for the first time since 2004, the St. Louis Park Orioles are headed to the section finals as Johnny Sorenson scored two touchdowns and the Oriole defense held off a last second Park Center comeback to beat the Pirates 21-18 in the Section 5AAAAA football semifinals Saturday afternoon.
The Orioles reached the end zone twice in the first quarter on a couple of fourth down plays. The first came on an option pass from Ryan Klaers to Semaj Mitchell. Then it was Sorenson who dashed up the middle and scored on a 37 yard keeper to put St. Louis Park ahead 14-0.
Sorenson was not done as he scored :58 into the second quarter on a 17 yard keeper to put the Orioles up by 21. But the Pirates, who had problems with turnovers in the early going would right their ship Jemal Brown threw a 40 yard touchdown pass to ronald Garrison and Emmanuel Tamba would go to the left side and score on a five yard run. The Orioles led 21-12 at halftime.
Neither team would reach the end zone in the third quarter. But things would start to get interesting in the fourth for the Pirates as Brown would score on a one yard run to cut the lead to 21-18. The Orioles had a chance to put the game away but they would lose the ball on downs to Park Center. The Pirates would began their final drive at their own one yard line and on a completion from brown to Levonte Parker, the Ball would be spotted at the St. Louis Park 28 yard line. A five yard penalty would back up the Pirates to the 33 yard line and the red numerals on the scoreboard clock showed :01.6 remaining. So there was time for one omore play as Brown would go back to pass and his attempt was incomplete, sending the Orioles to the Section 5AAAAA finals.
St. Louis Park improved their record to 7-3 and will face the winner of the Spring Lake Park-Cooper game Friday, November 3 at 7 PM. A Cooper win and the game will be played in New Hope. If Spring Lake Park wins, St. Louis Park will host the section final for the first time since they lost to the Hutchinson Tigers in 2004.
Park Center, who upset the third seeded Irondale Knights in the quarterfinals, concludes their season with a 3-7 record.
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