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At the beginning of the school year, the expectation was no fall sports, that changed to “ok, some fall sports”, but that left out football and Volleyball. Then the MSHSL decided to let football and volleyball happen and it was game on for the Wolfpack Boys. The first game of the season was October 9th against Mahtomedi where boys would fall 28-12 to Mahtomedi at home. October 16th, they would travel south to continue the old rivalry at Hastings. Both teams being relatively young, it was a low scoring game until the fourth quarter when Park would finish off the Raiders 19-7 and move to 1-1 on the season.

October 23rd they would have an outing similar to the Mahtomedi game where they would fall 27-12 against the Apple Valley Eagles and 1-2 on the season. The next opponent would be Henry Sibley. The Wolfpack would beat the Warriors the day before Halloween 35-7 at home to bring their record to 2-2 on the season.

Next up was Forest Lake. A hard fought, close match that was back and forth all night long. Forest Lake would edge out Park 28-27 in Cottage Grove and drop the Pack to 2-3 on the season. This is where the season would come to a screeching halt. The boys were scheduled to travel to Mendota Heights to take on St. Thomas Academy on November 13th, but this would not happen due to enough members of the team being exposed to COVID. Out of respect for the players privacy, we cannot confirm any actual cases, but the decision was made to quarantine enough players to err on the side of caution. “We had to do what was safe for all involved,” Activities Director Phil Kuemmel said. “I know the football coaches and the boys are thankful they were able to play the five games they played.”

The most difficult part for the team is, the 14 days away from the field will put them past the first two rounds of the section playoffs and because of the need to keep the tournament moving, those two games would be forfeit, eliminating them from the playoffs. Thus, ending their season. “I feel bad for the kids, especially the seniors, but it’s what we have to do,” Kuemmel stated.

He’s right, and with the move to distance learning, any additional risk only lengthens the time kids will be out of school all together. Wolfpack football may have finished the season 2-3, but they were able to play. It’s a good group of kids with bright futures ahead. Hopefully this bump in the road is a minor nuisance in the grand scheme of things.