It only makes sense that Valleyfair is located in Shakopee. Many of the amusement park’s most popular rides are full of ups and downs, just like the last 10 years or so for the southwest metro town’s high school football team.
Yes, Sabers fans have been taken on a wild ride the last decade, starting with the high that was the team’s unbeaten regular season in 2011 then dropping to the depths of back-to-back 1-8 campaigns in 2015 and 2016. Shakopee football has been on the rise lately, as the Sabres went 6-2 last year en route to a section championship.
Shakopee, which climbed to No. 3 in The Associated Press Class 6A rankings from Sept. 29, is 5-0 to start this season and has scored 42 or more points in all but one game, which happened to be last week’s 9-0 triumph over Lakeville North. Now the Sabres dig into the meat of their schedule, with games against No. 4-6A Eden Prairie (4-1) on Friday and No. 1-6A Lakeville South (5-0) the following week.
Shakopee has lost all eight of its matchups against Eden Prairie in the last decade, and most of those games haven’t been close. Defeating the Eagles this year may require an increased workload for junior running back Jadon Hellerud, who is most often the go-to guy on offense, and he gets plenty of room to roam thanks to the Sabres’ “Hog Squad” offensive line that includes seniors Martin Koivisto, Spencer Opitz and Jade Trelstad. Their contributions will be key as Shakopee will be without junior quarterback Dominic Jackson, who flawlessly conducted the Sabres' triple-option offense before suffering a season-ending injury against Edina two weeks ago.
Seniors Bennett Larson, a linebacker, and Noah Haeger, an offensive lineman, are among the senior leaders for 11-time state champion Eden Prairie, which lost 16 starters from last season’s unbeaten squad and stumbled in a 42-7 Week 3 loss to Lakeville South. Senior Takhi Vaughn rushed for 208 yards and two touchdowns and junior quarterback Nick Fazi threw one TD and ran for another in last week’s 52-17 demolition of No. 8-6A Prior Lake.