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High school football: South St. Paul plays spoiler to North St. Paul’s homecoming

jerome wirtz, pioneer press
·2 min read

South St. Paul rained on North St. Paul’s homecoming parade with a 32-0 victory over the Polars Saturday afternoon at Polar Field.

Packers quarterback Sincere Casarez-McCampbell led the team with four total touchdowns, one on the ground and three through the air. Running back Nasir Robinson also dominated with over 120 yards rushing and a touchdown.

“It was fun,” Robinson said. “I had a great line behind me today; the line did a good job. So I gotta thank them.”

South St. Paul head coach Manuel Spreigl said running the ball was a priority coming into the game, using the team’s game last week as motivation.

“Last week, we kind of got away from what I believe our identity has been,” Spreigl said. “And traditionally, the Packers have ran the ball, and we have the tools to run the ball, and we didn’t execute that last week. So you’ve gotta go back and get back to the basics and start with being who you are.”

North St. Paul struggled to get things going offensively, mustering just two red-zone trips with big plays, but the Polars failed to get the ball in the end zone each time. They also lost the turnover battle 3-0, throwing one interception and losing two fumbles. Quarterback Elijah Adzimahe completed 18 of his 35 pass attempts and rushed a few time, as well, but the Polars’ offense was mostly stifled by the Packers.

North St. Paul head coach Justin McDonald blamed the two scoreless trips to the red zone on miscommunications and missed assignments, but said the team will focus on those mistakes and won’t dwell on the loss.

“Missed assignments, missed communications, missed blocks — that’s what it comes down to when you get towards the goal line,” McDonald said. “That’s where the game is won and lost, inside the trenches, and we didn’t execute the way we needed to, and that’s why we got the result we got. We’re going to continue to lick our wounds, we’re going to think about it as a coaching staff and as a team, make those corrections and move on to Hill-Murray next week.”

North St. Paul falls to 2-2 with its homecoming loss, and 0-1 in games against conference opponents. South St. Paul improves to 2-3, with a 1-0 record in conference games.

North St. Paul travels to Hill-Murray next week for a 6 p.m. kickoff on Thursday. South St. Paul hosts Simley on Friday for its next contest. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

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