SLP Orioles-Cooper Hawks Football Preview

For the second consecutive week, it will be the "Thursday Night Lights" as the St. Louis Park Orioles head up to New Hope to face the Cooper Hawks.  

Last Thursday, the Orioles home opener wasn't happy since they were routed by the Apple Valley Eagles 31-7.  

The one bright spot for St. Louis Park was sophomore running back Mason Helfmann.  He scored the Orioles lone touchdown and ran for 140 yards.  It was the second straight game that he broke the 100 yard threshold.  The news then turned bad for St. Louis Park when Apple Valley scored 31 straight points to clinch the victory.  Jackson Thornburgh threw two touchdown passes for the Eagles.  On defense, Bjorn Anderson recorded nine tackles.  

The key to the game for the Orioles is to minimize turnovers and for Helfmann to continue to anchor the running game.  

The Hawks were also in action last Thursday as they faced their Robbinsdale district rival the Armstrong Falcons in Plymouth.  It turned out to be an outstanding game as Armstrong handed cooper their first loss of the season 20-14 in double overtime.  Kevon Johnson, who carried the ball 41 times for 157 yards, scored the game winning touchdown in the second overtime. Cooper was led by quarterback Kameron Fox, as he completed 203 of 39 passes for 207 yards.  Defense played a role in the Hawks first touchdown  when Emmanuel Karmo recovered an Armstrong fumble and ran 22 yards to the end zone.  Anthony Kollie had 16 tackles and Ray Helland 13.  

The key to the game for the Hawks is for Fox to keep the Oriole defense from going "Fox hunting."  He has to go deep and utilize his receivers to solve St. Louis Park.  

It will be a favorable weather picture with temperatures above 80 degrees and no rain in the forecast.  Game time is 7 PM.  

 

A Senior Night Tie and Split

 Monday night was Senior Night for the St. Louis Park Oriole soccer teams as they hosted the Chaska Hawks.  Gael Miteo scored two second half goals to tie the Hawks at three and girls got a game winner from Vesna Dennison with 2:09 left in regulation to beat Chaska.  

First up was the boys and they would bounce back from a two goal deficit on a pair of goals from Miteo to tie the Chaska Hawks at three.  

The Hawks would score the lone first half goal as Jacob Steffes drove down the field like the team bus heading down Highway 212 and lined the ball into the net.  

Chaska would increase their lead to two in the second half when Cristopher Corrales-Castro got a pass from Aiden Dualan and sent it to the net.  There would be no shutout for the Hawks that night when Raul Sanchez Sandoval put the ball past Chaska goalkeeper to cut the lead to one.  But Edgard Robles goal pushed the Hawk lead back to two.  St. Louis Park wasn't done yet.  Miteo would score two consecutive goals.  The first came on a rebound and the second came after receiving a pass from Saul Zis.  There would be no overtime in the regular season as a new rule was enacted by the Minnesota State High School League this season.  

The Hawks improved their record to 5-2-1 and will travel to New Prague on Wednesday, September 20 for a 7 PM game against the Trojans.  St. Louis Park improved to 2-4-1 and will host the Waconia Wildcats, also on the 20th at 7 PM.  

Now to the girls game where senior Vesna Dennison put the finishing touch on senior night on her game winning goal with 2:09 left in regulation time to beat the Chaska Hawks 2-1.  

The Orioles would strike first when Dennison sent the ball to Hanna Wilsey and fired it to the net.  Kaydence Landree would go on a breakaway  and scored a right side goal.  

It looked like there would be the second deadlock of the evening as both teams played solid defense.  Hold everything.  Dennison, positioned on the right side of the net put the ball over the goal line with 2:09 left to clinch the victory.  

Chaska improved their record to 3-5-1  and will head to New Prague on Wednesday, September 20 to take on the Trojans at 5 PM.  St. Louis Park improved to 5-2-1 and will host the Waconia Wildcats, also on the 20th at 5 PM.                                                

Apple Valley Eagles Soar Past SLP Orioles

 It was a "Battle of the Birds" Thursday night in the St. Louis Park Orioles home opener but it was Jackson Thornburgh who passed for two touchdowns to lead the Apple Valley Eagles to a 31-7 defeat over the host Orioles.  

The Orioles would break a scoreless tie in the first quarter on Mason Helfmann's five yard run that came following an offside penalty on the Eagles.  

It would be the only good news for St. Louis Park as Apple Valley would put the game away with three second quarter touchdowns, two on passes from Thornburgh.  The first came on a 15 yard high right side pass to Quieris Bamslater. The second came on a 50 yard strike to Noah Mergerson and the Eagles led 14-7.  Defense would be a factor in Apple valley's third touchdown when Alex Mock recovered a St. Louis Park fumble and ran 33 yards into the end zone.  The Eagles led 21-7 at halftime.  

Heading into the second half, the Orioles had the ball for the first 6:12 of the third quarter but they lost the ball to the Eagles on downs.  Apple Valley would extend their unanswered point streak to 28 as Will Washington ran right for a 14 yard touchdown.  

The Eagles would close the scoring in the fourth quarter on Nolan Mickelson's 21 yard touchdown.  

Apple Valley improved their record to 2-1 and return home on Friday, September 22 to face the Tartan Titans at 7 PM.  St. Louis Park fell to 1-2 and heads up Highway 169 to New Hope on Thursday, September 21 to take on the Cooper Hawks at 7 PM.  

Apple Valley Eagles-SLP Orioles Football Preview

 Two weeks on the road and the St. Louis Park Oriole football team is gonna make it home Thursday night to host the Apple Valley Eagles. 

Both teams are 1-1 and have faced the Mankato East Cougars who have accounted for their lone defeat in the early season.  

Last Saturday, the Orioles picked up their first win when sophomore running back Mason Helfmann made four trips to the end zone to lead St. Louis Park to a 33-21 win over the Minneapolis Washburn Millers.  Helfmann had 22 carries for 182 yards and Josh Rickford completed 11 of 14 passes for 105 yards, including a touchdown pass to Ben Bauer.  The Oriole defense also prevailed, sacking Millers quarterback Andrew Backhaus five times.  

The key to the game for St. Louis Park is for Helfmann to continue his momentum and shred the Apple Valley defense.  

The Eagles, following a 29-7 win over the Rochester John Marshall Rockets in the season opener, hosted the same team the Orioles faced that week in the Mankato East Cougars and got blown out by Mankato East 42-21.  The Cougars defense couldn't do what the Orioles tried to do the previous week is stop Rafe Bowman who scored two touchdowns and ran for 192 yards.  Apple Valley has a dual threat quarterback in junior Jackson Thornburgh.  In the season opener he passed for 1172 yards and ran for 84 yards and two touchdowns.  

The key to the game for Apple Valley is for Thornburgh to have another big game and for the defense to shut down Helfmann.  

There's good news in Thursday's weather picture.  It will be warmer than Wednesday with the high temperature around 80 degrees.  Game time is 7 PM.  

SLP Orioles-Mpls. Washburn Millers Football Preview

 It will be a Saturday matinee for the St. Louis Park Oriole football team as they head into Minneapolis to face the Washburn Millers in the second week of the high school football season.

Last Friday, the Orioles headed down Highway 169 to open the season against the Mankato East Cougars and couldn't handle Rafe Bowman as he ran for the touchdowns to lead the Cougars to a 20-7 victory.  

St. Louis Park began the scoring on a 45 yard touchdown pass from Javaris Ellis to Ben Bauer for the early lead but it was Bowman who reached the end zone three times in the first half to put the game away for Mankato East.  Bowman carried 17 times for 141 yards.  

The Orioles were led by Mason Helfmann, who took over at running back when AJ Foster was lost for the season due to a torn ACL.  Inexperience plagued St. Louis Park at quarterback as sophomore Josh Rickford completed eight of 21 passes for 37 yards.  On defense, Bjorn Anderson recorded eight tackles.  

The key to the game for the Orioles is for Rickford to avoid turnovers and establish a solid passing game.  

As for the Millers, they won their opening game against St. Paul Harding/Humboldt 30-13.  Washburn was led by Andrew Backhaus, who threw three touchdown passes, two of them to Declan Dosse.  The running game was almost non existent since the Millers had a game total of 24 rushing yards.  Jack Garcia-Grafting was the only Miller in double figure yardage, gaining 28.  Beckhaus ran for -7 yards.  Special teams also played a part for Washburn when Quintrell Robinson reached the end zone on a 94 yard kickoff return.  

The Millers key to the game is for Beckhaus to continue to find Dosse and to improve on the running game.  

If you plan on attending Saturday's game, you might want to pack an umbrella.  The weather picture calls for a 30% chance of showers.  Game time is 1 PM.  

Minneapolis Southwest Lakers End SLP Orioles Winning at Three

 The host St. Louis Park Orioles, who scored 26 goals in their first three games fell to earth Tuesday night as Anne Layon scored two goals to lead the Minneapolis Southwest Lakers to a 4-0 shutout.  

The Lakers would account for the lone first half goal 1:09 into the game when Layon's corner kick landed in the net.  Southwest's defense would keep St. Louis Park from equaling the score.  

Heading into the second half, the Lakers got a gift goal as an Oriole deflected the ball across the goal line.  Adeline Simon would get credited for the goal.  The lead would increase to three on Layon's header.  Southwest would put the game well out of reach on Elika Vihhaji's goal.  

The Lakers ended a two game losing streak and improved their record to 1-2.  They return to action on Thursday, September 7 at 5 PM against the Edina Hornets at Kuhlman Stadium in Edina.  The Orioles three game winning streak ended as they fell to 3-1.  They will also be in action on the 7th as they head down Highway 212 to Chanhassen for a 5 PM game against the Storm.  

HSGN Pays Tribute to Bob Barker

 On Saturday, August 26, the game show world lost an icon when Bob Barker passed away at the age of 99.  

Many sources have mentioned about aspects of his early life that included growing up on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota where his mother was a teacher so HSGN will focus primarily on his game show career as well as his animal rights activism that he took up after the passing of his wife Dorothy Jo.  

Barker, who got his start in radio in Springfield, MO and Palm Beach, FL, moved to Los Angeles in the 1950s and hosted his own audience participation show.  The show caught the attention of game show producer Ralph Edwards.  Edwards was in search of a host for the daytime version of the show that put him on the map in radio, Truth or Consequences.    This version would be seen Monday through Friday on NBC.  He was driving his daughters to an ice rink and heard Barker's show so he called Barker to set up a meeting with him about hosting the show.  On December 21, 1956, Barker was hired to become the new host of Truth or Consequences.  The show returned on New Year's Eve and Barker would preside over the long running stunt show until it was canceled on September 24, 1965 as part of NBC's revamping of their daytime lineup that had the ax falling on Wink Martindale's first game show What's This Song?, the Goodson-Todman game show Call My Bluff and I'll Bet, hosted by Jack Narz and revived in 1969 under the title It's Your Bet.  

But Barker was not unemployed for long.  In 1966, Edwards revived Truth or Consequences as the first game show to air in first run syndication.  He would bring back Barker as host.  The show was a hit and paved the way for more syndicated reboots such as What's My Line?, To Tell the Truth and Beat the Clock.  This incarnation ran until 1974.  

While Barker was presiding over the mayhem on Truth or Consequences, he hosted the ABC daytime game show The Family Game.  But The Newlywed Game lone was clobbered in the ratings by Dick Van Dyke Show reruns and a show that was becoming more popular and successful Hollywood Squares.  ABC canceled the show after 26 weeks.  

Other hosted jobs for Barker included the Pillsbury Bake-Off, the Tournament of Roses Parades and the Miss USA and Miss Universe beauty pageants.  He also produced a game show that gave Richard Dawson his first hosting job, a Los Angeles game show that aired locally on the CBS owned station Lucky Pair.

Barker's biggest success came in 1972 when Mark Goodson hired him to host a revival of The Price is Right.  Aired opposite NBC's long running game show Concentration, the show became a big hit and three years later it became television's first hour long game show.  He presided over the show with humor and the ability to make the contestants feel at home.  Barker won 14 Emmy Awards as host and five more when he became executive producer.  He also received a lifetime achievement award for his years in television.  

But in 1981, tragedy struck Barker when his wife Dorothy Jo passed away from lung cancer.  He considered leaving The Price is Right but instead, he channeled his grief into something else he would be best known for, an animal rights activist.  He quit hosting the two beauty pageants because the producers were still giving away fur coats.  Another success was The Price is Right stopped giving away furs.  To this day, under the reigns of current host Drew Carey, no fur coats are awarded as prizes.  

HSGN will wrap up this tribute with his familiar closing that's still used by Carey.  "Help control the pet population.  Have your pet spayed or neutered."