The reigning 5A champions will look to repeat, and with their starting QB Nolan Roach Nolan Roach 6'0" | 160 lbs | QB/ATH Spring Lake Park | 2027 State MN returning under Center for his senior season, there is a good chance that they may do just that. Roach finished with 1049 passing yards, 13 TDs, and 4 INTs while rushing for 728 yards (5.9 YPC) and 11 rushing TDs. A talented athlete who moves well around the pocket and slings a very good deep ball with nice placement, Roach has proven to beat his opponents both with his arm and his legs. It was that versatility that helped the Panthers upset Chanhassen in the state championship, as Roach ran for 162 yards and 2 TDs in the win. Roach should continue to light up the conference in 2026 as he looks to boost his stock heading into next offseason.

I’ve slowly grown to love and admire the tough, fearless, physical prospects the Spring Lake Park Panthers regularly produce, and this 2025 roster is something special. One of the cornerstones of the Panthers success this fall has been their standout QB Nolan Roach Nolan Roach 6'0" | 160 lbs | QB/ATH Spring Lake Park | 2027 State MN , a 6′, 175 lber. in his first year taking the reigns full-time of the perennial standout 5A competitor. Roach played in seven games as a sophomore in 2024, throwing for a TD pass and a rushing for 3 more, but he’s really embraced the role as QB1 in 2025, going 40-75 (60%) for 853 passing yards and 10 TDs + 240 yards and 6 TDs rushing in eight games of regular season action this fall.

Manning the Panthers triple-option offensive attack, which emphasizes its ball carrying, Roach shows a good arm that can stretch the field, deliver accurate strikes downfield in the pocket and through oncoming contact and huge hits, and put the ball on the $ on some difficult passes to the second and third levels of the gridiron in his 2025 regular season tape. Roach is also a shifty, instinctive, aware scrambler who maneuvers the pocket smoothly and sent some defenders flying onto their faces thanks to well-timed cuts, and he throws a good ball on the move as well. The Panthers QB1 – who doubles as a good basketball player with the Northstar Titans AAU squad, good baseball player with SLP, and 4.0 GPA student – is overall an accurate passer and a smart, shifty, fast-paced ball carrier who can easily churn out first downs and move the chains. Roach, as well as the plethora of tailbacks the Panthers have to offer in 2025, is going to be hard to manage now that it’s late October and playoff time.