Previewing Friday's Football Showdown of SLPs

 It's The Battle of the SLPs this coming Friday night as the St. Louis Park Orioles open a two game road trip that starts with a trip up Highway 65 to take on the Spring Lake Park Panthers.  

Last Friday, it was another rough and rocky road for St. Louis Park as the Orioles fell to 0-3 with a 41-20 loss to the Cooper Hawks.  The Oriole offense was as cold as the weather that night, trailing 14-0 after the first quarter and down 27-7 at the half.  The Brothers Dvorak collaborated on the lone first half touchdown with Will firing a 25 yard pass to his brother McCabe.  The offensive highlight of the night came in the fourth quarter when Will Dvorak threw the ball down the left side of the field and Austin Amelse hauled in an 80 yard touchdown pass.  As for Cooper, Camden Royal ran for two touchdowns and Kahlil Borden ran a punt return into the end zone.  

The Panthers got off to a rough start in two ways.  First, their game against the Armstrong Falcons was cancelled due to COVID-19 but they were still in action against one of the state's top programs, the Becker Bulldogs, under the veteran leadership of Dwight Lundeen.  And second, they were beaten by the Bulldogs 20-13.  Carter Callahan reached the end zone three times for Becker.  Since the Becker beating, Spring Lake Park posted two straight shutouts, Irondale 28-0 and last week 34-0 over the Coon Rapids Cardinals.  Aaron Payne would be a pain for the Cardinal defense, running for 94 yards and scoring two touchdowns.  Nick Wetzel recorded nine tackles for the Panthers and Joey Sorenson had 10.  

The keys to the game for St. Louis Park are to slow down the Spring Lake Park offense.  They run the ball often and it showed last week against Coon Rapids with 119 yards.  Will Dvorak has to find a way to beat the Panther defense and to spread the ball around his receivers.  

The keys to the game for Spring Lake Park are to continue their outstanding running game and to put defensive pressure on the Orioles.  Can they extend their unanswered point streak past 62 over two games?  

There's good news for Friday's weather picture.  It will be warmer than last Friday night.  As usual, game time is 7 PM.