Lakeville North has ended Lakeville South’s season seven years in a row, including the past five seasons in the Section 1 title game.
These South Suburban Conference foes also meet once per year in the regular season, and the next installment comes Thursday, when they meet on Youth Night, which will contribute an added energy to another potential playoff preview.
Lakeville North is coming off an 11-6 loss to Chanhassen last Saturday, and to bounce back against its crosstown rival, the Panthers (2-2, 1-0) will lean on senior attack Luke Spanier to get their offense rolling early.
The Cougars have bulked up their nonconference schedule to develop the program and help end the Panthers’ dominance in the postseason, and as a result, Lakeville South has taken its lumps.
Loses to Edina (17-13 on April 17), Stillwater (14-4 on April 21) and White Bear Lake (14-13 in OT on April 27) dropped the Cougars' overall record to 1-3, but they have a conference victory over Shakopee (13-10 on on April 26) and hope Skyler Rust (9-8-17) will continue to produce on offense this season.
All has not been dire for Lakeville South in the "Civil War." It defeated Lakeville North 9-8 in the regular season last year before falling 15-14 in the section title game.