All the tea leaves predicted that this was going to be a dogfight in the air between two pass-happy offenses.

Instead, there was Park running the Wildcat numerous times in the second half, and the game coming down to a long kick by the Tornadoes in the final seconds.

Fortunately for the Park fans and their loyal, but cold and damp senior night supporters, visiting Anoka missed that final field goal and the Wolfpack came away with a dramatic 29-28 win Friday night.

“We had a lot of adversity before the game, starting with guys needing to play a lot of different spots” said Park head coach Rick Fryklund. “And for that first half as we kind of worked our way through guys playing in some different places, I was proud of how we battled. When guys got injured in the middle of the game, we had some guys that had not seen varsity minutes at all that stepped in. Like when DJ Brown got hurt and Paul Giadyu stepped up and broke that big screen run. He’s been working his tail off all year and he finally got his opportunity and he made a big pay for the team when we had to have it.

“I’m most proud of when adversity struck and their number was called, they answered the call,” Fryklund added.

Park snapped a two-game losing streak improved its record to 3-4 heading into the final game of the regular season, a Thursday afternoon home contest against the Prior Lake Lakers (4-3).

Prior Lake dominated the Wolfpack in last season’s game, winning 56-21. The Lakers have also had the better of it against common opponents. Prior Lake whacked Hopkins 43-0 and lost a tough one to Lakeville South, 21-17. Park topped Hopkins 50-13 in its largest win of the season, but struggled with Lakeville South in the season opener, losing 69-14.

The Park-Anoka game figured to be an air-it-out contest, with Anoka averaging 244 yards passing and 66.5 yards rushing a game compared to Park’s averages of 250.2 passing yards a game and 86.5 rushing yards a game.

Anoka came into the contest with just one win in six games, a 30-0 victory over Roseville. The Tornadoes lost to Shakopee (49-20), Forest Lake (35-29), Burnsville (2824), Mounds View (17-7) and White Bear Lake (45-20).

But for much of the second half Friday night, it looked like the Tornadoes might get their second win of the season. Anoka led 14-13 14-13 early in the third quarter, then 28-21 in the fourth.

Park’s Skyler Morgan set up the Wolfpack in excellent position with a long kickoff return. The Wolfpack then went to work on what would turn out to be the winning drive.

Park tied it on a 5-yard touchdown pass from Sam Berry to David Ola-Kazeem, then went ahead on a 2-point conversion pass for a 29-28 lead with 6:07 to play.

Park then got a huge defensive play when senior Brett Salmonson stepped in front of an Anoka pass for an interception.

“I did what I was coached to do, came and made the play,” said Salmonson who had four solo stops and six assists to go with the interception. “I was looking at his eyes (the Anoka quarterback), ran toward his eyes, the ball was tipped, I just made the play. I’d like to thank my defensive line, they caused the pressure, the whole team. It wasn’t just me; it was the whole team. A good team win.”

Anoka had one last possession and moved down the field into striking range. But a long field goal went short and wide to give the Wolfpack the win.

“We just kept going,” said senior linebacker Jacob Nickle. “we still had more gas in the tank at the end of the day. Honestly, I think we just beat them at the end of the day. They didn’t have as much energy as we did.”

Park’s DJ Brown Jr. had perhaps his best game of the season, running the ball 31 times for 170 yards and two touchdowns, including a 38-yard scamper in the second quarter that gave Park a 13-0 lead.

Brown got some of his yards via the wildcat offense, an offense the Park had kept under wraps before this game.

“We felt like we could do some stuff with some heavier personnel,” Fryklund said. “And we hadn’t shown it before on film. We’ve been working on it for a while. And we know that with our offense being wide open and throwing the ball that sometimes to adjust to being more that wildcat formation can be very difficult. And David, OK, is just an explosive athlete so we tried to design some things for him back there.”

Park opened the scoring with a 19-yard pass from Berry to senior receiver OT Omot. Omot had another huge night, catching six passes for 121 yards and the first-quarter score.

Park senior quarterback Berry completed 19 of 36 passes for 287 yards and two touchdowns. But he also threw two costly interceptions.

The Wolfpack led 13-7 at the half but that lead disappeared in the third quarter as Anoka scored twice to take a 21-13 advantage.

Park tied the game at 21all late in the third quarter on a 3-yard run by Brown and a 2-point conversion run by Berry.

“We brought up the tempo from halftime and we just made sure that everything got done,” said senior receiver Jalaata Shenkor, one of nine Park players with receptions Friday.

Anoka responded by scored a one a 1-yard run for a 28-21 lead, which set up the game’s dramatic ending minutes.

Park rolled up 448 yards in total offense to 396 for Anoka.

“I think the line played pretty darn good,” said senior lineman Branden Karnitz. “I think the line played very well especially having some starters having to miss some playing time and having some other guys step up and I think we did the best with what we’ve got. Solid protection obviously got better throughout the game. We started figuring them out, Our plan came together at the end of the day.”

Senior linebacker Alex Carr once again led the defense with 10 solo tackles, six assists and one tackle for loss. Senior defensive back Eddie Hallowanger had four solos and three assists. Junior lineman David Laturnus had two tackles, four assists and one tackle for loss. Senior defensive back Chris Wilson had four total tackles and a fumble recovery.

The win gives the Wolfpack two straight solid outings.

“We have our captains in practice pushing us to be better every day,” said Park senior Eddie Hallowanger. “Our coaches are doing the work on and off the field every day. It’s everybody, man. Everybody is contributing for our team to be better.”

Junior defensive lineman David Laturnus (35) leads a gang-tackling bunch of Park players to stop an Anoka run. Photo by John Molene

Park’s Skyler Morgan returns a kickoff 40 yards for the Wolfpack in a key play in the fourth quarter. Photo by John Molene

Helped by his teammates, Park’s David Ola-Kazeem goes in for a victory leap after scoring on a 5-yard touchdown pass from Sam Berrey in the fourth quarter against Anoka. Photo by John Molene