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Lakeville North wins conference

By Brian Stensaas, Star Tribune, 10/19/11, 10:15PM CDT

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The Panthers defeated Prior Lake 21-3 to win the South Suburban Conference.

Coach Brian Vossen slapped hands, helmets, shoulder pads — anything he could get a mitt on — with every last member of Lakeville North’s team.

“Way to go boys, way to go!” he hollered.

The last player to make his way to the postgame scrum Wednesday night was Trey Heid. Vossen didn’t settle for a high-five with this one, instead wrapping his quarterback in a bear hug.

“Conference champs!” Vossen bellowed. “How about that?”
Behind Heid’s two long touchdown throws to Charlie Hayes and a stellar showing by the Panthers’ defense, Lakeville North completed an undefeated run through the South Suburban Conference with a 21-3 road victory over Prior Lake.

It assures the Panthers the No. 1 seed in the Class 5A, Section 1 tournament. It comes with a first-round bye and a second-round game on its home, artificial turf field.

“It means the world to us,” Vossen said. “That top seed is special because we know we’re a tough team to beat on turf. We’re fast, and that’s only going to help us.”

Wednesday, a little bit of luck didn’t hurt either.

Sixty-four seconds into the game, Heid hit Hayes for a 72-yard touchdown bomb.

The completion only happened because the ball bounced off a Lakers defender, popping it up right into Hayes’ hands.
Heid’s second TD throw to Hayes, a 57-yarder to make it 14-3 midway through the third quarter, wasn’t as it was drawn up, either. Hayes got turned around on the play, but made the catch and ran into the end zone untouched.

“When [Hayes] gets onto the football field, he’s a difference-maker with the best hands I’ve seen,” Heid said.
Mitch Johnson took care of the highlights on defense.

The junior linebacker made a shoestring sack on Lakers quarterback Nick Rooney on 4th-and-8 from the 34 with about 8 minutes left in the game. Johnson then recovered a fumble — Prior Lake’s fourth of the game — on the Lakers’ next possession.

“Our D swarms the ball like no other group,” Vossen said. “They’re fast, hungry and aggressive. On a short week like this, for those kids to study film as hard as they did says a lot about their character.” 

Early-season snub lit a fire

Bulletin board material is one of the oldest motivators in sports. Lakeville North this season kept it at the forefront.

Miffed about being selected to finish fifth in the South Suburban Conference by the Star Tribune, the collective smiles on the faces of Panthers players grew week after week as they checked off the four teams tabbed ahead of them.

On opening night, it was 42-17 over Eastview.

Then came a 28-7 drubbing of Rosemount on Sept. 23 followed by a 30-6 rout of Lakeville South two weeks later.

Wednesday was the cherry on top, a 21-3 victory over Prior Lake to secure the conference championship.

"This was the last one," quarterback Trey Heid said after guiding the Panthers with a pair of long TD throws. "We came into it like the other three, with a chip on our shoulders. I'd be lying if I said we were surprised by this. We've known we're good all along. When we saw we were [picked] fifth, it was fuel to the fire."

Plenty of preseason hype surrounded Lakeville South and its Gopher-to-be quarterback Mitch Leidner, but players and coaches from North never took it personally. Instead they used it as a turbo charge.

"This one dude went ahead and ranked us fifth," coach Brian Vossen said, grinning at a Star Tribune reporter. "We thought we were pretty special coming in. I am so proud of the guys for stepping up. Our four best games, I think, were [against] the four that were put ahead of us. This is one of the toughest conferences in the state, and to be on top of that? I think it says we can compete with anybody."

So much for another old sports cliche: Rankings are just a number.

"I tell you what," Vossen said. "I hope we're picked last next year."

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