It Takes Two Days For Jefferson Jaguars to Beat SLP Orioles

 Friday night, the weather picture turned out stormy with heavy rain and lightning but on Saturday, Jonathan Weber's two touchdowns held up to lead the Bloomington Jefferson Jaguars to a 17-7 win over the host St. Louis Park Orioles.  

Neither team would score in the first quarter though both teams had opportunities to put the ball in the end zone.  The Orioles got a fourth down conversion on Josh Rickford's completion to Ben Bauer but on the next series, Nate Benishek missed a 35 yard field goal.  

The Jaguars would score twice in the second quarter thanks to the legs of Jonathan Weber.  The first came following a block St. Louis Park punt that gave Jefferson outstanding field position that spotted the ball at the Oriole 35 yard line.  Weber would score his first touchdown on a three yard run left and his second came on a 14 yard run up the middle to give the Jaguars a 14-0 halftime lead.  

Unfortunately, Mother Nature weighed her iron fist on St. Louis Park just as the halftime warmup period was ending.  There was lightning to the northwest of the pressbox so the game had to be delayed for at least 30 minutes according to MSHSL rules.  To make matters worse, the rain got heavier so the game had to be suspended until 7 PM Saturday night.  

Picking up where the game left off, both teams went scoreless in the third quarter.  In the fourth, Jefferson added a 38 yard field goal from Marcus Honold to increase their lead to 17.  There would be no shutout for St. Louis Park as Rickord would reach the end zone on a 14 yard keeper run.  

The Jaguars improved their record to 4-1 and will host the Cooper Hawks on Friday, October 6 at 7 PM at Bloomington Stadium.  The Orioles fell to 1-4 and will head to Oakdale on Saturday, October 7 for a 2 PM game with the Tartan Titans.  

This season is the final one for Bloomington Stadium.  Next season, both Jefferson and Kennedy will play their games in on campus facilities.  Jefferson head coach Tim Carlson, a Lincoln graduate was interviews before the game on the demise of Bloomington Stadium.  

"I will be sad to see it go.  It's time to grow and time to move on."  

Jefferson Jaguars-SLP Orioles Football Preview

 After getting blown out by the Cooper Hawks last Thursday, the St. Louis Park Oriole football team returns home to begin the second half of the season against the Bloomington Jefferson Jaguars Friday night.  

Yes, St. Louis Park did fall to Cooper last Thursday night to enter the second half of the season with a 1-3 record.  They trailed the Hawks 6-3 before Cooper scored 35 unanswered points en route to a 41-3 drubbing.  Emmanuel Karmo gave the Hawks karma with two touchdowns.  As for the Orioles sophomore sensation, running back Mason Helfmann, he was a nonfactor, held to only 24 rushing yards.  St. Louis Park was outgained 322-101.  The one bright spot was on defense where tony Kruse had St. Louis Park's lone interception.  

The key to the game for the Orioles is to get their momentum back on offense and for Helfmann to find running room.  

The Bloomington Jefferson Jaguars are off to one of their best starts in years as they picked up their third straight win 22-15 over the Hastings Raiders.  The Jaguars rebounded from a season opening shutout by New Prague to also defeat St. Cloud Tech and Tartan.  Tyson Schultz threw two touchdown passes and Cormac Radford intercepted three Raider passes.  Jonathan Weber rushed for 85 yards and a touchdown.  

The key to the game for Jefferson is for Schultz to have a potent passing game and for Radford to anchor the defense.  

It's going to feel like summer Friday night.  The weather picture has temperatures in the mid to high 70s but you might need an umbrella late in the game because thunderstorms are possible after 9 PM. Game time is 7 PM.  

Split Shutout Between SLP Orioles and New Prague Trojans

 Thursday night was the final home Metro West Conference soccer doubleheader of the season with the St. Louis Park Orioles hosting the New Prague Trojans.

Opening up the day was the girls game and good things came in twos for the Orioles as Vesna Dennison and Hanna Wilsey scored two goals apiece to lead the Orioles to a 4-0 shutout of the Trojans in their final regular season home game.  

St. Louis Park vaulted ahead on Dennison's header.  Then it was Dennison, who will head to Michigan next season to play at Grand Valley State who received a pass from Wilsey and she lined it into the net.  Wilsey would factor in the Orioles third goal when she was fouled in the left side of the penalty area so she was awarded a penalty kick.  She put it past Trojan goalkeeper Hanna Langeberg and St. Louis Park led at the half 3-0.  

The tandem of Wilsey and Dennison would account for St. Louis Park's lone second half goal when Dennison fed Wilsey and Wilsey set it across the goal line.  

The Orioles improved their record to 7-3-2 and will head to Long Lake on Thursday, October 5 to face the Orono Spartans at 5 PM.  The Trojans fell to 1-6-4 and return to action on Saturday, September 30 as they head to Chanhassen for a 1 PM game against the Storm.  

Now to the boys game and one goal would be enough for Satchel Johnson when he scored the game's lone goal to lead the Trojans to a 1-0 win over the Orioles.  

Johnson would account for the only New Prague goal, scoring from the right side.  St. Louis Park had some scoring chances but Gael Miteo's goal was disallowed due to an offside call.  There would be an identical call in the second half. 

The Trojans improved their record to 8-3-1 and will make a record trip to St. Louis Park but to Benilde-St. Margaret's to face the Red nights on Monday, October 2 at 7 PM.  The Orioles fell to 3-6-1 and wrap up their home schedule on Tuesday, October 3 as the host the St. Paul Central Minutemen at 7 PM.  

Wayzata Trojans Remain Unbeaten

 Two of the top volleyball teams in Class AAAA battled in Plymouth Tuesday night and it was the top ranked Wayzata Trojans, unbeaten in 17 matches who came away with a three sets to one win over the third ranked Champlin Park Rebels. 

It was the second meeting of the season for the two powerhouses.  They met September 9 in the Southwest Minnesota Challenge in Marshall with the Trojans winning two sets to one.  Both teams played in the prestigious Apple Valley Tournament last weekend and Wayzata took home the championship trophy.  

Now to the match.  The Rebels scored the first two points and they got kills from Reese Axness and Carly Gilk, who committed to Minnesota as they took advantage of numerous Trojans balls hit into the net to win the first set 25-21.  

Wayzata would bounce back in the second set as they bounced back from a four point deficit that was bolster by a couple of left side kills from Avery Jesewitz. She also helped win the set for the Trojans 25-21.  

In the third set, Wayzata would get the early lead and go on a 4-0 run.  Defense would factor with a center block.  Olivia Swenson would aid Wayzata with a couple of service aces that would spark a 7-0 run that followed an 18-18 tie to beat Champlin Park 25-18.  

The fourth set would be a back and forth affair as there would be a total of ten ties as the Rebels tried to force a fifth set.  The Trojans got a sidearm hit from Stella Swenson, who along with her sister Olivia will wear maroon and gold next season at Minnesota.  Another Swenson would get into the act, sophomore sister Evan, who had a right side kill.  Champlin Park would get an ace from Ava Boelter to come close but Lily Riese's serve went off the net and the set and match would end.  

The Trojans improved their record to 18-0 and will host the Eden Prairie Eagles on Thursday, September 28 at 7 PM.  The Rebels fell to 13-3 and also return to action on the 28th when they head to coon Rapids for a 7 PM match against the Cardinals.  

Last Minute Royal Heroics

 The bleachers were packed for the Rogers Royals Homecoming football game Friday night and the close to 3000 fans in attendance who stayed until the final minute got to see Wyatt Gilmore catch a 50 yard touchdown pass with :46 left to lead the host Royals to a 26-13 victory over the Spring Lake Park Panthers.  

It was the Panthers who took the early lead in the first quarter as Matthew Buren ran 31 yards down the left sideline and into the end zone.  The Royals sliced the lead in half on Peyton Honnell's 23 yard field goal and at the end of the first quarter it was 6-3 in favor of Spring Lake Park.  

Rogers would vault into the lead in the second quarter when Reece Dawson threw a high pass over center to Tanner Carlson and went 28 yards for a touchdown.  The Spring Lake Park running game would pay off when Buren gained 22 yards but was short of the goal line and on the next play, Lamari Brown scored from one yard to put the Panthers ahead 13-10.  The Royals would tie the score at 13 on Honnell's second field goal, this one from 41 yards.  

The second half looked like the game would be headed for overtime since both teams had missed opportunities in fourth down with Spring Lake Park going 0-2 and Rogers 0-1.  There would be good news for the many blue and white clad fans heading into the final minute when Wyatt Gilmore caught a Dawson pass, broke a couple of tackles and and scored a 50 yard touchdown to put the Royals ahead.  The Panthers would get the ball, looking to send the game into overtime or win with a touchdown and a two point conversion.  Tyler Wilkinson went back to pass, sent the ball downfield and Calvin Kolleh came up with the interception for a touchdown.  

Following the game, fans were allowed on the field and HSGN found Gilmore and got his view on the game inning touchdown.  

"I just felt like a Mack truck and I knew nothing was going to stop me."  

He also mention about running back Kalvin Eull, who came into the game with 708 yards this season and carried 18 times for 107 yards.    According to Gilmore, he worked hard in the offseason and it paid off.  

Rogers improved their record to 4-0 and will head up I-94 to Monticello next Friday, September 29 to face the Magic at 7 PM.  The Panthers fell to 2-2 and will also return to action on the 29th as they head to Andover to take on the Huskies at 7 PM.  

SLP Oriole Girls tie-Boys Beat Waconia Wildcats

 Mid-week soccer action took place Wednesday night as the St. Louis Park Orioles hosted the Waconia Wildcats with the girls recorded their second 3-3 tie against a Carver County school (the first was Chanhassen on September 7) and the boys broke a 2-2 tie with two second half goals to beat the Wildcats 4-2.  

First up was the girls where Vesna Dennison matched her uniform number with her 20th goal of the season to tie the Waconia Wildcats 3-3.  

Audrey Falkman began the first half scoring for the Wildcats, followed by a liner from Addison Bryfczynski to put Waconia ahead by two.  The Orioles erased the shutout on Hanna Wilsey's right side goal.  But Bethany Langer scored from the right side with 1:07 left in the first half to give the Wildcats a 3-1 halftime lead.  

St. Louis Park would bounce back with two second half goals.  The first came when Sophia Dvorak fed Lucia Versailles and she sent it top shelf to tie the game at two.  Then came Dennison, who scored the game winner Monday night against Chaska.  she line the ball over the goal line to even the score at three and that's how the game ended.  

The Orioles improved their record to 5-2-2 and begin a two game road trip Saturday, September 23 at Hopkins at 11 AM.  The Wildcats improved to 3-8-1 and will also return to action on the 23rd, hosting the Eagan Wildcats at 1 PM.  

On to the boys game that saw Elijah Proost score two second half goals to lead the St. Louis Park Orioles to a 4-2 win over the Waconia Wildcats.  

Both teams tallied twice in the first half.  The Orioles would pull out to a two goal lead as Marco Cucci would strike first, then Lucas Tangelson was fouled in the penalty area and awarded a penalty kick.  His shot went through the net and the officials ruled that the goal counted.  The Wildcats would counter with two goals.  The first came from Tyler Sjodin and the second by Elijah Lund with :18.9 in the first half.

St. Louis Park would clinch the win in the second half as Proost put the ball in the net twice.  His first goal 1:33 into the second half gve the Orioles the lead and the second came when John Ryan passed to Proost at the near post and he fired a shot into the net.  

The Orioles extended their unbeaten streak to four games and improved their record to 3-4-1.  They will travel to Hopkins on Saturday, September 23 to face the Royals at 9 AM.  The Wildcats fell to 3-5-2 and will also return to action on the 23rd as they host the Eagan Wildcats at 3 PM.  

SLP Orioles-Cooper Hawks Football Preview

For the second consecutive week, it will be the "Thursday Night Lights" as the St. Louis Park Orioles head up to New Hope to face the Cooper Hawks.  

Last Thursday, the Orioles home opener wasn't happy since they were routed by the Apple Valley Eagles 31-7.  

The one bright spot for St. Louis Park was sophomore running back Mason Helfmann.  He scored the Orioles lone touchdown and ran for 140 yards.  It was the second straight game that he broke the 100 yard threshold.  The news then turned bad for St. Louis Park when Apple Valley scored 31 straight points to clinch the victory.  Jackson Thornburgh threw two touchdown passes for the Eagles.  On defense, Bjorn Anderson recorded nine tackles.  

The key to the game for the Orioles is to minimize turnovers and for Helfmann to continue to anchor the running game.  

The Hawks were also in action last Thursday as they faced their Robbinsdale district rival the Armstrong Falcons in Plymouth.  It turned out to be an outstanding game as Armstrong handed cooper their first loss of the season 20-14 in double overtime.  Kevon Johnson, who carried the ball 41 times for 157 yards, scored the game winning touchdown in the second overtime. Cooper was led by quarterback Kameron Fox, as he completed 203 of 39 passes for 207 yards.  Defense played a role in the Hawks first touchdown  when Emmanuel Karmo recovered an Armstrong fumble and ran 22 yards to the end zone.  Anthony Kollie had 16 tackles and Ray Helland 13.  

The key to the game for the Hawks is for Fox to keep the Oriole defense from going "Fox hunting."  He has to go deep and utilize his receivers to solve St. Louis Park.  

It will be a favorable weather picture with temperatures above 80 degrees and no rain in the forecast.  Game time is 7 PM.  

 

A Senior Night Tie and Split

 Monday night was Senior Night for the St. Louis Park Oriole soccer teams as they hosted the Chaska Hawks.  Gael Miteo scored two second half goals to tie the Hawks at three and girls got a game winner from Vesna Dennison with 2:09 left in regulation to beat Chaska.  

First up was the boys and they would bounce back from a two goal deficit on a pair of goals from Miteo to tie the Chaska Hawks at three.  

The Hawks would score the lone first half goal as Jacob Steffes drove down the field like the team bus heading down Highway 212 and lined the ball into the net.  

Chaska would increase their lead to two in the second half when Cristopher Corrales-Castro got a pass from Aiden Dualan and sent it to the net.  There would be no shutout for the Hawks that night when Raul Sanchez Sandoval put the ball past Chaska goalkeeper to cut the lead to one.  But Edgard Robles goal pushed the Hawk lead back to two.  St. Louis Park wasn't done yet.  Miteo would score two consecutive goals.  The first came on a rebound and the second came after receiving a pass from Saul Zis.  There would be no overtime in the regular season as a new rule was enacted by the Minnesota State High School League this season.  

The Hawks improved their record to 5-2-1 and will travel to New Prague on Wednesday, September 20 for a 7 PM game against the Trojans.  St. Louis Park improved to 2-4-1 and will host the Waconia Wildcats, also on the 20th at 7 PM.  

Now to the girls game where senior Vesna Dennison put the finishing touch on senior night on her game winning goal with 2:09 left in regulation time to beat the Chaska Hawks 2-1.  

The Orioles would strike first when Dennison sent the ball to Hanna Wilsey and fired it to the net.  Kaydence Landree would go on a breakaway  and scored a right side goal.  

It looked like there would be the second deadlock of the evening as both teams played solid defense.  Hold everything.  Dennison, positioned on the right side of the net put the ball over the goal line with 2:09 left to clinch the victory.  

Chaska improved their record to 3-5-1  and will head to New Prague on Wednesday, September 20 to take on the Trojans at 5 PM.  St. Louis Park improved to 5-2-1 and will host the Waconia Wildcats, also on the 20th at 5 PM.                                                

Apple Valley Eagles Soar Past SLP Orioles

 It was a "Battle of the Birds" Thursday night in the St. Louis Park Orioles home opener but it was Jackson Thornburgh who passed for two touchdowns to lead the Apple Valley Eagles to a 31-7 defeat over the host Orioles.  

The Orioles would break a scoreless tie in the first quarter on Mason Helfmann's five yard run that came following an offside penalty on the Eagles.  

It would be the only good news for St. Louis Park as Apple Valley would put the game away with three second quarter touchdowns, two on passes from Thornburgh.  The first came on a 15 yard high right side pass to Quieris Bamslater. The second came on a 50 yard strike to Noah Mergerson and the Eagles led 14-7.  Defense would be a factor in Apple valley's third touchdown when Alex Mock recovered a St. Louis Park fumble and ran 33 yards into the end zone.  The Eagles led 21-7 at halftime.  

Heading into the second half, the Orioles had the ball for the first 6:12 of the third quarter but they lost the ball to the Eagles on downs.  Apple Valley would extend their unanswered point streak to 28 as Will Washington ran right for a 14 yard touchdown.  

The Eagles would close the scoring in the fourth quarter on Nolan Mickelson's 21 yard touchdown.  

Apple Valley improved their record to 2-1 and return home on Friday, September 22 to face the Tartan Titans at 7 PM.  St. Louis Park fell to 1-2 and heads up Highway 169 to New Hope on Thursday, September 21 to take on the Cooper Hawks at 7 PM.  

Apple Valley Eagles-SLP Orioles Football Preview

 Two weeks on the road and the St. Louis Park Oriole football team is gonna make it home Thursday night to host the Apple Valley Eagles. 

Both teams are 1-1 and have faced the Mankato East Cougars who have accounted for their lone defeat in the early season.  

Last Saturday, the Orioles picked up their first win when sophomore running back Mason Helfmann made four trips to the end zone to lead St. Louis Park to a 33-21 win over the Minneapolis Washburn Millers.  Helfmann had 22 carries for 182 yards and Josh Rickford completed 11 of 14 passes for 105 yards, including a touchdown pass to Ben Bauer.  The Oriole defense also prevailed, sacking Millers quarterback Andrew Backhaus five times.  

The key to the game for St. Louis Park is for Helfmann to continue his momentum and shred the Apple Valley defense.  

The Eagles, following a 29-7 win over the Rochester John Marshall Rockets in the season opener, hosted the same team the Orioles faced that week in the Mankato East Cougars and got blown out by Mankato East 42-21.  The Cougars defense couldn't do what the Orioles tried to do the previous week is stop Rafe Bowman who scored two touchdowns and ran for 192 yards.  Apple Valley has a dual threat quarterback in junior Jackson Thornburgh.  In the season opener he passed for 1172 yards and ran for 84 yards and two touchdowns.  

The key to the game for Apple Valley is for Thornburgh to have another big game and for the defense to shut down Helfmann.  

There's good news in Thursday's weather picture.  It will be warmer than Wednesday with the high temperature around 80 degrees.  Game time is 7 PM.  

SLP Orioles-Mpls. Washburn Millers Football Preview

 It will be a Saturday matinee for the St. Louis Park Oriole football team as they head into Minneapolis to face the Washburn Millers in the second week of the high school football season.

Last Friday, the Orioles headed down Highway 169 to open the season against the Mankato East Cougars and couldn't handle Rafe Bowman as he ran for the touchdowns to lead the Cougars to a 20-7 victory.  

St. Louis Park began the scoring on a 45 yard touchdown pass from Javaris Ellis to Ben Bauer for the early lead but it was Bowman who reached the end zone three times in the first half to put the game away for Mankato East.  Bowman carried 17 times for 141 yards.  

The Orioles were led by Mason Helfmann, who took over at running back when AJ Foster was lost for the season due to a torn ACL.  Inexperience plagued St. Louis Park at quarterback as sophomore Josh Rickford completed eight of 21 passes for 37 yards.  On defense, Bjorn Anderson recorded eight tackles.  

The key to the game for the Orioles is for Rickford to avoid turnovers and establish a solid passing game.  

As for the Millers, they won their opening game against St. Paul Harding/Humboldt 30-13.  Washburn was led by Andrew Backhaus, who threw three touchdown passes, two of them to Declan Dosse.  The running game was almost non existent since the Millers had a game total of 24 rushing yards.  Jack Garcia-Grafting was the only Miller in double figure yardage, gaining 28.  Beckhaus ran for -7 yards.  Special teams also played a part for Washburn when Quintrell Robinson reached the end zone on a 94 yard kickoff return.  

The Millers key to the game is for Beckhaus to continue to find Dosse and to improve on the running game.  

If you plan on attending Saturday's game, you might want to pack an umbrella.  The weather picture calls for a 30% chance of showers.  Game time is 1 PM.  

Minneapolis Southwest Lakers End SLP Orioles Winning at Three

 The host St. Louis Park Orioles, who scored 26 goals in their first three games fell to earth Tuesday night as Anne Layon scored two goals to lead the Minneapolis Southwest Lakers to a 4-0 shutout.  

The Lakers would account for the lone first half goal 1:09 into the game when Layon's corner kick landed in the net.  Southwest's defense would keep St. Louis Park from equaling the score.  

Heading into the second half, the Lakers got a gift goal as an Oriole deflected the ball across the goal line.  Adeline Simon would get credited for the goal.  The lead would increase to three on Layon's header.  Southwest would put the game well out of reach on Elika Vihhaji's goal.  

The Lakers ended a two game losing streak and improved their record to 1-2.  They return to action on Thursday, September 7 at 5 PM against the Edina Hornets at Kuhlman Stadium in Edina.  The Orioles three game winning streak ended as they fell to 3-1.  They will also be in action on the 7th as they head down Highway 212 to Chanhassen for a 5 PM game against the Storm.  

HSGN Pays Tribute to Bob Barker

 On Saturday, August 26, the game show world lost an icon when Bob Barker passed away at the age of 99.  

Many sources have mentioned about aspects of his early life that included growing up on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota where his mother was a teacher so HSGN will focus primarily on his game show career as well as his animal rights activism that he took up after the passing of his wife Dorothy Jo.  

Barker, who got his start in radio in Springfield, MO and Palm Beach, FL, moved to Los Angeles in the 1950s and hosted his own audience participation show.  The show caught the attention of game show producer Ralph Edwards.  Edwards was in search of a host for the daytime version of the show that put him on the map in radio, Truth or Consequences.    This version would be seen Monday through Friday on NBC.  He was driving his daughters to an ice rink and heard Barker's show so he called Barker to set up a meeting with him about hosting the show.  On December 21, 1956, Barker was hired to become the new host of Truth or Consequences.  The show returned on New Year's Eve and Barker would preside over the long running stunt show until it was canceled on September 24, 1965 as part of NBC's revamping of their daytime lineup that had the ax falling on Wink Martindale's first game show What's This Song?, the Goodson-Todman game show Call My Bluff and I'll Bet, hosted by Jack Narz and revived in 1969 under the title It's Your Bet.  

But Barker was not unemployed for long.  In 1966, Edwards revived Truth or Consequences as the first game show to air in first run syndication.  He would bring back Barker as host.  The show was a hit and paved the way for more syndicated reboots such as What's My Line?, To Tell the Truth and Beat the Clock.  This incarnation ran until 1974.  

While Barker was presiding over the mayhem on Truth or Consequences, he hosted the ABC daytime game show The Family Game.  But The Newlywed Game lone was clobbered in the ratings by Dick Van Dyke Show reruns and a show that was becoming more popular and successful Hollywood Squares.  ABC canceled the show after 26 weeks.  

Other hosted jobs for Barker included the Pillsbury Bake-Off, the Tournament of Roses Parades and the Miss USA and Miss Universe beauty pageants.  He also produced a game show that gave Richard Dawson his first hosting job, a Los Angeles game show that aired locally on the CBS owned station Lucky Pair.

Barker's biggest success came in 1972 when Mark Goodson hired him to host a revival of The Price is Right.  Aired opposite NBC's long running game show Concentration, the show became a big hit and three years later it became television's first hour long game show.  He presided over the show with humor and the ability to make the contestants feel at home.  Barker won 14 Emmy Awards as host and five more when he became executive producer.  He also received a lifetime achievement award for his years in television.  

But in 1981, tragedy struck Barker when his wife Dorothy Jo passed away from lung cancer.  He considered leaving The Price is Right but instead, he channeled his grief into something else he would be best known for, an animal rights activist.  He quit hosting the two beauty pageants because the producers were still giving away fur coats.  Another success was The Price is Right stopped giving away furs.  To this day, under the reigns of current host Drew Carey, no fur coats are awarded as prizes.  

HSGN will wrap up this tribute with his familiar closing that's still used by Carey.  "Help control the pet population.  Have your pet spayed or neutered."