A Miracle on Lake St.

 If you left the Waconia-St. Louis Park football game early Friday night, you missed a miraculous comeback from the host Orioles who got a game winning touchdown from Stefano Giovannelli with:04.2 left in regulation time that led them to a 29-28 win over the Wildcats.  

The Orioles were hurt by turnovers in the early going, including the first offensive play of the game.  Their second turnover would be costly as Max McEnelly followed up a 35 yard run with a three yard run to put the Wildcats ahead 7-0.  

It looked like St. Louis Park would even the score in the second quarter on Will Dvorak's 75 yard touchdown pass to Giovannelli.  Unfortunately, a holding penalty nullified the score.  Instead, Alex Riley would run left for a 15 yard touchdown and Waconia led 14-0 at halftime.  

McEnelly, who would finish the game with 207 rushing yards, would score his second touchdown, this time from 15 yards and the lead ballooned to 21.  

Going into the fourth quarter, the Orioles had a mountain to climb in order to catch the Wildcats.  The key was Dvorak's four touchdown passes.  The first was a 15 yard strike to Giovannelli, followed by a 21 yard score to Stanley Regguinti.  However, the Wildcats were not done yet.  Riley scored his second touchdown of the game on a one yard run and it would be 28-13 in favor of Waconia.  St. Louis Park got the ball and once again the Dvorak-Giovannelli combination unlocked the Waconia defense for a 24 yard touchdown with :30.7 remaining.  Hold on there.  The game was not over yet.  And why?  Because the Orioles would recover an onside kick and it would pay dividends as Dvorak threw his fourth touchdown pass of the game, the third to Giovannelli for 36 yards with :04.2 left.  Deontez Ross Jr. got the handoff from Dvorak to make the two point conversion and complete a 29 point fourth quarter miracle victory.  

Following the game, HSGN caught up with Dvorak who game his reaction to the game winning pass to Giovannelli.    

"You've got to give him a chance and I did."  

The Orioles improved their record to 5-2 and wrap up the regular season on Wednesday, October 20 at 7 PM as they head down Highway 212 to face the Chaska Hawks.  The Wildcats fell to 3-4 and will also  conclude their season on the 20th, hosting the Holy Angels Stars at 7 PM.