Last year, Prior Lake beat the Sabers 47-7 in the first round of the playoffs. It was the first meeting between the two programs since 2009 when both were in the now-defunct Missota Conference.

Shakopee goes into the Prior Lake game off a 24-7 home loss to No. 3 Lakeville North in Week 2.

Lakers coach Matt Gegenheimer said the Sabers' defense played pretty well in that loss, so his team can't take Shakopee lightly.

"We need to focus on us," said Gegenheimer. "Shakopee's defense played pretty well in the first two games. Lakeville North had a tough time moving the ball on them."

Meanwhile, Prior Lake (1-1) had a tough time moving the ball at Rosemount. The Irish used three big plays in the passing game to score all three of its touchdowns, scoring from 64, 25 and 31 yards out.

"Rosemount is one of the best teams in the state right now," Gegenheimer. "They are tough to match up with because they have such good athletes on the outside. It's tough to cover them all one on one."

The one question mark going into the season for Rosemount was replacing multiple starters on defense. So far, so good. The Irish outscored its first two opponents 62-6.

The Lakers trailed Rosemount 14-0 at the break. It could have been worse, but senior Alex Hart intercepted a pass deep in Prior Lake territory right before half.

"We felt we were still in it at half," said Gegenheimer. "We needed to make some plays on offense, but they shut us down."

Prior Lake was missing two starting offensive lineman - seniors Eric Dols and Jake Enger. They're also lost for the season with knee injuries. The Lakers were also minus two of their top receivers - junior Ben Ward and senior Sam Schultze, who are expected back for Shakopee.

Rosemount broke the game open early in the third quarter when Jackson Erdman threw his third touchdown pass, a 31-yarder 3:06 into the frame. Erdman finished 11 of 20 for 251 yards.

Prior Lake gave up a 64-yard touchdown pass on 3rd-and-8 in the first quarter to go down 7-0.

The Lakers did a good job of taking Irish standout running back Dimitri Williams out of the game, but just couldn't contain the passing attack.

"We did a good job on Williams," said Gegenheimer. "We controlled him. It was those three big passing plays that cost us. We threw every coverage at them we could. They're tough to defend."

Hart led the Lakers' offensive, rushing for 86 yards on 20 carries, while senior Jacob Rosonke had 31 yards on 12 carries. The Lakers' struggled making plays through air. Senior Lucas Olson was 5 of 14 for 58 yards.

It was also the first time the Lakers have been shutout since 2009 when they opened the season losing 40-0 at Owatonna.

In Week 4, the Lakers are on the road Sept. 19 at Lakeville North for a league game at 7 p.m.

Prior Lake has beaten Lakeville North the last two years in SSC play - 20-6 at home last year and 10-6 on the road in 2012. The Panthers did beat the Lakers in the state quarterfinals in 2012 (23-3) and is 3-2 overall against Prior Lake since the SSC debuted in 2010.