STOUGHTON — Entering the final week of the season as the Southern Badger Conference leader in passing yards and touchdowns, Madison Edgewood quarterback Mario Minnaert had a feeling Stoughton was going to be expecting an aerial assault.

With that thought in mind, the senior helped the Crusaders establish the run, which ended up running Edgewood right into the WIAA playoffs.

With the Crusaders needing a win to secure a playoff berth, Minnaert opened the scoring on a 22-yard scamper and the Crusaders' offense never let up, leading Edgewood to a dominating 34-7 victory over the Vikings.

With the victory, Edgewood guaranteed itself a spot in the first round of next week's state playoffs.

"It means everything to us to get to the playoffs," Minnaert said. "With all the injuries we've had this year and still get (to the postseason) is a great achievement for our team."

With both teams needing victories to extend their seasons, Minnaert made sure Stoughton would be playing from behind from the start. After scoring Edgewood's first touchdown on a game-opening, 80-yard drive, Minnaert led Edgewood on scoring drives of 60, 75, 80 and 53 yards, finding little resistance from the Stoughton defense.

Although Minnaert scored the first touchdown, it was the Crusaders' rushing attack that carried the load the rest of the way. In the first half alone, Edgewood ran the ball 27 times for 169 yards and kept pouring it on, finishing with 298 yards on the ground.

"We were nervous this week, (we) knew we had to win to get in and we came out intense and ready to play," said senior Tim Longo, who led Edgewood with 103 rushing yards and three touchdowns. "We know what was working for us and we put it together. Everybody did their job and we were able to march down the field like clockwork."

While the offense moved in precision, the Crusaders' defense kept the Vikings' offense in check. Only allowing one touchdown on a short field, Edgewood allowed only 8 passing yards and just 100 first-half yards as they built a 13-point lead.

"We tried to keep their lanes to a minimum and I think we did that pretty well," Crusaders senior defensive tackle Ian Watkins said. "We went through a lot of adversity this year, and just to get in the playoffs means the world to us."

Despite losing their last three games by a combined 16 points, the Vikings knew a win against Edgewood would make them eligible for their second playoff berth -- and first since 1998.

"We just didn't play very well and we missed some opportunities early in the game," Stoughton coach Sean Stokes said. "In this offense, if you can't pass to put pressure on the defense, we're going to struggle. We didn't many answers tonight."