A record-breaking passing performance was not enough to lift the Lakers to victory Friday over the fourth-ranked Lakeville South Cougars.
Quarterback Drew Brinkman set a new Prior Lake school record with 269 passing yards, surpassing a mark held by his uncle Chris Rooney since 1984. But even with the historic performance, the Cougars rallied late to defeat the Lakers 27–23 at Lakeville South High School.
Rooney’s long-standing record of 267 yards had stood for 41 years, making Brinkman’s milestone a special family achievement. The loss drops Prior Lake to 3–4 overall (3–2 Metro South), while Lakeville South improves to 6–1 (4–1 Metro South).
After the Laker defense forced a punt to open the game, misfortune struck on their first offensive series. Facing 2nd-and-12 from the 25-yard line, Brinkman tossed left toward receiver/running back Aiden Mbinda, but the ball deflected off fullback Dylan Hawley and bounced loose in the backfield. Lakeville South recovered near the 20-yard line, setting up a short field.
Six plays later, quarterback Gavin Stewart snuck in from a yard out on fourth and goal. The extra point sailed wide right, giving the Cougars a 6–0 lead with 3:55 left in the first quarter.
The Cougars threatened again late in the period after a Laker punt, converting twice to reach the 10-yard line. Facing 4th-and-short, an unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty after the whistle pushed them back 15 yards to 4th-and-17. That forced a long field-goal try that missed wide, keeping Prior Lake within six at the end of the quarter.
Brinkman sparked the offense with a bootleg completion to Mbinda and drew a pass-interference flag on a deep shot to running back Luke Watkins to move inside the 20. However, a sack and incompletion stalled the drive, and Lakeville South blocked kicker Daniel Vannett’s 35-yard field-goal attempt to preserve its lead.
Moments later, Stewart hid the ball on a boot-fake and sprinted 25 yards to flip the field. Two plays later, running back Griffen Dean broke through on a 28-yard trap for a touchdown. Kicker Terynce Wheeler added the extra point to extend the Cougars’ lead to 13–0 with 3:18 remaining in the second quarter.
Prior Lake answered with a precision drive. Brinkman connected twice with wide receiver Colten Gunderson — including a 34-yard sideline grab — then found Mbinda on an out route to set up first-and-goal. Hawley powered in from three yards out, and Vannett converted the point after to make it 13–7 with 57 seconds left in the first half.
After a kickoff out of bounds placed the Lakers at their 35-yard line to start the half, the Cougars again leaned on their T-formation rushing attack to move near midfield. But the Laker defense delivered a key stop as linebacker Ryan Block shot through to stuff a third-and-two run at the line of scrimmage, forcing a punt and flipping momentum.
Brinkman made it count. Facing 4th-and-2 at the Lakeville South 37, he faked a handoff and floated a strike to Gunderson down the seam for a 37-yard touchdown. Vannett’s point after touchdown gave Prior Lake its first lead, 14–13 with 10:03 remaining in the third quarter.
On the next possession, Luke Watkins found daylight up the middle and burst 75 yards before being dragged down from behind at the 4-yard line. An illegal double-team penalty pushed the Lakers back, but Vannett connected on a 32-yard field goal to extend the lead to 17–13 with 4:29 left in the third quarter.
Lakeville South opened the final quarter deep in Prior Lake territory. Facing 4th-and-3 at the 7-yard line, the Cougars used a hard count to draw the Lakers offside for a first down. Three plays later, running back Nic Swanson plunged in from short range to put Lakeville South back in front, 20–17 with 10:43 left in regulation.
Brinkman and the Lakers answered with their best drive of the night. After a crossing-route completion to Mbinda picked up a first down, Prior Lake stalled on three straight plays and faced 4th-and-10 at the Lakeville South 33-yard line. Brinkman dropped back and threw to Gunderson down the left sideline. The receiver leapt and caught the ball over a Cougar defender near the 5-yard line before being tackled at the 3 after a 30-yard gain to give the Lakers first-and-goal.
Two snaps later, Brinkman rolled right and raced to the pylon for a 3-yard touchdown run. A low snap disrupted the point after touchdown, and the kick missed wide, but the Lakers regained the lead 23–20 with 6:18 left in regulation.
The Cougars mounted a clock-draining drive that spanned nearly the entire final six minutes. On 3rd-and-3 at the Prior Lake 35, Stewart targeted his tight end deep, and cornerback Griffin Marshall was flagged for pass interference, keeping the drive alive. Three plays later, facing 3rd-and-4 at the 13, South again used a hard count to draw an offside penalty for a first down. Two plays later, Swanson powered in from 3 yards out to give the Cougars the lead 27–23 with 39 seconds remaining.
Prior Lake crossed midfield on completions to Watkins and Mbinda, setting up one final shot. As time expired, Brinkman scrambled left and launched a deep ball toward Gunderson in the end zone, but it was knocked away by multiple Cougar defenders to seal the win.
NOTABLE STATS VS. LAKEVILLE SOUTH
QB Drew Brinkman — 17/25, 269 yds (new school record), passing TD, rushing TD
RB Luke Watkins — 8 carries, 96 yds
WR Colten Gunderson — 6 rec, 145 yds, TD
RB/WR Aiden Mbinda — 7 rec, 97 yds
CB Noah Kalipe — 15 tackles
CB Griffin Marshall — 15 tackles
LB Sean Nadeau — 14 tackles, TFL
LB Ryan Block — 8 tackles
NEXT UP: FARMINGTON
Prior Lake closed out the regular season on Wednesday, Oct. 15, hosting Farmington at Dan Patch Stadium in a matchup with important playoff-seeding implications for both programs. (Because of MEA break, the regular-season finale is on Wednesday this week.)
The Lakers and Tigers share a long history dating back to their Missota Conference days, when the teams played annually for a traveling trophy nicknamed “The Can.” The programs briefly reunited in the South Suburban Conference before district play began in 2015 and crossed paths again in last year’s section playoffs. The schools remain South Suburban members for all other sports.
Prior Lake leads the all-time series 21–17, including last year’s 42–14 playoff victory in Farmington.
The Tigers (4–3 overall, 2–3 Metro South) remain under head coach Jon Pieper, who has implemented a single-wing, run-heavy offensive scheme that stands in sharp contrast to the spread attack Farmington used a season ago. Farmington opened the season with three straight wins — 35–28 over Eastview, 7–3 over Lakeville North, and 22–6 over White Bear Lake — before dropping three in a row to Lakeville South (35–6), Rosemount (35–7), and Eagan (13–10 OT). The Tigers rebounded last week with a 15–6 victory over Shakopee to move above .500 entering the regular-season finale.
Running back Christopher Rehak headlines the offense with 618 rushing yards and seven touchdowns this season. Fellow backs Ty Beck (333 yards, 1 TD) and Austin Raveling (310 yards, 1 TD) provide steady production, while quarterback Cade Boyles contributes both as a runner and passer. Boyles has rushed for 131 yards and a touchdown while completing 35 of 57 passes for 415 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. Beck has been Boyles’s top target with 15 catches for 144 yards and a score, while Blake Johnson has added six receptions for 118 yards.
Defensively, Rehak again sets the tone with 73 tackles — 19 more than any other player on the roster.
Both teams enter the regular-season finale fighting for section seeding heading into next week’s Class 6A playoffs. The Lakers (3–4 overall, 3–2 Metro South) are projected to land between the No. 3 and No. 5 seeds, and a win on Wednesday would likely secure at least one home playoff game. Farmington (4–3, 2–3 Metro South) sits just behind Prior Lake in the district standings, meaning this matchup will play a key role in determining which program is seeded higher when brackets are finalized.
Section seeding meetings will take place Wednesday night or Thursday morning, depending on the section, with official playoff brackets released at 10 a.m. Thursday on Randy Shaver’s Prep Football Podcast on YouTube.
Wednesday’s contest was also Senior Night for Prior Lake, honoring the Class of 2025 in their final regular-season home game at Dan Patch Stadium.
See next week’s edition for a full recap of the game and playoff preview.
