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Lakers roll past Edina ahead of matchup with top-ranked Lakeville South

By Taylor Smith, 10/22/20, 8:30AM CDT

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Prior Lake took an early lead and never looked back in the teams first shutout since 2018 as spotlight game with Lakeville South looms.

Game Recap: Edina

Running back Tyler Shaver rushed for 163 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries as the Prior Lake Lakers steamed past the Edina Hornets 42-0 on Oct. 15 at Dan Patch Stadium.

The victory was the first shutout for the Lakers since a 35-0 win over Eagan in 2018.

In the win over Edina, the excitement kicked off with an interception by linebacker/tight end Tanner Newlin. Facing a third-and-9 from the Prior Lake 37-yard line, Edina quarterback George Sandven dropped back and threw to his right, Newlin stepped into the passing lane and picked off the pass, ending the threat.

A couple of drives later, the Laker offense got their first explosive play of the game. Set up already in Hornet territory at the 45-yard line. Quarterback Kyle Haas took the snap and handed off to receiver Joey Krouse on a jet sweep around the right end. Krouse followed blockers Shaver and receiver Jake Anderson down the sideline before he was tackled inside the 10-yard line.

The Lakers scored their first touchdown a couple of plays later when Haas rolled to his right and connected with Newlin on a 13-yard touchdown pass. Kicker Josh Keller’s extra point made it 7-0 Lakers with 3:43 left in the first quarter.

After the teams exchanged punts on the next few possessions, the Lakers put together perhaps their most impressive drive of the game. The Prior Lake offense engineered a 12-play 99-yard touchdown drive capped by a quarterback sneak touchdown by Haas. Krouse provided a pair of 20+ yard plays with another long jet sweep run and a catch along the sideline. Shaver also had a long run and Haas had an important scramble on a third down to keep the drive alive before the score to go up 14-0 with 4:35 to go until halftime.

After a three-and-out, the Prior Lake offense went back to work. Facing a third-and-10 at their own 43-yard line, Haas found Shaver on a screen pass, who caught the ball, followed his linemen and weaved his way through the defense for a big gain and a first down.

Haas connected with running back Cam Miller for a first down on the next play, before yet another long run by Krouse advanced the ball inside the 5-yard line. Miller lunged across the goal line on the ensuing play and Keller’s extra point increased the Laker lead to 21-0, which was the score at halftime.

Edina tried a surprise onside kick to start the second half but lineman Preston Swartz jumped on the ball before the Hornets could, setting up the Lakers with great field position.

Facing a third-and-19, Shaver took a handoff from Haas, broke a pair of tackles and navigated his way through the Hornet defense for a 33-yard gain and a first down. A couple of plays later, Haas connected with tight end Reid Bowman on a corner route down to the 2-yard line. Haas scored on a 2-yard touchdown run on the next play to increase the lead to 28-0 less than three minutes into the third quarter.

Edina had a chance to get on the board on the next drive as they neared the red zone but Sandven’s deep pass to the end zone was intercepted by cornerback/receiver Jake Anderson to end the threat.

Runs by Krouse and Miller advanced the ball to near midfield and Shaver ultimately put the game out of reach with a 48-yard touchdown run. Shaver followed the right side of the offensive line and sprinted to the end zone, making the score 35-0 after Keller’s extra point.

Running back Keaton Sowder added a fourth-quarter touchdown run to reach the final score of 42-0.

Defensive back Jager Leverson had an interception and linebacker Roman West forced a fumble.

Haas completed six of eight passes for 107 yards and a touchdown.

Apart from Shaver’s strong rushing numbers, Krouse had five carries for 87 yards and Miller had nine carries for 67 yards.

Bowman was the leading receiver with two catches for 38 yards.

Newlin led the Lakers in tackles with nine, while safety Dustan Green and linebacker Drew Johnson each had six.

Next up: Lakeville South

It will be a battle of top teams in the state when Prior Lake takes on Lakeville South Friday Oct. 23 at Dan Patch Stadium at 7 pm.

The Cougars (2-0 overall, 2-0 Metro South) enter the matchup as the top-ranked team in both the latest AP Class 6A poll and the Star Tribune’s Metro Top 10 while the Lakers (2-0 overall, 2-0 Metro West) are ranked third in the same polls.

While Friday’s game is a non-subdistrict game, the Lakers and the Cougars both reside in the same section, meaning a victory one way or the other could go a long way in determining playoff seeding, which will be voted on by the section coaches at the conclusion of the regular season. It also means that Friday’s game could be a preview of a potential section playoff matchup in late November.

Lakeville South is led by Head Coach Ben Burk, who is in his first season as the permanent head coach after he took over as the interim coach following former coach Tyler Krebs resignation part-way through last season.

As the interim coach, Burk led the Cougars to a 35-17 win over the Lakers in 2019 as well as a trip to the state semifinals where they lost to the eventual state champion Wayzata Trojans.

This season, Lakeville South defeated Burnsville 53-14 in the season opener and then defeated Eastview 63-8 last week.

Lakeville South is led by a strong rushing attack out of a T formation, which often features three running backs lined up in a row a few yards behind the quarterback to form the shape of a “T” with many fakes to try to create confusion as to which player has the ball.

The Cougars have used a combination of running backs but have been headlined through two games by Riley Haglund, who has rushed for 231 yards on 15 carries, Will Geary, who has 158 yards on five carries and Josh Jacobson, who has 150 yards on 17 carries.

Lakeville South has rarely passed the ball to this point in the season and has used two different quarterbacks. Reid Patterson has completed four of six passes for 43 yards, a touchdown and an interception and Camden Dean has completed one of two passes for 14 yards.

Carson Hansen is the leading receiver with a mere two catches for 26 yards.

Tight end Riley Mahlman is another potential target through the air, primarily a blocker who has caught passes in the past and is committed to Wisconsin to play offensive line. Mahlman also plays defensive line for the Cougars.

Notes

Kickoff vs Lakeville South on Friday is scheduled for 7 pm at Dan Patch Stadium.

Due to MDH, MDE and MSHSL restrictions, only 250 people will be allowed into the stadium.

If you can’t make it to the game, you can watch the online video stream with Ben Tressel and John Wahlstrom. The stream team will be streaming home games only in 2020 with the host site streaming the away games.

The game will be the KARE 11 Prep Sports Extra Spotlight game at 10:15 pm and 11 pm so don’t forget to set your DVRs.

Be sure to check back next week for a recap of the Lakeville South game as well as a preview of next week’s matchup against St. Michael-Albertville (STMA).

STMA’s game this Friday at Edina has been canceled due to COVID-19 related issues, according to @EHSHornetsFB on Twitter. However, at the time of publishing, next week’s game set for Friday Oct. 30 between STMA and the Lakers is still on as scheduled.

UPDATE: STMA is now scheduled to play Champlin Park on Friday Oct. 23. Next week's game between STMA and the Lakers is expected to go on as scheduled.

Follow @plhsfootball, @pl4lstreaming and @pllakers on Twitter for further updates and links to the streams throughout the season.

Taylor Smith can be reached at tay1@me.com or on Twitter at @taysmith2013.

 


Photo by Taylor Smith