Hard Work Pays Off: Park Center @ Minneapolis Southwest
Tuesday, October 22nd proved to be a pivotal section 5AAAAA matchup between the #3 seeded Minneapolis Southwest Lakers and the #6 seeded Park Center Pirates. The Lakers are lead by the MNFootballHub and StarTribune highlighted RB Demetrius (TK) Marshall (5’11, 195), who is committed to NDSU…
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Continue ReadingTuesday, October 22nd proved to be a pivotal section 5AAAAA matchup between the #3 seeded Minneapolis Southwest Lakers and the #6 seeded Park Center Pirates. The Lakers are lead by the MNFootballHub and StarTribune highlighted RB Demetrius (TK) Marshall (5’11, 195), who is committed to NDSU and has 1464 yards off 121 carries with 20 TD’s, and were coming off of a regular season in which the Lakers went 6-2 and were ranked in the top-10 of the 5A state rankings. The Pirates had a tough 2019 regular season, but had some aggressive athletes and played with a tenacity not indicative of their record. With a semifinal game against #2 seeded Robbinsdale Cooper on the line Saturday evening, the two teams battled in an emotional and hard-hitting football game that included a furious Pirate 4th quarter comeback that almost resulted in an upset of the higher ranked Lakers. Let’s dive into this exclusive Northstar Football News recap of the 14-12 Laker victory in the section 5AAAAA quarterfinals.
Southwest received the ball to begin the game and immediately began to pound the ball into the heart of the Pirate defense with their stud TK Marshall.
Credit: TK MarshallWith a three RB formation in the backfield, the Lakers primary objective all night was to run the football, but Park Center did a great job all game of stifling Marshall, who finished with a season low 56-yards on 12 attempts. The two teams traded defensive stops throughout the 1st quarter, with both offenses showing some signs of life until flags or execution miscues would kill the drive. However, there were still some defensive standouts and exciting plays. Park Center’s #20 LB Malachi Mitchell (5’11, 220) balled out all night and was all over the field for the Pirates. Southwest’s CB Marcus Mattox had a couple nice PBU’s for the Lakers, and one of these breakups led to what became the first points of the game. After the Mattox PBU and the Park Center punt, Southwest attempted a route concept with the slot WR running an out. Park Center’s James Booker (5’10, 160) read it perfectly and delivered a monster hit that the refs deemed to be illegal. This flag, plus another, put the Lakers into the Pirate redzone, where Nate Mertes ran it in on a fullback dive from 1-yard out. The Lakers hammer of a LB Nick Flaskamp (5’11, 200) scored on another FB dive later in the quarter, and the half ended 14-0 in favor of Southwest.
Malachi MitchellPark Center received the 2nd half kickoff, and the 3rd quarter remained locked in as a defensive showdown. Park Center’s Osiris Moor (5’11, 195) had a heckuva pass break-up on an attempted Laker bootleg on 4th down, and Southwest’s Mertes had a big TFL returning the favor the next drive. It wasn’t until around 9 minutes left in the game that the Pirates finally put some things together on offense and drove it down the field on the Lakers where Felipe Perez (5’9, 170) hauled in a catch in the corner of the end zone to put Park Center on the board. After a missed kick, the score was 14-6 Southwest with 5:38 left in the game. Park Center’s defense came through huge and stopped the Lakers on their next offensive possession, and forced a punt with less than 3 minutes left in the ball game. Before I knew it, Park Center ran for a couple first downs, and with 54 seconds left threw a hail mary bomb that somehow fell right into the receivers arms at the Southwest 6-yard line where they ran the ball in the next play. With the game on the line with the 2 pt. conversion, the Southwest stadium was electric and the fans who had brave the cold were all on their feet. However, the Pirate pass on an attempted out route fell short, and the Lakers held on for a narrow victory against a tough Park Center team that came to play. Southwest will play Robbinsdale Cooper Saturday at 5:00 pm, and on the other side of the 5AAAAA bracket Irondale will meet #1 seeded Spring Lake Park. Stay tuned for the most in-depth coverage of the Minnesota high school tournament with Northstar Football News.