Game Of The Week II (Football Showdown): Lakeville North vs. Lakeville South

Football: No. 4 vs. No. 6

CHEAT SHEET

SITE: North High School

TIME: 7:00 p.m. Friday

ON THE LINE

Not all that much, really … just city bragging rights, a probable South Suburban Conference title, the inside track on the top seed and home field advantage for the Section 1AAAAA Tournament, a continued undefeated season and placement amongst the top-five teams in the state… that’s all.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

North

Quarterback Trey Heid is the third-leading passer in the metro area, hurling for 1,069 yards and nine touchdowns on 74 completions.

Receivers Charlie Hayes (ranked third in the metro) and Joel Oxton have been his top targets, hauling in 491 and 410 yards of receiving, respectively, with three touchdowns apiece.

Leading the Panthers on the ground is wide receiver Brandon Morgan, who had rushed for 357 yards and five touchdowns while averaging 4.5 yards-per-carry.

On defense, end Karl Finkel has logged four sacks and forced two fumbles while recovering two more. Cornerback Michael Koloski has a team-high 66 tackles and one interception, while linebacker Mitch Johnson has 52 tackles, 2.5 sacks, one interception, two forced fumbles and three recovered fumbles.

South

Quarterback Mitchell Leidner is ranked eighth in the metro, hurling for 11 touchdown passes and 919 yards on 59 completions.

Matt Heller is fifth in the metro with 469 yards in receiving yardage to go with seven touchdowns, with fellow receiver Devon Bzoskie tallying 21 catches for 327 yards and four touchdowns.

Leidner has also ran for three touchdowns, as has top Cougars wide receiver Chris Moore; Moore also has logged a team-best 232 yards rushing on 41 carries—a 5.7 yards-per-carry average.

Defensively, linebacker Nevin Andreas’ 39 tackles lead the Cougars. Andreas and tackle Brandon Meek are knotted for the team-high in sacks with 3.5 apiece, while lineman Dillon Lampert has two fumble recoveries and cornerback Tyrone Powell has two interceptions.

WHO WILL WIN

Both teams have impressive portfolios this season:

North is 5-0, 4-0 in the South Suburban. The Panthers have two sizable wins over teams ranked in the top-10 at the time in Eastview and Rosemount and handed Edina its first loss of the season in its lone non-conference game of the season.

South is also 5-0, all against conference teams. The Cougars also thumped Eastview and Rosemount, just that in both cases, they were no longer in the top-10 after being spanked by North one week earlier. South has the lone shutout of all 10 wins between the Lakeville sides.

It’s about as even as you can get. With South sporting a slight edge in both points-for and against at 33.4 and 9.6, respectively, to North’s 31.8 and 14.2.

However, the last five matchups in this series since the resumption of the rivalry after a one-year hiatus in 2007 have gone to the road team.

The Cougars ended the Panthers season at North twice in the playoffs in 2008 and 2010, with North returning the favor at South in 2009. In the regular season, South won at North in 2009, with North winning at South in 2010.

The last time the home team won was on Sept. 15, 2006 when South claimed a 46-13 win on its own turf.

With what is again likely to be the first of two meetings this season, the trend says: Cougars.