Park Center coach Paul Strong was hesitant to play the respect card, no matter how irritated he was.

His Pirates should not have been playing Wednesday night. They should have been in street clothes, relaxing on a night off, perhaps even scouting their next opponent. They should have been enjoying the spoils of their best regular season record, 6-2, in two decades.

Instead, they were hosting Minneapolis Southwest in the Class 5A, Section 5 quarterfinals, risking injury and, heaven forbid, an upset loss.

After all, Park Center and Cooper tied for the second-best record in the section, both two games behind undefeated Spring Lake Park. The Pirates had defeated Cooper during the regular season. On the Hawks’ homecoming, even. Logically, that argued for Park Center as the No. 2 seed and the benefits it afforded.

But coaches in the section voted Cooper ahead of Park Center, apparently discounting the head-to-head matchup. To the Pirates, it was a cheap shot. Disrespect of mad proportions.

“It is what it is,” Strong said. “At Park Center, if we want respect, we have to earn respect on the field.”

The Pirates earned a lot of it Wednesday, routing Southwest 64-2. Amani Hooker threw for a touchdown, ran for a touchdown and caught a touchdown. Quarterback Karl Altenburg passed for three scores. Ty’Shonan Brooks had two touchdowns receiving and one more on an interception return. And they emerged mostly unscathed, fortunate for their future hopes.

Most importantly, they sent a message.

“We needed to get that edge,” senior defensive tackle Josh Wleh said. “I think we got that with 64 points tonight.”

Brooks ackowledged that the team felt slighted at first, but came to see the bigger picture, which includes a rematch at Cooper Tuesday.

“We did feel disrespected, but that’s over now,” Brooks said. “We went out and played well. That’s what we have to do, show people what we can do.”

Park Center started slowly, but once the Pirates got things going, they were unstoppable.

They spotted Minneapolis Southwest a 2-0 lead, then scored 64 consecutive points for the victory to advance to the Class 5A, Section 5 semifinal at Cooper next Tuesday.

Amani Hooker ran for a touchdown, caught a touchdown, threw for a touchdown and intercepted a pass for No. 3-seeded Park Center (7-2).

Check back later for more on the game.