It's Semifinal Saturday in Minnesota high school football and the St. Louis Park Orioles head up to New Hope as they battle the top seeded Cooper Hawks in the Section 5AAAAA semifinals. Also in action today is the third seeded Irondale Knights and the second seeded Spring Lake Park Panthers.
The Orioles broke open a back and forth quarterfinal game as they scored 35 unanswered points to beat the Minneapolis Southwest Lakers 49-21. It was a big night for junior quarterback Aaron Ellingson as he ran for two touchdowns and passed for three more that also include 52 and 59 yard passes to Cole Ewald. The St. Louis Park defense also had an outstanding game as they held Southwest's leading rusher TK Marshall to 27 yards.
As for the Hawks, they had a first round bye so they had time to regroup after losing their final regular season game to the Knights on October 17 41-13. Cooper and St. Louis Park battled on September 7 in St. Louis Park as Nascier Borden ran for 217 yards and three touchdowns to rout the Orioles 42-17. It will be the third meeting between the two schools in almost a year. Last season, they played in the section final when St. Louis Park upset Cooper to earn their first state tournament berth. Game time is 5 PM.
In the second semifinal game, the third seeded Irondale Knights will go to Spring Lake Park for a 2 PM game with the second seeded Panthers. Irondale advanced to the semifinals with a 42-22 win over the sixth seeded Park Center Pirates. Irondale is led by running back Parker Freiberg, who ran for 150 yards and a pair of touchdowns in the Knights quarterfinal win. It will be the first meeting between the Knights and the Panthers since the season opener August 31 where Spring Lake Park beat Irondale 35-13. The Panthers had an outstanding rushing attack against the Knights as they ran for 383 yards. Derric Bergman ran for 135 and three touchdowns. He would have two other games where he turned the touchdown hat trick. They were October 5 against the North St. Paul Polars and October 17 against the Forest Lake Rangers. The Knights will have to play solid defense to stop the Panthers ground game.
Get ready for a couple of outstanding section semifinal games.
No comments:
Post a Comment