I saw a lot of improvement because we all don’t get mad at each other, we all help each other up, we’re playing as a team.”

Junior wide receiver/defensive back Manny Vargas

Stillwater’s Ponies got off to blazing fast start Friday evening and only took their collective feet off the gas pedal occasionally in a 35-6 win over the visiting Park Wolfpack.

The Ponies scored first on a 73-yard pass play, recovered a Park fumble on the following kickoff and scored two plays later on an 11-yard pass to put the Wolfpack in a very quick 14-0 hole just four minutes into the game.

The Wolfpack battled back and cut the lead to 14-6 on a 1-yard run by Myles Colbeth with 1:58 to play on the second quarter. But Stillwater scored quickly again on another pass play at the end of the quarter, going up 21-6 at the half and that early lead proved too much to overcome.

Stillwater’s big passing plays was the difference in the game. Park generally handled the Ponies run attack.

“That’s a great team over there in Stillwater so you’ve got to handle both phases,” said Park head coach Rick Fryklund. “But we definitely made some strides and improvement in some of our game. We still got to keep making strides and penalties in particular at the end there we kind of had a slew of them, so we’ve got to clean that up.

“But when you play really, really good teams they’re going to capitalize on everything and Stillwater is a very well coached team,” Fryklund continued. “I don’t think they missed too many tackles tonight. They sniffed out some great stuff, so we’ve got to look and make sure we don’t have any glaring tendencies that we are unaware of. But I was proud of the kids because we talked about the game plan that we had and for that first half, we executed that game plan exactly how we wanted to. Unfortunately, they just got a few more big plays than we did tonight.”

The Ponies added insult to injury with two more scoring drives in the third quarter.

Stillwater rolled up a ton of yards, gaining 370 total yards to 151 for the Wolfpack. The Ponies did most of their damage through the air, passing for 245 yards while running for 125. Stillwater quarterback Braden Hatalla completed 13 of 23 passes for 245 yards and all five Ponies touchdowns.

Park senior quarterback Esten Erickson meanwhile completed 10 of 21 passes for 70 yards. Olumide Aluko led the rushing attack with 14 carries for 65 yards. Junior wide receiver/defensive back Manny Vargas caught two passes for 45 yards while Kaleb Miftah had four receptions for 33 yards.

“I saw a lot of improvement because we all don’t get mad at each other, we all help each other up, we’re playing as a team,” said Vargas. “I feel like we’re playing more of a team than last year. Last week the same thing. I feel like we’re all, if someone makes a bad play, they pick each other up and say you’ve got the next play.”

Defensively, Park senior lineman Kellen Simmons had a big night with five tackles, a sack and two tackles for losses. Nolan Sease and Ricky Santos Jr. had 10 tackles each with Santos Jr. adding a tackle for loss.

“As a team I think we’ve just got to keep the consistency on defense and work on those catches on offense but at the end of the day it’s all right. We can work on it in practice,” said senior linebacker/running back Gabe Przekurat who had two tackles, two assists and two tackles for losses.

Przekurat said he thought Park’s defense improved Friday over the season opener.

“We stopped most of the runs in this game and it showed up,” Przekurat said.

Park hosts a talented Forest Lake team Friday with a 7 p.m. kickoff. Forest Lake opened the season with a 32-8 win at Prior Lake but then dropped a tough 37-36 decision at home to Anoka on Friday. The Rangers were ranked seventh in the state prior to losing the one-point decision.

Friday’s Tackle Cancer game at Wolfpack Stadium will feature the Park marching band and a cheer clinic at halftime.

Metro-Maroon results
Stillwater 35, Park 6
Rosemount 53, Eastview 13
East Ridge 49, Hopkins 14
Mounds View 35, Roseville 10
White Bear Lake 28, Coon Rapids 7
Rosemount 53, Eastview 13

This week’s games
Forest Lake (1-1) at Park (0-2), Friday, 7 p.m.
Andover (0-2) at Coon Rapids (1-1)
Eagan (1-1) at Eastview (1-1)
Hopkins (0-2) at Woodbury (1-1)
Roseville (0-2) at East Ridge (1-1)