Week #1 Recap: Forest Lake

Linebacker Jason Green tackled quarterback Cole Gerrell in the backfield to stop a two-point conversion attempt in the closing moments as the Prior Lake Lakers defeated the Forest Lake Rangers 7-6 Aug. 31 at Dan Patch Stadium.

The win for Prior Lake (1-0 Overall, 0-0 Metro West) over Forest Lake (0-1 Overall, 0-0 Metro East) is the Lakers’ seventh straight season opening victory, dating back to 2016.

Much of the game was a defensive battle and that started on the opening drive when the Rangers appeared to be marching down the field but a holding penalty and an incompletion on a fourth-and-long turned the ball over to the Lakers.

The teams then exchanged punts at the end of the first quarter.

The Lakers faced a fourth-and-6 at the Forest Lake 16-yard line to start the second quarter. Quarterback Myles Greenwood took the snap and immediately threw to his left to receiver/running back Jaxson Barrett but the ball was batted down by the Forest Lake defender and turned the ball over on downs.

Forest Lake drove deep into Laker territory on the ensuing drive, all the way down to the Prior Lake 1-yard line, but safety/running back Hunter MacGillivray tackled Forest Lake running back Layton Patzer short of the goal line as he lunged for the end zone on a fourth-and-goal in the closing minutes of the first half to keep the game scoreless and give the ball back to the Lakers.

The teams remained scoreless at halftime.

Prior Lake then finally got on the scoreboard on the first possession of the second half with a 14-play 80-yard touchdown drive of all run plays, highlighted by a 23-yard run by running back/safety Levi Eiter on a fourth-and-1 at the Forest Lake 33-yard line. A few plays later, Eiter plunged into the end zone on a fourth-and-goal at the 1-yard line to give the Lakers a 6-0 lead. Kicker Mason Storlie added the extra point to make it 7-0 Prior Lake with 9:57 left in the third quarter.

It appeared as though the Rangers may answer right back on the next possession as they drove the ball deep into Prior Lake territory to the 3-yard line but a low snap bounced off of Gerrell’s hands and MacGillivray jumped on top of the ball to end the drive and give possession back to the Lakers.

Prior Lake went three-and-out and was forced to punt at the start of the fourth quarter.

The Rangers advanced the ball near the Prior Lake 30-yard line but linebacker Sean Nadeau blitzed and sacked Gerrell for a big loss and ultimately forced Forest Lake to punt.

The Lakers didn’t score on the next drive, starting backed up near their own goal line, but advanced the ball out near midfield before punting.

Forest Lake had their most explosive play on the very next snap when Gerrell ran a speed option play to his right and pitched the ball to receiver Sam Cordie who sprinted along the Rangers sideline, cut back past the Laker defense and sprinted all the way to the end zone to cut the Prior Lake lead to 7-6 with 3:32 left in regulation.

The Rangers then opted for a two-point attempt instead of kicking the extra point. Gerrell took the snap and rolled to his left but was met in the backfield by Green, who wrapped up the quarterback to keep the score at 7-6 Lakers.

Prior Lake’s offense then put the game away by running out the clock on the next drive. A 12-yard run by MacGillivray gained the initial first down and a 5-yard run by Eiter on third-and-1 ultimately sealed the 7-6 Prior Lake victory.

Statistically, Eiter led the way with 19 carries for 137 yards and a touchdown. MacGillivray had 12 carries for 52 yards. Barrett had three carries for 38 yards and running back Josh Burns had 11 carries for 31 yards.

Greenwood was 3 of 5 passing for 16 yards in his first varsity start.

Safety Josh Marcinkevich led the Lakers in tackles with nine tackles. Green and MacGillivray each had six tackles. Nadeau had five tackles. Lineman Jide Abasiri and linebacker Logan Taylor each had four tackles.

Week #2 Preview: Shakopee

The Lakers travel to face longtime rival Shakopee on Friday Sept. 8 at 7pm at Vaughn Field in Shakopee.

Prior Lake and Shakopee have faced each other regularly dating back to their time in the Missota Conference in the 1990s and 2000s. The rivalry was renewed when Shakopee joined the South Suburban Conference in 2014 before district schedules were created in Class 6A football.

Prior Lake has won seven of the last eight matchups between the two teams dating back to 2014, including Week 2 of last season 24-16 at Dan Patch Stadium.

While only Week 2, Friday’s matchup could have playoff seeding implications later in the season as Prior Lake and Shakopee are in the same section and will seed together for playoffs. The district regular season schedules were overhauled this offseason to better align the districts with the sections to make seeding easier come playoff time. A head-to-head victory can often be the separator when playoff seeding takes place.

The Sabers, known for their triple-option offense and strong run game, defeated Hopkins 72-16 in Week 1, rushing for 335 yards using ten different ball carriers.

Quarterback Leyton Kerns got the start for the Sabers in Week 1, completing 2 of 2 passes for 70 yards and a touchdown against Hopkins.

The AP Class 6A rankings were not yet available when this was written but Shakopee enters the game ranked seventh in the Star Tribune’s Metro Top 10 released Sept. 6 while the Lakers are not ranked in the same poll.

Notes

Kickoff at Vaughn Field on Friday is scheduled for 7pm.

PL Lakers Live will be streaming Friday’s game, a co-production with Sabers Live. Friday’s stream with will be live at the following link:

https://gametimemn.com/pl-lakers-live/

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

Be sure to check back next week for a recap of the Shakopee game and a preview of the matchup against Eden Prairie.

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