It took two days, two cities, one homecoming, one homecoming court and one fierce thunder and lightning storm but the Park Wolfpack finally took out the winless Hopkins Royals.
The first part …
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It took two days, two cities, one homecoming, one homecoming court and one fierce thunder and lightning storm but the Park Wolfpack finally took out the winless Hopkins Royals.
The first part ended Friday night at Cottage Grove in a storm with the Wolfpack leading 35-6 with 5:04 to play in the third quarter. The second part concluded Saturday morning at Hopkins with Park cruising to a final 48-14 victory.
It was Park’s second straight lopsided win, moving the team to 3-2 on the season and sets the Wolfpack up for a strong closing schedule.
It was also the game of the season for junior quarterback Miskir Esayas who passed for three touchdowns, ran for two more and accounted for a whopping 313 total yards.
The rest of the season will get tougher immediately, starting with a Metro-Maroon Division game at Eastview (3-1, 3-2) this Thursday, Oct. 5, with a 6 p.m. kickoff scheduled. After the Eastview game Park closes with two non-division contests against old Suburban East Conference rivals, at Mounds View (3-2) on Friday, Oct. 13 and then at home against No. 9 Stillwater (4-1) on Thursday, Oct. 19, to wrap up the regular season.
Eastview has had a similar season to Park so far, losing to Rosemount (35-0) and Buffalo (33-8) while defeating Roseville (21-7), Hopkins (37-0) and Burnsville (33-8). The Lightning have presented a balanced offense, rushing for 871 yards while passing for 916 in five games.
Against Hopkins, it was a dominant performance by the Wolfpack after a bit of a slow start and the stats reflected it. Park gained a season high 621 yards, while allowing just 287 yards. The Wolfpack rushed for 334 yards, passed for 287 yards and gained 28 first downs.
“I think Hopkins came out a little more punchy than some of our guys expected so it was a battle and we refocused when we went in at halftime,” said Park head coach Rick Fryklund. “We really exploded before than rain delay. Hopkins started to really blitz everyone, and coach (Tim) Walton called the screens to take advantage of that. Defensively I thought we played a lot better last night than we did. We’re hitting home on our blitzes and our pressures and out tackling was much better.”
Park led 21-6 at the half and were up 42-6 after three quarters. Coach Fryklund substituted liberally in Saturday’s quarter and change action and got in every player on the Park roster.
“It’s always a great thing when everyone can play a couple snaps,” said Fryklund. “We got every single person in today and I was going up and down the sidelines ‘who hasn’t been in, who hasn’t been in?"
The first half Friday night was more of a battle than expected for a nearly full house of some 3,000 Park fans. Park took an early 7-0 lead on a 1-yard run by Esayas, But Hopkins battled back and scored on a long pass to close to within 7-6.
Esayas then hit junior Dominic Batts with touchdown passes of 3 and 68 yards to find Park some breathing room and a 21-6 halftime lead.
Esayas had his best game of the season statistically, completing 16 of 19 passes for 241 yards and three touchdowns and ran for 72 yards and two more scores. Ben Pederson came in to spell Esayas and connected on five of nine passes for 46 yards and a score.
Park senior running back Brett Salmonson continued doing his thing, going over the 100-yard mark again, running for 135 yards on 16 carries. Kody Aikens saw considerable time in the offensive backfield and gained 93 yards on five carries. Esayas added 72 yards on 11 carries to his passing totals.
Batts and Skyler Morgan both had banner days catching the ball. Batts had six receptions for 124 yards and three touchdowns. Morgan caught 11 passes for 133 yards.
Defensively, sophomore defensive back Zach Carr led Park with four tackles and two assists. Aikens had six total tackles and Keon Moody had eight. Salmonson had six assists and an interception. Park held Hopkins to 100 yards rushing and 187 passing.
“I think it was a great game,” said Park senior lineman Kaleb Conley. “We played defense really well. The D-line was making plays everywhere and the linebackers were stepping up and doing what they needed to do."
Conley said he definitely sees the team’s improvement as the season has progressed.
“We see it every day,” said Conley. “Practice keeps going better and better and then it shows in the game. I think we’ve improved out tackling a lot more. We don’t see as many big breakaways.”
“I think we did really well on defense,” agreed junior lineman Hunter Gross. “Our defense looked really good last night.
SEASON STATS: After five games, Esayas has completed 66 of 101 passes (65 percent) for 830 yards and eight touchdowns. Salmonson had rushed for 598 yards and five touchdowns, averaging 6.2 yards a carry. Morgan had 39 receptions for 288 yards and two touchdowns, while Batts had 12 receptions for 295 yards and six touchdowns. Defensively, Salmonson had 60 total tackles, Moody 40 and Carr 34. Wright had 24 tackle and three interceptions.
RANKINGS: In the latest MaxPreps rankings, Park is rated 145th in Minnesota, 27th in Minnesota 6A and 130th among Minneapolis teams. Thursday’s opponent, Eastview, is ranked 25 in 6A. Last week’s opponent, Hopkins, is ranked 32nd and last in 6A. Eden Prairie, Lakeville South and Minnetonka are the top three ranked teams in 6A.
