I think even when we found adversity, we fought through it and our linemen did a great job blocking today.”

Skyler Morgan

Six different Park players recorded tackles for losses: Salmonson, Aikens, Wright, David Laturnus, Lucas Moreno-Osterhout and Tony Perfetti.

The Wolfpack improved to 2-1 in the Metro-Maroon Division and 2-2 overall.

The numbers go like this – 40, 39, 39, 7.

Or try this one on for size – 184.

Park got defensive for the first time this season and laid an impressive 28-7 hurt on the host Roseville Raiders Friday night, giving up a season low in both points and yards.

The Wolfpack held Roseville to just 184 yards in total offense while running up 378 of their own.

“We did a lot of tackling drills, a lot of tackling drills,” Park junior defensive back Bryan Wright said with a laugh.

Roseville was perhaps a step down from the competition Park had faced during the first three weeks of the season. Still, for a Park team defense that was giving up an average of 39 points and 402 yards a game, Friday wasn’t a bad night’s work.

“We had a week of practice where we emphasized doing your job and doing the little things and we made progress,” said Park head coach Rick Fryklund. “We’re not where we want to be quite yet. I think they had that third-and-38 and whatever and we still allowed them to convert. But we made steps, we made progress and we competed tonight.

“You know Roseville, we were waiting sooner or later for someone to just come right at us and we told the guys sooner or later that’s going to happen and we think it’s going to be this game,” Fryklund continued. “So, we kind of prepared as if we’d get downhill between the tackles run and we’re going to see what we’ve got and we got it and our kids answered the bell. That fourth-and-whatever stop we had was a heck of a play obviously. We had takeaway that we got. So, we made some progress, there’s still some things to work on.”

On the other side of the ball, while evening its season record at 2-2, Park’s balanced offense was a thing of beauty. The Woolpack rushed for 198 yards, including 105 yards and a touchdown from Brett Salmonson, while passing for 180 yards.

Park went with two quarterbacks Friday and while both had their moments, senior Ben Pederson was near flawless, completing 15 of 17 passes for 139 yards (an 88 percent completion rate) and two touchdowns. Junior Miskir Esayas completed four of six passes for 41 yards.

The Wolfpack improved to 2-1 in the Metro-Maroon Division and 2-2 overall. Roseville remained winless on the season, falling to 0-3 in the division and 0-4 in all games.

Park now tackles another winless team, hosting Hopkins (0-3, 0-4) Friday night with a 7 p.m. kickoff. Hopkins has struggled so far this season, falling 72-16 to fourth-ranked Shakopee, 56-14 to Buffalo, 37-0 to Eastview and 41-20 to Burnsville.

Park scored first Friday with Pederson connecting on a 4-yard pass to Ben Andrews. That score was set up by a spectacular 40-yard Salmonson catch and run.

Roseville tied the game at 7-all later in the first quarter but that was the only points the Wolfpack would give up on the night. Park yielded 14 first downs but stiffened each time the Raiders got close to pay dirt.

Park went up 21-7 in the second quarter, scoring on a 29-yard cut across the field run by Skyler Morgan and a 12-yard pass from Pederson to Adam Tait. Morgan ran for 71 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries.

“I think we did a good job executing,” said Morgan. “I think even when we found adversity, we fought through it and our linemen did a great job blocking today.”

Park’s quarterbacks connected with six different receivers Friday. Salmonson caught two passes for 53 yards. Adam Tait had three receptions for 52 yards, Andrews had four catches for 36 yards, Morgan seven catches for 11 yards.

“It’s fun when you play two quarterbacks and they both do well,” said Fryklund. “So Ben Pederson had a really good night and it was fun to see him do that.”

Salmonson added a 1-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter to salt the game away.

“It feels amazing,” said Park senior Jillian Nelson, who saw her first significant action of the season and made it pay off with a successful PAT kick as well as playing the final series at defensive back.

“Excitement, all joy,” said Nelson when asked what was going through her head when she was on the field.” I’m really proud of myself.”

Park held Roseville to just 117 yards rushing and 67 passing yards.  The Wolfpack also recovered three fumbles by the Raiders.

Defensively, Salmonson had 10 tackles and two assists to pace the Wolfpack. Sophomore defensive back Zach Carr had 10 total tackles. Sophomore linebacker Kody Aikens had four solos, two assists, a sack and a tackle for loss.

“Kody Aikens, I really got to say, he’s a linebacker that rotates in at running back as well and when we put him in there that kid goes a million miles an hour,” Fryklund said. “He’s still got to learn the position a little bit but he hits people really hard. He goers very, very hard and he tackles really well.”

Six different Park players recorded tackles for losses: Salmonson, Aikens, Wright, David Laturnus, Lucas Moreno-Osterhout and Tony Perfetti. Park’s Keon Moody and Kaleb Conley had fumble recoveries.

“I thought we did well on our 111,” said Perfetti. “There were little mistakes that were made but I felt at the end we really just came together and won together as a team. I felt the last couple of games we kind of struggled on our discipline. I felt like the last game and this game we worked on it better.”