SLP Orioles to Wrap Up Regular Season in Chaska

 The final week of the Minnesota high school football regular season has the St. Louis Park Orioles heading down Highway 212 to Chaska to battle the Hawks.  

If you left last Friday's St. Louis Park-Waconia game early, you made a big mistake as the Orioles came back from a 21-0 deficit to score 29 fourth quarter points to beat the Wildcats 29-28.  Will Dvorak threw four touchdown passes, three of them to Stefano Giovannelli that led to the eventual game winner with :04.2 left in regulation time and Deontez Ross Jr. made the two point conversion to comp-lete the miraculous comeback. Defense also was a factor for the Orioles as Zach Helfmann recorded nine tackles and an interception.   Looking at St. Louis Park's section, 5AAAAA, it resembles a late season baseball pennant race with Armstrong, Cooper, Minneapolis Southwest and St. Louis Park battling for the top seed.  Minneapolis Washburn, the fifth team in the section is a lock as the fifth seed.  

As for the unbeaten Chaska Hawks, they beat the Armstrong Falcons last week 17-6.  The Hawks are led by running back Jack Boyle who is 39 yards short of 1000 yards.  His season high was 251 in the season opener against the Bloomington Jefferson Jaguars.  Chaska has a powerful ground game, piling up 256 yards last Friday against the Falcons.  Going into the season finals, they have average 246 rushing yards per game.  On defense, Myles Meiller had two interceptions last week, his first of the season.  

The key to the game for the Orioles is to build on the momentum of last week's win but not get overconfident because they are playing a very tough Chaska team.  The Dvorak-Giovannelli combination will need to beat The Brothers Dietel on defense, Jacob and Dominic.  

The key to the game for Chaska is for the running game to wear down the St. Louis Park defense.  They have to get to Boyle who has been their main offensive cog in 2021.  

It will likely be a wet weather picture for Wednesday with rain in the forecast.  So if you plan on making the trip to support the Orioles in their regular season finale, you might want to bring an umbrella.  Game time is 7 PM.