After rolling to a perfect 10-0 regular season, and then past Sartell and Minnetonka in the first two rounds at state, the Park Wolfpack finally found a team they couldn’t handle.
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After rolling to a perfect 10-0 regular season, and then past Sartell and Minnetonka in the first two rounds at state, the Park Wolfpack finally found a team they couldn’t handle.
Fifth-seeded Park fell to top-seeded and eventual state champion Mahtomedi 32-0 in the flag football state tournament semifinals at TCO Stadium in Eagan Monday.
Unlike most games, Park’s pass-oriented offense failed to generate much against Mahtomedi. Meanwhile, Mahtomedi was able to find some holes in the Park pass defense.
It was the first loss of the season for the Wolfpack, which finished 12-1 overall.
Park came into the game averaging 34 points on offense.
Park easily dispatched 12th-seeded Sartell 38-6 in the tournament opener, then downed fourth-seeded Minnetonka 40-25 in the quarterfinals to advance to the semifinals.
Mahtomedi, meanwhile, steamrolled to the first girls flag football title with wins over Bloomington (32-0), Park (32-0) and then second-seeded La Crescent-Hoka 36-20 in the flag football championship.
Park will have to replace several key seniors off this year’s team, including Leonard, Brinkman, Lauen Osland and Kyra Stoffer. But the Wolfpack will return a strong nucleus including starting quarterback Alayna Adamez, receiver Maleah McMorrow, Addie Corkish, Keira Brennan, Abby Schmitzer, Aliyah Jarmon, Paige Stewart and Pajyeeb Kong.
Some 52 teams elected to play flag football in Minnesota this season and next season undoubtedly will see more. Park’s top four finish at state this spring will be a solid legacy to build on.
For Leonard, Brinkman, McMorrow and Stofer, however, the beat goes on this week as the foursome will play in the state lacrosse tournament.
Asked if this loss will motivate her during the lacrosse tourney, Leonard said., “Yeah, a lot of extra motivation. Especially I don’t want to lose I feel like that. I feel like just giving it 110 percent all the time.
“I think just some of our mistakes caught up to us and I think the nervousness, we were more loose in the first games,” Leonard added. “And being nervous made us not catch the ball as I know everyone on offense just dropped it when we could have easily had it.”
“I think we just started to forget like plays and stuff,” said Brinkman. “We just had a lot going on and we just started to forget the little steps; we just started making mental mistakes.
Reflecting on the season, Brinkman said. “It’s been super fun, just getting to learn all the new plays and we’re all so close now. And it's just fun all being together all the time.”
