Engen played one year of recreational football in eighth grade for fun, but he did not continue as a high school student. However, unexpected free time helped get him back into the swing of playing football. And having friends on the team did not hurt, either.

“Over quarantine, I just went to the field every day, bought a ball from Target, and now we’re here,” said Engen, who also plays basketball for the Lakers.

Engen has already passed for more touchdowns in three games this season than he did in six games last fall. But last year’s team featured a focus on the ground game with talented running back Nick Flaskamp rushing for more than 1,000 yards in a shortened season.

Flaskamp has since graduated and is now playing football at North Dakota State University. And head coach Josh Zoucha said the offense has become more balanced to match where the talent is on the roster.

“He knows the offense goes around him, and he’s got to distribute to all these mouths to feed,” Zoucha said about Engen. “The thing that is great is they are all best friends. So when they leave here they go hang out and they are talking football.”

Engen has heard from plenty of Division-III colleges in the region with interest in him playing quarterback. Not bad, considering his first start at quarterback was less than 12 months ago.

“I never thought I would be playing football, period,” Engen said. “So all of this is really overwhelming, but it is definitely the best decision I ever made.”

While Minneapolis Southwest pulled off the close victory Friday, Richfield’s offense did not quit when it trailed 29-7 at halftime on Friday.

Quarterback Mitchell January, who was named to the Star Tribune’s All-metro second team last year as a wide receiver, helped lead the Spartans back with 22 unanswered points in the second half to tie the game. January finished the day with two passing touchdowns, two rushing touchdowns and more than 300 yards passing.

Head coach Kris Pulford told his team not to get too down after just one play, a blocked extra point, was the difference in Friday's loss.

“To come back all the way, that energizes the crowd, energizes the community, energizes our guys,” Pulford said. “And hopefully it keeps them hungry to play next week.”