Friday night, the 2-1 Laker football team will play at Park Rapids (1-2) in a battle of two Midwest Red District teams coming off of opposite week three finishes. The Lakers look to bounce back from being shutout at home by 2-1 Fergus Falls 14-0. The Panthers are coming off their first win of the season, an upset 29-13 victory at East Grand Forks last Friday. The last time DL was shutout was October 12, 2013 by Perham 14-0 in a game that spanned two days with inclement weather postponing Friday’s play to Saturday. Park Rapids looked nothing like a team that managed just six points in its first two games of the season suffering defeats to United North Central 6-0 at home and on the road at Thief River Falls 32-6. The Panthers got 310 yards rushing and didn’t bother using punter Remington Hagan once all night on their way to a 29-13 victory over the Green Wave.
Running backs Jordan Yliniemi (140 yards on 20 carries) and Ben Garcelon (100 yards on 21 carries) steadily moved the ball throughout the hot and humid evening, especially in the second half as the Panthers outgained Senior High 226-52 and erased a halftime deficit. Park Rapids scored touchdowns on its first three possessions of the second half -- a 6-yard run by Yliniemi, a 1-yard plunge by Matt Bade and a 26-yard off tackle scamper by Garcelon -- to open up a 29-13 lead. East Grand Forks was trying to start 3-0 for just the second time since its 2004 undefeated state championship team. The Green Wave scored touchdowns on two of its three possessions in the first half, but was blanked in the second half. Park Rapids employed a no-huddle offense in the second half, rushing mostly out of it, with three wishbone running backs accounting for 305 of the Panthers’ 347 total yards. Detroit Lakes moved the ball steadily against the Fergus Falls defense and threatened the red zone multiple times, but the Otters had defensive answers and forced five Laker turnovers in the game. DL was stopped inside the 15-yard line in the third quarter, picked off midway through the fourth quarter on their half of the field and were stuffed by the Otters on fourth and goal from the one with less than four minutes to play. The Lakers opened the season with a 21-14 win over section foes Little Falls and blew out Roseau on the road 48-6 led by bruising running back Ben Nordmark. The DL sophomore has rushed for at least 100 yards in all three games. Teammate Sam Busker has earned tough yards as the Lakers feature two big running backs that can control the game clock behind a solid offensive line. Detroit Lakes also pulled out some trick plays late in the game versus Fergus Falls and were able to eat up big chunks of yardage passing from quarterback Josh Bollig to Matt Haire and Jacob Richter. The teams met last year in Park Rapids in early October and played through wind, sleet and sticky snow. The Lakers prevailed 21-0. Since renewing the rivalry in 2011, DL has won all four meetings. In a scheduling anomaly, where teams typically rotate home games every other year, Park Rapids has hosted three of the four games. (Brad Elliott Schlossman of the Forum News Service contributed to this story)Friday night, the 2-1 Laker football team will play at Park Rapids (1-2) in a battle of two Midwest Red District teams coming off of opposite week three finishes.The Lakers look to bounce back from being shutout at home by 2-1 Fergus Falls 14-0.The Panthers are coming off their first win of the season, an upset 29-13 victory at East Grand Forks last Friday.The last time DL was shutout was October 12, 2013 by Perham 14-0 in a game that spanned two days with inclement weather postponing Friday’s play to Saturday.Park Rapids looked nothing like a team that managed just six points in its first two games of the season suffering defeats to United North Central 6-0 at home and on the road at Thief River Falls 32-6.The Panthers got 310 yards rushing and didn’t bother using punter Remington Hagan once all night on their way to a 29-13 victory over the Green Wave.
Running backs Jordan Yliniemi (140 yards on 20 carries) and Ben Garcelon (100 yards on 21 carries) steadily moved the ball throughout the hot and humid evening, especially in the second half as the Panthers outgained Senior High 226-52 and erased a halftime deficit.Park Rapids scored touchdowns on its first three possessions of the second half -- a 6-yard run by Yliniemi, a 1-yard plunge by Matt Bade and a 26-yard off tackle scamper by Garcelon -- to open up a 29-13 lead.East Grand Forks was trying to start 3-0 for just the second time since its 2004 undefeated state championship team. The Green Wave scored touchdowns on two of its three possessions in the first half, but was blanked in the second half.Park Rapids employed a no-huddle offense in the second half, rushing mostly out of it, with three wishbone running backs accounting for 305 of the Panthers’ 347 total yards.Detroit Lakes moved the ball steadily against the Fergus Falls defense and threatened the red zone multiple times, but the Otters had defensive answers and forced five Laker turnovers in the game.DL was stopped inside the 15-yard line in the third quarter, picked off midway through the fourth quarter on their half of the field and were stuffed by the Otters on fourth and goal from the one with less than four minutes to play.The Lakers opened the season with a 21-14 win over section foes Little Falls and blew out Roseau on the road 48-6 led by bruising running back Ben Nordmark.The DL sophomore has rushed for at least 100 yards in all three games. Teammate Sam Busker has earned tough yards as the Lakers feature two big running backs that can control the game clock behind a solid offensive line.Detroit Lakes also pulled out some trick plays late in the game versus Fergus Falls and were able to eat up big chunks of yardage passing from quarterback Josh Bollig to Matt Haire and Jacob Richter.The teams met last year in Park Rapids in early October and played through wind, sleet and sticky snow. The Lakers prevailed 21-0.Since renewing the rivalry in 2011, DL has won all four meetings. In a scheduling anomaly, where teams typically rotate home games every other year, Park Rapids has hosted three of the four games.(Brad Elliott Schlossman of the Forum News Service contributed to this story)
