We kept going, we never gave up.”

Sophomore lineman Carson Fritsche

Just another Friday night game between Park and Hopkins. All routine.

Good plays, bad plays, controversial plays, dramatic swings of emotions and the usual wild finish.

This time it took a safety by junior linebacker Ricky Santos Jr. late in the fourth quarter that finally turned the game in Park’s favor in a dramatic Homecoming night 36-28 win. Hopkins almost came back to tie it in the final minutes, getting all the way to the Wolfpack seven-yard line before the clock expired.

There were lots of Park heroes to go around Friday, especially scoring the safety and the play at the end of the game.

“I definitely think that we had our head in the game, we didn’t let their big plays get to us, we just kept pushing all the way,” said Santos Jr. who totaled three tackles, three assists, a sack, two tackles for losses and scored the safety.

“The difference (between the first three games and Friday’s win) would definitely be we had more technique and we had mor execution with our plays on offense and then defensively we definitely put our aggression into the game and really took out all our emotion into winning and wanted to do it for the people around us. We played as a team,” Santos Jr. continued.

While Santos scored the safety several of Park’s defenders were in on the key two points.

“It was partially me,” said running back/linebacker Gabe Przekurat on the crucial late game safety. “So basically, I ran in, grabbed his ankles, unfortunately didn’t tackle him myself but thank God I have my teammates.”

“We just kept fighting,” added Przekurat, who rushed for 130 yards on 23 carries and scored two touchdowns. “We didn’t lose our energy. We just kept fighting and that’s what I love about our team and our coaches.

Park-Hopkins games have been wild affairs for year, with the two teams combing for 70 points a game average the last five years. Two years ago, Hopkins won a wild 57-50 game. The three games before that were Park walkovers by scores of 48-14, 50-13 and 45-7.

“We’re not trying to make it that exciting, but it did happen that way for sure,” said Wolfpack head coach Rick Fryklund.

Asked what part of the game he was happiest with, Fryklund said: “You know, the fight. We got off to a fast start and then we slowed down and kind of let them back into the game. All credit to them for executing and finding some stuff we weren’t able to take care of. But we could have kept hanging our heads over there, but we just kept battling. Great drive down the field even though we had that turnover. The kids kept playing hard on defense. Heck of a football game back and forth.”

Friday’s game was much closer and wasn’t decided until the very end.

Park stormed out of the game with perhaps their best quarter of the season, building a 21-0 lead after one quarter. Running back Gabe Przekurat scored on a 4-yard run, quarterback Esten Erickson hit receiver Manny Vargas on a huge 75-yard touchdown pass play and Przekurat scored again on a 1-yard run with 2:22 left in the first quarter to give the Wolfpack a 21-0 lead.

Hopkins rallied for two touchdowns in the second quarter, sandwiched around a 2-yard run by Park’s LaTavian Scott. Park led 27-14 at the half.

And then just like that Hopkins dominated the third quarter, outscoring Park 14-0 in the quarter and taking a 28-27 lead. The Wolfpack have seen this movie before this season -- an opposing team dominating after the break -- but this time they decided to flip the script in the fourth quarter.

Hopkins’ rally set the stage for the Wolfpack to do some dramatics of their own in the fourth quarter. The safety by Park’s Santos gave the Wolfpack a tenuous 29-28 edge with 5:47 left. Park scored again on a 14-yard run by Myles Colbeth with 2:27 to play and added an extra point kick by Kayde Brauch for a seemingly safe eight-point edge at 36-28.

But again Hopkins made it interesting to say the least, moving all the way down the field to the Park seven with successful runs and passes. The final Hopkins pass ended at the sidelines of the Park seven-yard line with seven seconds left. Out of time outs, the clock expired before the Royals could run another play.

“We kept going, we never gave up,” said sophomore lineman Carson Fritsche. “It might have gotten a little hard in the second half, but we got through it, scored as much as we could and we got out with the win. The key thing tonight is keeping our mind right. We went into the locker room keeping our mind right and came out, may let up a touchdown but we kept our mind right the rest of the time.”

Park’s running game was a huge factor in Friday’s win. The Wolfpack ran for a season high 247 yards and four touchdowns on 44 attempts, averaging 5.4 yards per carry. In addition to Przekurat’s 130 yards, Colbeth ran 8 times for 45 yards. Aiden Winsor had 5 carries for 35 yards, averaging 7 yards a try and Scott had 5 carries for 17 yards.

Park had a season high 412 total yards, while holding Hopkins to 338.

Senior quarterback Erickson completed 9 of 14 passes for 165 yards with the 75-yard touchdown play and one interception. Erickson passed to five different receivers in the game, led by Vargas who had three catches for 74 yards, Kaleb Miftah who caught two balls for 40 yards, Colbeth had two receptions for 25 yards and Kellen Simmons 1 catch for 22 yards.

Junior defensive back Vargas led the Park defense with nine tackles and one tackle for loss. Linebackers Przekurat had nine tackles, Santos and defensive lineman Simmons six apiece. No less than 17 Park defenders had at least one tackle Friday.

Wayzata awaits

Park’s next game may very well be against the best team the Wolfpack will face all season. While No. 25 White Bear Lake, Stillwater and No. 16 Forest Lake are good teams, fifth-ranked Wayzata has been rolling opponents this season up until Friday night, beating Andover (37-26), Edina (28-14) and St. Michael Albertville (28-20).

But top-ranked Moorhead (4-0) laid a 41-22 hurt on Wayzata in the last game and the Trojans are likely to come into the Park contest with a big chip on their shoulders. The game kicks off Friday with a 7 p.m. start.

Friday’s Metro Maroon scores
Park 36, Hopkins 28
Roseville 28, Eastview 21
Blaine 52, Coon Rapids 13

This Friday’s games
Park (1-3) at Wayzata (3-1)
Eastview (1-3) at Coon Rapids (1-3)
Roseville (1-3) at Hopkins (0-4)