Many teams throughout Minnesota begin the Road to the Prep Bowl Tuesday as section play gets underway in high school football. The fourth seeded St. Louis Park Orioles open up Section 5AAAAA quarterfinal play as they host the fifth seeded Minneapolis Southwest Lakers in a 7 PM game. Here is a preview of Section 5AAAAA.
St. Louis Park opens up section play on a two game winning streak after dropping a pair of road games to the Benilde-St. Margaret's Red Knights and the Orono Spartans. Last Wednesday, the Orioles drubbed the DeLaSalle Islanders 51-13. Akili Farris took two kickoff returns into the end zone. They will need to continue their momentum against the Lakers and play strong defense.
Looking at the Lakers, they enter section play with a 3-5 record. They were routed by the combined team from St. Paul Academy, Minnehaha Academy and Blake, the SMB Wolfpack 42-14. SMB is the top seeded in Section 5AAAA that also includes defending state champion Holy Angels and Providence Academy. As for Mpls. Southwest, they have been playing .500 football since they started the season 1-3. The Lakers are a predominately running team led by TK Marshall, who rushed for a season high 249 yards against Minneapolis Washburn on October 12. Marshall is 10 yards away from the 1000 yard mark and he is very likely to surpass it against the Orioles.
The winner will head up to New Hope on Saturday, October 27 to take on the top seeded Cooper Hawks. The Hawks lost their first regular season game since 2016 last Wednesday to the Irondale Knights but they still got the number one seed. Cooper is led by quarterback Trashawn Marshall and running back Nascier Borden. Jerrell Smith-Shannon, Aki Mulbah and Charles Washington anchor the Hawk defense. Should St. Louis Park win on Tuesday, it will be a rematch of the September 7 game where the Hawks routed the Orioles 42-14. Borden ran for 217 yards and scored three touchdowns. Will there be hope in New Hope as Cooper looks to win the section title trophy?
Over to the lower bracket as the sixth seeded Park Center Pirates head down I-694 to face the third seeded Irondale Knights. The Pirates have gone through rough waters as they take a four game losing streak into section play. In their last four games, they have been outscored 170-17. It won't get easier against the Knights, who pulled off the upset last Wednesday with a 41-13 win over the Cooper Hawks. The big story of the game was running back Parker Freiberg, who rushed for 278 yards. In the game against Park Center on September 28, Freiberg reached the end zone twice and ran for 147 yards in a 65-0 rout.
Waiting in the wings for Saturday's semifinals is the second seeded Spring Lake Park Panthers. If the Knights and Panthers battle on the 27th, it will be a rematch of the season opener where Spring Lake Park beat Irondale 35-13. Derric Bergman scored three touchdowns and ran for 135 yards. The Panthers are a team with outstanding backfield depth and they could wear down the Knights defense. Zach Dubar and Brian Orellana-Lopez have also contributed to Spring Lake Park's success. Dubar has run for seven touchdowns and Orellana-Lopez has crossed the goal line six times. Two years ago, the Panthers played in the Class AAAAA title game and lost to the Elk River Elks. Don't count out Spring Lake Park, They could head into a potential section final with Cooper on Friday, November 2. It could be a big one.
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