I told them that there’s not much in our control about this game anymore tonight except tomorrow looking in the mirror, owning what we need to improve upon and getting better because this can go one of two ways and we need to make a decision”

Park Head Coach Rick Fryklund

Coach really just told us we’ve got to go and put in the work in practice and we’ve got to work a lot harder and our coach really took the blame, but I think a lot of its on our work ethic at practice”

Kody Aikens, sophomore linebacker

Lightning struck early and often Thursday night, but unlike the week before, this one had a much different outcome.

Host Eastview jumped out to a quick 20-0 lead in the first a quarter and a half in Apple Valley, then broke the game wide open in the third quarter with three touchdowns, including a pair of 42-yard interception returns for scores.

The results was a 42-14 Eastview win over Park, which set the Wolfpack back to .500 on the season.

“We can’t start out slow,” said Wolfpack senior lineman Danny Carlson. “We’ve got to start out on the gas. We’ve got to go.”

Park (now 3-3 on the season and 3-2 in the division) closes the regular season against a pair of old Suburban East Conference foes. The Wolfpack play at Mounds View (3-3) Friday, Oct. 13, then host sixth-ranked Stillwater (5-1) Thursday, Oct. 19, in the regular season finale. The Wolfpack haven’t played an SEC football schedule since the 2014 regular season. In that campaign, Park dropped a 56-7 game to the Ponies. In 2013, Park lost to Mounds View 48-17.

Mounds View lost a 21-14 decision to East Ridge Thursday. While Park has had trouble getting stops this season, Mounds View has struggled on offense, averaging just 212 yards and 14.5 points per game. The teams have shared just one common opponent, both losing to East Ridge (Mounds View by 7, Park by 19).

At Apple Valley, Park quickly fell behind 14-0 in the first half. Then a costly fumble on the team’s first play from scrimmage following Eastview’s second touchdown gave the Lightning the ball right back in prime real estate. Eastview quickly scored to take a 20-0 lead.

Park, briefly, saw life as junior quarterback Miskir Esayas broke free on a 45-yard touchdown run right up the gut to trim the lead to 20-7. But that glimpse of hope proved fleeting for the Wolfpack.

“We had opportunities to try and get momentum back and unfortunately we didn’t execute, or they just did a great job of executing so we never could take advantage of those opportunities,” said Park head coach Rick Fryklund.

While the first half was difficult, the third quarter was a disaster for Park. Eastview scored three times, including twice on 42-yard interception returns sandwiched around an 11-yard scoring pass. The Lightning led 42-7 after three quarters.

Park scored on a 3-yard run by Brett Salmonson in the fourth quarter, but that was little compensation for a disappointed Wolfpack team.

The Wolfpack committed four killing turnovers, throwing three interceptions and losing one fumble.

“I just think we had a lot of little mistakes that added up a lot,” said Carlson. “When we make those mistakes in practice, they tend to show on game night.”

Park’s running game was fine, generating 231 yards of offense Thursday. But the passing game went nowhere against the Lightning the entire night, accounting for just 44 yards.  That’s usually not a winning formular for the Wolfpack.

Coming off one of his best games against Hopkins, Esayas had one of his worst games against Eastview statistically, completing just 2 of 10 passes for 15 yards while throwing three interceptions. Park tried Ben Pederson at quarterback, but he couldn’t move the offense either, connecting on just 4 of 7 passes for 29 yards.

Esayas did gain 83 yards rushing, but more than half of that was on that one long scoring run in the second quarter. Brett Salmonson had 16 carries for 78 yards and Skyler Morgan ran 10 times for 54 yards. Park’s backs had at least four 15-plus yard runs in the game, but the Wolfpack had trouble sustaining drives.

“I told them that there’s not much in our control about this game anymore tonight except tomorrow looking in the mirror, owning what we need to improve upon and getting better because this can go one of two ways and we need to make a decision,” said Fryklund. “I’m not going to make any excuses for what occurred tonight. Everyone’s got the same amount of days to get ready and they did a much better job than we did.”

Senior defensive back Salmonson also led the defense, collecting 10 tackles and 6 assists. Sophomore linebacker Keon Moody had seven solos, seven assists and a tackle for loss. Zach Carr had seven tackles. Senior David Laturnus had three solos, two assist and a tackle for loss. Senior lineman Jalen Kalinowski had one tackle, one sack and a tackle for a loss.

Eastview outgained Park by just 25 total yards, 300 to 275, but that stat didn’t particularly jive with how the game felt. Park never really seemed in this on except briefly after Esayas’ second quarter score.

“Coach really just told us we’ve got to go and put in the work in practice and we’ve got to work a lot harder and our coach really took the blame, but I think a lot of its on our work ethic at practice,” said sophomore linebacker Kody Aikens. “I just think we need to step it up. But I think we’re doing good overall as a team and we just need to keep coming out and working hard.

“The game obviously didn’t turn out how we would like it,” added Aikens. “But I think our focus and our just mentality coming in after halftime -- I just think it needs to be stepped up and leveled up a step higher, a few steps higher.”