Mpls. Southwest Lakers-SLP Orioles Section 5AAAAA Football Preview

 The regular high school football season has concluded and the road to US Bank Stadium will go through Plymouth, where the Armstrong Falcons are the top seed and will host the winner of the Minneapolis Southwest-St. Louis Park game Saturday, October 28.  Here's a preview of the lone quarterfinal game.  

if there's one common thread between the Lakers and the Orioles, is that both teams ended their regular season with 2-6 records.  Last Wednesday, Southwest snapped a five game losing streak, that included shutouts from Minneapolis North and DeLaSalle to beat the Minneapolis South Tigers 24-6.  The Lakers backfield is well stacked with two players who broke the 100 yard mark last Wednesday, Connor Klemmensen and Andres Ramos.  Klemmensen was the only one who reached the end zone.  Another running back scored two Southwest touchdowns, Mar'Kwon Frelix.  Frelix concluded the regular season on a high note, scoring his first two touchdowns of the season.  

The key to the game for the Lakers is for the running game to wear down the Orioles defense.  

The Orioles finished the regular season on a free fall, losing their last four games as they were outscored 183-27.  Part of the reason was the loss of quarterback Declan Gaines for the rest of the season due to a concussion, leaving the quarterbacking duties to Stefano Giovannelli.  Also factoring into St. Louis Park's slump was losses to tough opponents Holy Angels, Waconia and Chaska.  In the game against Chaska last Wednesday, the Orioles were beaten 42-6.  Giovannelli completed nine of 17 passes for 46 yards, including a touchdown pass to Manny Kaplan.  The bright spot on defense was Zach Helfmann, who recorded 13 tackles.  

The key to the game for the Orioles is for Giovannelli to get into an offensive rhythm and for the running back duo of Jimmy Hager and AJ Foster to reestablish the running game that has been missing.

The weather picture for Tuesday night is for temperatures in the low 50s to the high 40s so you might want to bring a jacket as well as a blanket.  Game time, as usual is 7 PM.