As dusk fell Wednesday night at Park Center's Pride Stadium in Brooklyn Park, Anoka junior midfielder Zach Weigman celebrated on the turf along with his teammates, friends and family after the Tornadoes realized a collective goal and made school history in the process.
In a whirlwind, top-seeded Anoka used a late rally to chase down a hungry Blaine squad, then fought back the brewing upset to earn a thrilling 4-3 victory in the Section 7 championship that sent the Tornadoes on their first trip to the state tournament.
As the team posed for pictures and paused for hugs, the line in front of Weigman proved especially long and steady. And why not, the junior’s top-shelf strike with less than a minute left in double overtime elevated him to man of the hour and christened the Tornadoes as one of the state’s elite.
“I knew that we needed to get something before the time expired,” Weigman said of the final push. “I was hoping just for the chance to help set things up, but then I was left alone, and once I got the ball, it all became a blur.”
Anoka improves to 15-1 after earning a second victory over Northwest Suburban Conference rival Blaine (11-5) this year. But unlike the 11-3 ripping the Tornadoes dealt the visiting Bengals on May 4, this time, with a tournament bid at stake, it proved to be dangerously different.
Second-seeded Blaine led 3-2 late into the fourth quarter before Anoka tied things up on a goal from senior Ollie Nigh with just 2:26 left.
Despite the Bengals' ability to reign in the Tornadoes' normally high-scoring attack (12.63 goals per game), Anoka remained calm and confident.
“I kept reiterating to the team that goals are going to happen, and you can never, ever hit the panic button in this game,” Tornadoes coach Brad Sundem said. “The guys understand that we were 14-1 for a reason, and I think they did a great job of working through that.”
Anoka struck first on the night, when Ryan Wesp scored midway through the first half, giving the Tornadoes a lead that proved frail. Blaine scored the next three goals, and Anoka realized it was in a fight. The Bengals slowed things down, forced turnovers, and kept pace with the shots (16-16 at the end of regulation).
Sundem said it’s a blessing his team survived such an effort.
“We didn’t play our best lacrosse of the season, and a lot of that is because of what Blaine did,” Sundem said. “Hats off to them as a team and a program.”
It’s a tough loss for Blaine, which was two and a half minutes from realizing its second straight trip to the state tournament. Instead, the program will bid adieu to a very large senior class of 16, and that can make tonight's outcome especially hard and emotional.
“It was a great game,” Blaine coach Josh Swart said. “It was low scoring and odd, and an emotional game. Unfortunately, we came up just a little bit short, but I’m very proud of this group and their effort.”
As for Anoka, it will revel in the achievement before moving on to the next stage, which begins Tuesday at the state tournament in Minnetonka.
Sundem can barely wait to see how this group matches up with the tournament’s usual suspects.
“Once we move on, I think we will see just how much of a blue-collar type team we are,” he said. “Anoka Lacrosse is going to be a different style than any other team we might face.”
First Report
Anoka's Zach Weigman's close-range top-shelf shot with 56 seconds remaining in double overtime found the back of the net and elevated the Tornadoes to a dramatic 4-3 victory over rival Blaine in the Section 7 championship game Wednesday night in at Park Center High School.
The victory sends Anoka to its first state tournament.
The top-seeded Tornadoes (15-1) got on the board first when Ryan Wesp scored at 7:15 of the opening quarter, but the second-seeded Bengals (11-5) rattled off three straight goals to set the stage for the battle to come.
Blaine's Josh Huttunen got the scoring started early in the second quarter, and goals from Wyatt Dimke (8:05) and John Hicke (11:55) quickly followed.
Trailing 3-2 in the waning moments of regulation, Anoka broke a long scoring drought and leveled the score on senior Ollie Nigh's goal with 2:16 remaining.
The play injected new life into the Tornadoes, who capitalized in the final minute of the second overtime as Weigman's well-placed goal cemented his team's place in Anoka folklore.
