6 October 2023
The Eastview Lightning cruised to a 42-14 homecoming victory over the Park Wolfpack on Thursday night.
There wasn’t much that went wrong for Eastview all night long. The running game served the Lightning well, with the team rushing for over 150 yards in the game between the trio of Damon Green, Drew Bartosh and Cooper DeSutter.
Eastview’s defense had its share of big plays as well, winning the turnover battle 4-1. The Lightning scored on two of those turnovers, with two of their interceptions being returned for touchdowns. It seemed whenever Park’s offense was gaining a little traction, the Eastview defense came up with a big play.
Wolfpack junior quarterback Miskir Esayas had 100 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown.
Green rushed for three touchdowns, all in the first half. He compared the team’s success this season to last year’s 1-8 campaign.
“It feels good,” Green said. “Last year, we only won one game, and to start this year with four wins, it feels great.”
Wolfpack head coach Rick Fryklund gave props to Eastview and said he put the ball in his team’s court after the game.
“Good teams capitalize, and we did not,“ Fryklund said. “We had opportunities on offense, on defense and on special teams, so all kudos to them. We’re at a crossroads. We can mope, we can point the finger and give blame where it’s not due, or we can show up to work tomorrow and make the decision that we’re going to get better.”
Eastview improved to 4-2 and 4-1 in Metro-Maroon play. Park fell to 3-3 and 3-2 in Metro-Maroon.
The Lightning plays a nonconference game at Lakeville South next Friday. Park travels to Mounds View next Friday.