After storms pass, Wildcats make noise

Victory over Lakeville South is football team’s third in a row

Did Mother Nature come to the rescue of a floundering Eagan football team?

Who knows? What is known is Eagan trailed Lakeville South by 13 points in the second quarter when the field was cleared and the teams sent indoors because of visible lightning east of the Wildcat Stadium.

Forty-five minutes later the lightning threat was gone, the teams returned to the field and Eagan coach Nick Johnson said, “we’re going to hit the reset button.”

That, the Wildcats did.

They made big play after big play following the restart, coming all the way back for a 35-33 victory over Lakeville South on Sept. 19. The big plays didn’t just come from the offense, even though Eagan (3-1) had four touchdowns covering 37 yards or more. The defense made a big stop when South went for a potential game-tying two-point conversion in the fourth quarter, then intercepted a pass inside the Wildcats’ 10-yard line with one minute remaining to end South’s last threat.

It was Eagan’s first victory over Lakeville South in 10 years. And if senior linebacker Christian Langhorst has his way, it’ll put an end to the perception of the Wildcats as plucky underdogs who stood no real chance against the big boys in Class 6A football. Lakeville South has reached at least the semifinals of every Class 6A playoff since 2018.

“People still think we’re the underdog,” said Langhorst, his team’s second-leading tackler. “People still think if we play one of these (strong) teams, it’s going to be a blowout. No. We are 2024 Eagan. We are not underdogs anymore. We’re not trying to prove ourselves anymore because we have proved ourselves.”

Eagan lost its 2024 season opener to Edina 35-14 in a game the Wildcats led at halftime. Since then they have defeated Rochester Mayo, Rosemount and Lakeville South. They’ll play at undefeated Lakeville North at 7 p.m. Friday.

“When we come into the quote-unquote big dogs’ houses, we want them to be scared of us,” said Eagan quarterback Brooklyn Evans, who rushed for 204 yards and three touchdowns against South. “This is 6A football, and I think we’ve come a long way as a team over these last few years. We’re excited to finally just play our game, the way we know we can play.”

Lakeville South is 1-3 for the first time since 2018, when the Cougars lost five of their first six games. But they turned things around after that rough start six years ago and reached the Class 6A semifinals.

This year, they’re only a few plays from being 4-0; the Cougars’ three losses are by a total of nine points. They’ll be looking to tighten up a defense that has allowed an average of 29 points per game when they play at home against Rochester Mayo (2-2) at 7 p.m. Friday.

Lakeville South scored on two of its first three possessions, with Connor Cade (53 yards) and Jonah Shine (52 yards) crossing the goal line at the end of long runs. Eagan had a 45-yard touchdown run by Evans between the first two South touchdowns.

Eagan went for a first down on fourth and three at its own 44-yard line and came up a yard short. South jumped on the opportunity for a short field and scored six plays later, with Cade carrying it in from the 5 for a 20-7 lead with about seven minutes remaining in the second quarter. At that point officials suspended play because of lightning.

“It’s been such a weird week,” Johnson said. “No. 1 was the heat at practice. And everybody’s sick right now and they’re just kind of zombie-like. Defensively, we were making mistakes we don’t normally make, and then offensively we just needed to adjust. We took a deep breath, made the adjustments and found a way to get it done.”

The players also took note that the Wildcats were going to get the ball coming out of the lightning delay and would receive the second-half kickoff. “Two possessions. That’s all we needed, and we’d be back in the game,” Langhorst said.

“Us being a little selfish in the first quarter kind of set us back,” Evans said. “It just came down to trusting in our guys and our ability.”

Eagan went on a 10-play, 75-yard drive following the lightning delay, with Evans scoring on a 37-yard run. The Wildcats’ opening possession of the third quarter didn’t go as planned as they went three and out and Lakeville South Callan Oxendale blocked their punt, giving his team the ball at the Eagan 20. A 6-yard run by Bo Bokman re-established South’s two-touchdown lead.

The Wildcats then had a 15-minute stretch when they ran 26 plays to Lakeville South’s six and scored three times. Madden Ison’s 58-yard run got Eagan back within one score and Adam Dorsey’s 6-yard touchdown run on a fourth-quarter reverse gave Eagan its first lead at 28-27.

Another Lakeville South three and out gave Eagan the ball, but the Wildcats appeared to be in a spot, facing second and 23 from their own 18-yard line following a penalty for an illegal block.

After getting the snap, Evans took one step to his left and exploded through a gap in the line, outracing the South defense for an 82-yard touchdown and 35-27 lead. That’s not necessarily a play that comes in from the sideline.

“Against Rosemount (a 29-14 Eagan victory Sept. 13), we had a designed run play and I saw a shift in the line, so I took the ball and ran it,” Evans said. “I trust my guys and my guys always have trust in me. So when I saw that shift tonight I just went with my gut feeling and took it up the middle.”

Evans also might be Eagan’s fastest player, and “if he can get a step out the door, he’s gone,” Johnson said.

Lakeville South’s Bokman ran for first downs on two fourth-down plays to keep a South drive going, then quarterback Gaven Dean scored on a 9-yard run with 2 minutes, 26 seconds left. Dean tried a similar run on the two-point conversion attempt only to be stopped by Dorsey and Langhorst half a yard short of the goal line.

Eagan remained up by two point, but there was no time to relax after South’s Coltin Smith recovered an onside kick at the Eagan 46. Lakeville South drove to the 19 before Dean, facing a heavy rush, threw toward the sideline where Wildcats defense back Grady Recer made a diving interception.

It was another step on Eagan’s journey to being a respected Class 6A program.

“We came out flat, but after the delay we all brought the energy,” Langhorst said. “Once we did that we knew we had a chance to win and we just kept going uphill.”

Mike Shaughnessy can be reached at mike.shaughnessy@apgecm.com.