By halftime – and a 35-14 lead – Park fans were wondering how many points the Wolfpack would put up on the scoreboard.

Toward the end of the fourth quarter, however, those same Park fans were getting decidedly nervous.

In the end, Park’s early dominance was too much for the host Eagan Wildcats to overcome and the Wolfpack went home with a wild 44-34 victory Friday.

“I told them to enjoy the win,” Park head coach Rick Fryklund said he told his players following the game. “Obviously any win is something you want to enjoy and savor. But we have a whole lot of work to do because if you play that way in the second half 99 times out of a 100 it’s not going to go your way. Thankfully the clock ran out because I would have been nervous if we would have had any more time left on what they could have done offensively.

“I think we kind of believed that the game was just going to be over and that Eagan was going to stop playing and not do what they did in the second half,” Fryklund continued. “So we weren’t ready to play the second half and they were ready to go for a few more rounds. We were reeling as you saw there at the end.”

It was a game of distinctly different halves. Park easily won the first, Eagan won the second.

“I think in the first half we really came out explosive,” said Park senior quarterback Evan Bearth, who was 18of-25 for 242 yards and five touchdowns. Bearth threw for three touchdowns in the first quarter alone. “We wanted to come in here and make ourselves known. In the second half we kind of let off a little bit.”

Still, Park evened its season record at 1-1 and is 1-0 in the newly formed Maroon South Division. Eagan fell to 0-2.

Park’s passing game was the difference Friday. The Wolfpack gained 242 yards through the air, to 135 yards rushing.

Park’s running back Blake Johnson and receivers Ot Omot and Brady Perryman each scored two touchdowns.

The Wolfpack started with a bang before many fans had even reached their seats as Johnson returned the opening kickoff 94 yards for a quick touchdown. That set the stage for a wild first quarter in which Park scored four touchdowns and Eagan two. Park led 27-14 after one quarter.

Park added another score in the second to make it a 35-14 game. But any thoughts the Wolfpack had of this one turning into a laugher were decidedly premature.

Omot caught a 36-yard scoring strike from Bearth, followed by back-to-back touchdown receptions of 9 and 34 yards from Bearth to Perryman. Bearth connected with Omot again in the second quarter for Park’s 35-14 lead.

But any thoughts of a Park route were decidedly premature.

Eagan outplayed the Wolfpack in the second half, especially in the final stages of the fourth quarter. The Wildcats scored with 4:45 left to make it a 44-28 game, then added another touchdown two and a half minutes later to close to within 10 at 44-34. Eagan failed on its try for two after its final touchdown and that seemed to take a little wind out of the Wildcats’ sails.

Park was able to grind out the final two minutes and take home the win.

“When we go and we beat them in the mouth the first half we just have to come out and finish,” said Park senior lineman Will Smoot. “That’s just our main job. We’ve got to finish and be more in control of the game because we can’t give our opponents that wiggle room anymore.”

Park came out throwing early and never took their feet off the aerial gas in the first half.

Bearth nicely spread the ball around to his receivers. Perryman had nine receptions for 84 yards and two touchdowns. Omot had three catches for 86 yards and two touchdowns. David Ola-Kazeem had three catches for 45 yards and Johnson three catches for 27 yards.

Johnson rushed 15 times for 105 yards, a 7-0 yards per carry average.

But while Park was connecting through the air, Eagan was running the ball with great success, again, especially in the second half. The Wildcats finished with 360 yards rushing to just 11 yards passing.

Park coaches can point to a lot of things the Wolfpack did well Friday, and obviously some things that need shoring up.

“I felt we did really well in the trenches,” said lineman Danny Carlson. “I felt we dominated their D-line. Overall I think it was a really good team win.”

If nothing else, the game showed the Wolfpack can indeed compete at the 6A level.

“Absolutely, we’ve always had confidence,” said offensive and defensive lineman Braden Karnitz. “If not it’s even more prevalent right now, especially since we’re the underdogs moving up to 6A and we just knocked a dang good football team in the mouth.”

Junior linebacker Owen Rose had six tackles to lead the Park defense. Junior safety Brandan Lee had five stops and five assists, while senior defensive lineman Jack Theis had five tackles and two assists.

“Brandan Lee did a real nice job,” said Fryklund. “Obviously with the point production that we had from our offense, the offensive line has to do a real nice job in order to let Evan make the throws that he’s making.”

Park hosts Eastview (0-2) this week in another Thursday night game, Sept. 16. Eastview lost 21-0 to Lakeville North in its opener and dropped a 41-27 decision to Woodbury on Friday.

Park sophomore linebacker Taran Blasy wraps up the Eagan quarterback for a short gain in a fourth quarter stop.Photo by John Molene