A season’s worth of frustration got (mostly) washed away with a single kick Wednesday night.
Actually, that’s not quite the whole story as Park played its best game of the season in a wild and …
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A season’s worth of frustration got (mostly) washed away with a single kick Wednesday night.
Actually, that’s not quite the whole story as Park played its best game of the season in a wild and dramatic 33-30 senior night triumph over visiting Eastview, capped by senior Matthew Kamande’s 25-yard game-winning field goal in the final seconds.
“The word that I guess I use would be release, and pride, those are the two words that come to mind right now,” said Park head coach Rick Fryklund. “I know a lot of people have been frustrated with how this season is going, but our kids didn’t quit, they continued to battle and tonight we were fortunate enough to get a couple of those guys back and I think it was pretty clear just how impactful having those particular guys back were. So, it was a lot of fun to go out that way.
“I’m not going to dwell in as coach (Jeff) Plaschko said, and I told the team multiple time with tears in my eyes, the most important play is next,” Fryklund continued. “And they’ve embraced that. I’m excited to get playoffs going here. I wish I could have a hundred more games with these guys. But obviously we’ve just got to go one week at a time right now.”
Park got a huge boost with the return of junior quarterback Esten Erickson and senior running back Keon Moody, and a series of heroic plays at key moments throughout the lineup.
It was a wild back-and-forth affair, with both teams having several chances to put the game away, but ultimately it was the Wolfpack which prevailed.
Kamande’s kick was the game winner, but it came with a personal price. He injured his right leg on the final plays and spent most of the celebration in the injury tent.
“I’m so excited about the win,” said the do-everything Park junior who’s listed in the lineup as a wide receiver/defensive back/place kicker/punter/kick returner and punt returner. “First win of the season in my senior year. There’s a lot of words I could say but I’m just pretty joyful right now.
“I just popped it a little bit,” Kamande said of his leg injury. “I feel like it’s the Achilles, but I think it might be something smaller than that. But it hurts around my ankle area.”
Erickson returned from nearly a season-long injury to give Park it’s best passing night of 2025. Erickson completed 19 of 33 passes for 170 yards.
“It makes all the difference in the world,” said Erickson on Park getting some of their key players back. “With Keon being back in practice we game planned some different things that we haven’t tried out this year. And it tried them out and they worked tonight. It’s amazing to have Keon back and it’s great to be back playing with the team. We jelled together as a team and had great chem., so it’s amazing.”
Running back Kody Aikens had another big night as well, rushing for 87 yards and three touchdowns om 21 carries. Aikens was ably joined in the backfield by Moody, another player back from injury. Moody rushed for 53 yards and a score on 9 attempts.
“We did really well at sticking together,” said Moody. “When stuff got bad we didn’t get down at each other and we just lifted each other up at all times. We got some key players back and we just came together. We got confidence, we moved some stuff around on offense and we did our assignments.”
Kamande also led Park’s receiving corps, with 4 catches for 85 yards, including a 35-yard gainer. Kalab Miftah caught 9 passes for 45 yards.
Eastview took a 7-0 lead in the first quarter, but Park stormed back with four straight scores in the second to grab a 23-7 lead. Aikens scored on runs of 5 and 12 years, Moody scored on a 3-yard run and Brady Bachard kicked a 25-yard field goal.
Eastview closed to within 23-15 with a late score on a flea flicker in the end of the second period, then tired the game in the third with a touchdown and a second straight two-point conversion.
Park again took the lead on Aikens’ third touchdown run of the night and led 30-23. That play was set up by a fumble recovered by senior linebacker EJ Lange followed by a long pass to Aikens.
Still, once again Eastview rallied and tied the game at 30-all with 7:09 to play.
That set the stage for some late-game Park heroics on both sides of the ball. Park senior defensive back Jacob Chipman provided the defensive heroics with an interception – his second of the game -- that set up the Wolfpack offense deep in Eastview territory.
A long pass by Erickson and a short run by Aikens set up the offense for a game-winning kick, but that too was a near-run thing. Kamande’s first attempt at a game-winning field goal by blocked, but Eastview was called for roughing the kicker and the Wolfpack had a second chance. Kamande’s second attempt was good, setting off a jubilant celebration by Park players and fans.
“I’m feeling great. This is a great win for us,” said lineman Tanner Zitzow. “We really needed it. These boys worked so hard all summer and at the end of the day I know how hard we worked and they know how hard we worked so this is just so rewarding for us.”
Defensively, Lance Hayes had six tackles and two assists to lead Park. Jesse Wright had seven stops including a tackle for loss. Moody had four tackles and two interceptions. Nolan Sease had seven tackles and Gheritt Museus five.
“Oh my gosh, electrified,” said senior lineman Jesse Wright when asked how he was feeling after the game. “We just won; we got it. We did it. The work finally paid off. It was a grind the whole way through. They were getting chippy, and we were coming right at them and hitting them hard. We got more starters in, we got more energy in, we didn’t kill ourselves after we lost one touchdown. We got it all in the bag.”
“It feels great,” said senior linebacker EJ Lange Jr. “It feels like we put a lot of work in this whole season and it just came to fruition. I think it was just fighting and staying locked in the whole game and never giving up.”
Park’s defense caused a season high five turnovers, three interceptions and two Eastview fumbles. Conversely, Park’s offense, which had been plagued by inopportune turnovers in many games this season, was turnover free Wednesday.
Park’s offense had 305 total yards, including 170 passing yards and 135 on the ground. The Wolfpack were 7-for-16 on third downs, but 0-for-3 on fourth downs.
Metro-Maroon Final Standings
Conf. All games
Hopkins 4-0 4-4
Coon Rapids 2-2 2-6
Eastview 2-2 2-6
Park 1-3 1-7
Roseville 1-3 1-7
Last week’s scores
Park 33, Eastview 30
Coon Rapids 36, Roseville 29
St. Michael-Albertville 48, Hopkins 12
Class 6A round 1 games
Park at Rosemount
Hopkins at Centennial
Eastview at Maple Grove
Coon Rapids at Forest Lake
Roseville at Champlin Park
