Once again, it was a story of two halves for the Park Wolfpack.

Park did just fine the first half but then couldn’t hang with the visiting Roseville Raiders in the second and dropped a tough 30-16 decision at home.

The Wolfpack scored just two points after the break on Senior Night, on a late safety. The Raiders, meanwhile, pushed across two touchdowns, one each in the third and fourth quarters.

The Wolfpack endured yet another frustrating game in a season full of them.

Park head coach Rick Fryklund agreed the Wolfpack are still having trouble putting two good halves together, “We are,” said Frylund. “A lot of back-and-forth right there (in the first half). That was an incredible field goal that kid kicked right before halftime. I was very impressed.

“We talked a lot about discipline, and we have great effort, but we need to make sure we are getting even more discipline,” following the game, Fryklund continued. “I really do feel we are right there. We’re so close and then just odd penalties or a bad break or false start or someone in the wrong formation and then it doesn’t get there. But we’re right there but I also understand how frustrating that is to hear. But we’re going to go and learn from the tape and get back to it and get ready to play Eastview next week.”

Park senior quarterback Esten Erickson connected on two touchdowns in the first half, the first an 11-yard strike to Manny Vargas to give Park an early 7-6 lead. The second a 16-yard pass to Myles Colbeth in the end zone with just 50 seconds to play in the second quarter for a 14-13 Park lead.

That lead seemed like it should be one the Wolfpack would take into the locker room at the half. Instead, Roseville marched down the field following the kickoff and Jonas Harper nailed a 47-yard field goal with a second left in the half to give the Raiders a slight 16-14 advantage. Still, the first half was more or less an even match.

But nothing much went right for the Wolfpack after that.

“I think we lost our focus, and our energy just completely went down the drain after momentum,” said Park senior running back/linebacker Gabe Przekurat.

“It’s been hard keeping focus after halftime,” said senior linebacker Demetrius Stewart. “I think that’s our main problem. I think I we came out and played four quarters we’d be a lot up in a lot of our games.”

Park fizzled on offense after the break and then gave up too many yards and points to the Raiders on defense. Roseville made it a 23-14 game with 4:58 in the third quarter and then took a 30-14 lead with 8:19 to play.

“He (coach Fryklund) talked ho I was going 100 percent, full effort” said Wolfpack lineman Danny Castaneda-Valdovinos

Statistically, it wasn’t Park’s best outing of the season.

Wolfpack quarterback Erickson completed 13 of 23 passes for 92 yards and two touchdowns, with an interception.

Junior running back Olumide Aluko ran for 49 yards on 13 attempts for Park. Gabe Przekurat had seven runs for 38 yards.

Colbeth ran for 15 yards on five carries from scrimmage but also caught six passes for 35 yards and a touchdown. Manny Vargas had three receptions for 28 yards. Kaleb Miftah, however, was held to just one reception, for 19 yards.

Sophomore linebacker Alex Ball led the Wolfpack defense with seven solo stops, one assist and two tackles for loss. Senior defensive back Nolan Sease and linebacker Stewart had seven tackles apiece, while linebacker Ricardo Santos Jr. and senior lineman Danny Castaneda-Valdovinos had six stops each.

“He (coach Fryklund) talked about how I was going 100 percent, full effort” said Castaneda-Valdovinos. “I was there with the discipline part. We’ve just got to work on going full speed, no matter what and do not take that halftime as a little break.”

Park (1-2, 1-6) finishes the regular season at Eastview (1-2, 2-5) Friday with a 6 p.m. start. Eastview absorbed a 56-8 pounding at the hands of third-ranked Eden Prairie in its last game.

Park and Eastview both beat Hopkins this season, but the Park-Hopkins game (36-28) was much closer than Eastview’s 58-34 win. Eastview also owns a 34-11 win over Farmington in the season opener. Park dropped a tough 33-30 decision to Eastview last season. Eastview is averaging 153 yards rushing and 109 yards passing a game, compared to Park’s more balanced attack of 131 yards rushing and 133 yards passing.

Wednesday’s scores
Roseville 30, Park 16
Coon Rapids 29, Hopkins 28
Eden Prairie 56, Eastview 8

Meto-Maroon standings
Conference Overall
Coon Rapids 3-0 4-3
Roseville 3-0 3-4
Eastview 1-2 2-5
Park 1-2 1-6
Hopkins 0-4 0-7

Friday Oct. 23 schedule
Park at Eastview, 6 p.m.
Coon Rapids at Roseville
St. Michael-Albertville at Hopkins