Showcasing the North Suburban

Spring Lake Park hosted a 6 game jamboree with 6 N Suburban teams taking on 4 teams from the NW Suburban and 2 from the Suburban East.  1 regularly time 18 minute half and that's it.  No concessions tonight which was a surprise according to people who have attended in the past.  With me in the building that's leaving money on the table.  I have a waistline to maintain and I don't leave food on the plate.

Mounds View vs Totino-Grace
No Blake Anderson or Jordan Van Eps for Mounds View.  All of Totino-Grace's football kids (Alex Kreuser included) are on mandated rest so they can't participate until next week.  Needless to say that takes much out of the equation.  But a pair of Flemings were on display.  Tyler with 8 points on my sheet.  His little brother is a quality freshman worth keeping an eye on down the road.  As to the game 20-4 Totino jumps out to the lead and the final is 34-26.

St. Francis vs Andover
Dontay Matthews returns to St. Francis but they'll still struggle this season.  Close for the 1st half of the game but then Andover goes to the scramble.  That forces a handful of turnovers that lead to easy points on the other.  That blows the game wide open and Andover wins easily 33-17.  St. Francis no luck with either their man or 1-2-2 zone defenses.  Andover really trying to get after people with their man defense this year.

North Branch vs Forest Lake
Forest Lake with no real answers for the North Branch 2-3 matchup zone.  One of the sayings vs matchup is to just run your man stuff and for the couple of possessions that Forest Lake did that, I thought it was their best chance vs the matchup all night.  That said Forest Lake did have some looks and didn't knock down shots.  1-7 for 3 points from sharpshooter Phil Hegseth tells the story there.  For North Branch, junior center Brandon Johnson (not 100% sure on the name, but the kid deserves some props) with a nice night inside with 3 or 4 buckets inside and a couple of nice tip passes on a set inbounds.  Forest Lake had a big body that I liked too but I can't find a name.  North Branch jumped out to a 19-8 lead before Hegseth's 3 sparked a 7-0 run to cut the lead to 4.  The Vikings wouldn't go away as they counter with a 8-0 run of their own to push the lead to 12.  North Branch wins 33-20 and give them credit for doing a decent job with the matchup as that takes a while for kids to pick up.

Spring Lake Park vs Blaine
No Sean Scott for Spring Lake Park.  Always waiting for a highlight from him.  Blaine quickly out to a 11-5 lead before a tough Derek Dahl 2 and a steal for another 2. to spark a 6-0 run to tie the game.  Guard Alex Mercer taking a pair of charges during the run for Spring Lake Park.  Have to acknowledge any kid doing that in a scrimmage.  Zach Romashko too much inside.  A pair of free throws and a pair of assists out of the post for layups push the lead to 24-14 with 6 minutes left.  Blaine wins 32-25. 

Osseo vs Irondale
The biggest news item of the night comes from Osseo as Jerrod Bervin is no longer on the team.  Interesting factoid that Ian Theisen is already bigger (weight wise) than Sam Dower was when he graduated.  Can you say potential monster?  An Irondale 3 cuts the Osseo lead to 24-23 with 2:50 left.  But a nice high/low from Joey Sonnenfeld to Will Johnson pushes the lead to 5.  Osseo wins 28-23.  Terez Van Pelt really dialed his game back in this one.  Very focused on moving the ball.  Almost the opposite extreme of him having to play 1 on 5 last year at Park Center.  Tough night shooting for Bryan Sprang as Irondale never got any offense going.  Have to give some credit to Sonnenfeld for that as he guarded Sprang all night.

Centennial vs Fridley
36-25 Centennial takes out Fridley.  Very little to see here.