchdowns.

Click the video box above to hear from the players and coaches.

For Bjorgaard, the victory went a long way toward assuaging his lingering Prep Bowl disappointment of two years ago, when he was stopped a yard short of the goal line on a potential game-winning two-point conversion in a 28-27 loss to Centennial.

“It’s unreal,” said Bjorgaard, who is also slated to be the starting goaltender for the Hornets hockey team and is a sought-after baseball prospect. “I was saying that before the game and for the whole weekend. I’ve tried to look past it, but at the same time, I use it as motivation. So, yeah, it feels great for sure.”

Going into the game, most observers focused on the quarterback showdown between Feeney and Edina senior Mason West. The 6-7 West is considered one of the top quarterback prospects in Minnesota but has said that Friday was his last game behind center. West’s future is on the hockey rink. He’s committed to play in college at Michigan State, and he was a first-round draft pick of the Chicago Blackhawks in June. He chose to delay his hockey career to pursue the football state championship that eluded Edina two years ago.

Edina (9-4) sputtered to a 4-4 record during the regular season, but West credited Hornets coach Jason Potts for keeping the team’s eyes on the prize when things got tough.

“He always talks about us being resilient,” West said. “We had ups and downs in the season and in this game, but we just stayed the course. We just focused on us and playing as a unit.”

West said the victory was proof he made the right decision when he decided to play one last year of football.

Expand image

Expand image

Expand image

Expand image

Expand image

Expand image

Expand image

Expand image

Expand image

Expand image

Expand image

Expand image

1/12

“Obviously, you don’t get these times back, like with all your friends. We won the state championship, but the times you remember is being in practice and working hard as a team,” West said. “In a season, there’s a lot of ups and downs. So you get to really have fun once you succeed and you have to fail in order to win. But it’s about the team collectively. That’s what we focused on all year.”

For Moorhead (8-5), it was a disappointing ending to the first season as a Class 6A program, but Spuds coach Kevin Feeney preferred to stress his team’s achievements.

“I don’t know what the outside world thought about where we belonged, but I know the guys within our locker room truly believed we were where we should be,” Feeney said. “The characteristics of this team — the mental toughness, the resiliency, the grit and the discipline they showed — I told ’em if they hang on to those characteristics in life, they’re gonna have a pretty sweet life.”