Champlin Park continued its undefeated season with a 12-3 home victory over Northwest Suburban Conference rival Blaine on Wednesday night.

The victory improved the Rebels’ record to 9-0 and solidified them as the team to beat not only in the league, but also in Section 7.

However, the celebration on field following the win on Senior Night was short-lived.

That’s because Champlin Park's seniors have been in this position before, and they are determined to avoid ending the year being crushed by the weight of high expectations.

Last season, the Rebels were 14-0 heading into the state tournament and believed to be a team with enough talent to make a run at title. However, Champlin Park faltered at state, losing in the quarterfinals to Wayzata 5-4. The Rebels then lost in the consolation championship game to Blake 14-7.

“You can’t look at it (being undefeated) like (it’s a guarantee of postseason success) because last year we did great in the regular season,” senior attackman Nick Bunde said.

For senior Gage Monson, the memory of losing in the first round at state still stings. 

“You can’t look at wins right now,” he said. 

The Rebels coaching staff isn’t counting victories, but they are keeping track of deficiencies in the team’s performances.

“Playing to our full potential has been our motto this season,” said Champlin Park co-coach Nikolas Colpitts. “We haven’t been playing to our potential lately.” 

Colpitts said he went so far as to talk to Monson about stepping up his game. 

Whatever Colpitts said seemed to motivate Monson, who had a season-best three goals. The midfielder scored back-to-back-to-back in the third quarter, part of an eight-goal outburst in the second half that the Rebels used to pull away from the Bengals.

“It was great to see him come out and work hard today,” Colpitts said.

Performing well on Senior Night was also a factor, Monson said.

“(It’s our) last night on the field and I’m going to give it everything I got,” said Monson, who has nine goals and five assists for 14 points this season. 

Bunde, who leads the team with nine assists and 25 points, also scored a hat trick in the victory to bring his season total to 16.

While Bunde and Monson are keeping the significance of the Rebels' unblemished record at arms length, other players are embracing the accomplishment.

“It feels good,” senior midfielder Tyler Smith said. “But the season went by fast.” 

Monson and Bunde want the rest of the season to play out at a much slower pace. The pair plan to make several more positive memories before their careers come to a close.

They said beating Blaine in the section finals each of the past two years has been the highlight of their time in a Rebels’ uniform. And they aim to add another with a third postseason victory over the Bengals in the upcoming section tournament.

Then Champlin Park can turn its sights toward making a deep run in the state tournament, after which the Rebels will finally be able to celebrate what they accomplished this season.

Senior midfielder Gage Monson scored three consecutive goals in the third quarter to help Champlin Park stay undefeated and atop the Northwest Suburban Conference standings with a 12-3 win over rival Blaine at Champlin Park High School on Wednesday.

Senior attackman Nick Bunde also finished the night with three goals for the Rebels (9-0, 9-0), ranked No. 11 in the coaches poll.

The Bengals took 1-0 lead just over a minute into the first quarter on a goal from junior attackman Tanner Jones. Bunde evened the score seven minutes later, finding the net from the crease on his first shot attempt. 

Trailing 2-1 midway through the second quarter, the Rebels rallied to regain the lead behind the play of senior attackman Danny Faulds, who first recorded an assist on a goal from senior attackman Justin Linderholm midway through the second quarter and then scored with 2:30 to play. Junior midfielder Brody Sturm tallied a goal with nine seconds remaining to give Champlin Park a 4-2 lead heading into halftime.

The Rebels took control in the second half, outscoring Blaine 8-1. Monson netted his three goals during 3 minute, 30 second stretch midway through the third that pushed the lead to 8-3.

Bunde scored his final two goals in the fourth quarter.

Linderholm and Sturm each finished with two goals for Champlin Park, which sent its seniors off with a victory in their final home game of the regular season.

Jones had two goals and junior attackman John Hicke added one for Blaine (8-2, 8-2). 

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