Two teams with identical 1-1 records will battle Friday night as the St. Louis Park Orioles head up to New Hope to take on the Cooper Hawks.
It will be the first meeting between the two schools since last season's Section 5AAAAA semifinals where the Hawks ended the Orioles season with a resounding 35-7 victory.
Last week, St. Louis Park came back from a 17-0 deficit and scored 27 unanswered points to beat the Waconia Wildcats 27-17. Quarterback Aaron Ellingson ran for two touchdowns and threw a touchdown pass to Sajid Nathim. Ellingson also payed defense and had 12 tackles. Tobyous Davenport had seven tackles.
As for the Hawks, they came back from a season opening loss to Waconia and ousted the Orono Spartans 35-7. Quarterback Joseph Russell completed 10 of 18 passes for 224 yards and passed for three touchdowns. Sherrod Russell ran 18 times for 94 yards, including a touchdown. Corneilus Wooten caught two touchdown passes for 125 yards.
The key to the Orioles beating the Hawks is for Ellingson to spread the ball around on offense. It doesn't have to be The Aaron Ellingson Show since he has Nathim in the backfield and Davenport, Cole Ewald and McCabe Dvorak. They also need to contribute to the offensive attack. The defense will need to shut down The Brothers Russell, who were key components in the Cooper win over Orono.
The Russells are also the key to the Hawks beating the Orioles. The momentum from the Orono win needs to carry over. As for the Hawks defense, they will need to force turnovers and pursue Ellingson. One player who stood out on defense for Cooper is Kellen Andler, who had five tackles and two sacks against the Spartans.
The weather picture should be better than Thursday. Game time is 7 PM.
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