All season long it has been the Park offense which has mostly carried the water.

At Anoka Friday night, the Park offense, special teams and defense were equal opportunity heroes.

Park took a thrilling 30-27 victory from the host Tornadoes, scoring the winning touchdown with 4:09 left in the fourth quarter, and then stopping Anoka from scoring in the final seconds.

“We didn’t flinch, honestly,” said Park junior Sam Berrey. “That was a great win. That’s a good team we played. But we fought our hardest. That was a great game.”

Anoka drove all the way to the Park 13-yard line when the Wolfpack defense rose to the occasion and stopped the Tornadoes cold on four straight downs. Park forced Anoka to try a game-tying field goal with 34 seconds left. The kick went wide right and Park claimed the most satisfying win of the season.

It was a remarkable last stand by a Park defensive unit which gave up big chunks of yards to the Anoka Tornadoes most of the game. Anoka gaining a whopping 615 yards in total offense against Park, but when the game was on the line, Park’s defense proved winning worthy.

“I think it was pretty much a bend but don’t break mentality, said Park linebacker Logan Lucas. “Often, a lot of times in the games we’re giving up a lot of easy yardage which we got to fix coming into next week, but I feel we really locked it up in the red zone and we did a really good job. And I know last week we battled a lot of adversity after that last loss. This week we came back. We bounced back and I’m proud of all these guys, especially this defense to close out a win like this.”

Now 4-3 overall and 3-2 in the Metro-Maroon South Division, Park has a very short turnaround as the Wolfpack play at perennial power Prior Lake (4-3) Wednesday, starting at 7 p.m., in the final game of the regular season.

Prior Lake and Park have had two common opponents this season. The Lakers beat Hopkins (49-0) and lost to top-ranked Lakeville South (25-13). Park defeated Hopkins (45-7) and lost to Lakeville South (50-14).

On Friday night, Park started and finished with big plays.

The game opened with a bang for the Wolfpack as senior lineman Will Smoot scooped up an Anoka fumble and rambled 33 yards for the opening score.

“It was awesome,” said Smoot. “Can’t draw it out much better. Touchdown on the first play on defense. I mean, come on. It was the play of my life. I loved it.”

Defensive lineman Jack Theis followed that with a safety for an early 9-6 Park lead.

“It’s so much fun,” said Theis. “A close loss or a close win, nothing beats the feeling. You’re on your tiptoes the whole time and it’s the best time out there.”

Park quarterback Evan Bearth then scored on a 15yard run for a 16-6 Park lead.

But Anoka took a 20-16 into the half in what turned out to be a back-and-forth game, Park simply had trouble stopping Anoka’s offense most of the night. Anoka gained 364 yards rushing and 251 passing.

Park regained the lead at 23-20 after a scoreless third quarter on a one-yard run by Brady Perryman. Anoka answered back to gain a 27-23 advantage.

Park answered with a quick scoring mark with running back Blake Johnson then putting the Wolfpack up for good on a 10-yard touchdown run for a 30-27 lead.

“We knew we had to go down there and score,” said Johnson. “Obviously we knew we had to make some big plays in a big time so we just trusted our guys and went down the field and scored when we needed to.”

But the way Anoka was moving the ball and plenty of time left for a game-winning drive, there was lots of doubt whether that lead would hold up. It did.

“I think we just kept battling and scrapping the whole way through,” said lineman Braden Karnitz. “Defense stepped up big time. Offensive line obviously had a heck of a job. Even when we were down we didn’t hold our heads down. We kept fighting, clawing, and when we follow our rules and keep on, good things happen.”

Johnson ran 15 times for 42 yards and a score and caught three passes for 69 yards. Perryman rushed 10 times for 69 yards and caught five passes for 25 more yards. Quarterback Evan Bearth was 11 of 24 passing for 132 yards and ran 12 times for 33 yards and a touchdown.

“Coach said, last play you know you’ve got to give it your all and we simply did that,” said Perryman Defensively, Theis had seven tackles, including two for losses, to go along with his first-quarter safety. Junior defensive back Brandan Lee again led Park with nine tackles. Alex Carr added seven stops.

Anoka slipped to 4-3 with the loss.

The Wolfpack did what they had to do on the last offensive series and final defensive stand. “For both sides we had to cover a lot of ground,” said Park head coach Rick Fryklund. “It was a lot of fun as a former guy that played and coached offensive line when you can call on your run game in a critical juncture and keep delivering and coach (Tim) Walton did a great job of then going back and passing off of it. But I challenged our offensive line. I said this game is going to come down to how physical you are and how disciplined you are and I told them again that at halftime. And do they did and it was a lot of fun to see them believe.

“When we got off the field and making our adjustments I told the defense the offense is going to score and this time it’s going to come down to the defense winning or losing this game,” Fryklund added. “And now you guys need to trust each other and you need to trust us. That if you do your job you’ll give yourself the opportunity.”