Prior Lake (3-1) will face the 2-2 Eagles on the road in South Suburban Conference play Sept. 26 at 7 p.m. Apple Valley heads into the game off a 50-0 win at Farmington in Week 4.

The Lakers will have senior Alex Hart back in the lineup. He missed the Lakeville North game with a minor injury suffered in practice before the Sept. 19 contest. 

"Hart could of played (against Lakeville North), but we felt it was best to make sure he is good and ready for the second half of the season and the playoffs"  said Lakers coach Matt Gegenheimer.

So the Lakers' impressive win over Lakeville North came with one of its top defensive and offensive players on the sidelines. The game was all about defense.

Six Laker sacks and five forced turnovers were the difference. Senior Payton Anderson had two interceptions and a fumble recovery. Junior Andrew Owodunni scored the Lakers' lone touchdown, a 10-yard run midway through first quarter.

And senior Tyler Hanson's 27-yard field goal less than three minutes after the touchdown turned out to be the deciding margin.

It was the Lakers' third straight victory over Lakeville North in SSC play, including 20-6 at home last year and 10-6 on the road in 2012.

Also in 2012, the two programs met in the Class 6A state quarterfinals with the Panthers winning that one 23-3.

But, unfortunately, this budding rivalry will end next fall due to the new district football format that has Prior Lake in the West Metro District and Lakeville North in the East Metro.

So no more regular season meetings for these two power programs, which have split six contests since the SSC debuted in 2010. They'll only play again if they meet somewhere in the postseason.

Maybe that will be this year. Prior Lake's Section 6 meets Lakeville North's Section 3 in the crossover games for the right to go to state Oct. 31.

This last game had pretty much everything except long, sustained drives. Lakeville North scored 8:16 into the second quarter to pull within 10-7.

The second half was delayed nearly two hours due to lightning. So both teams had a lot of time to rest up and regroup. It seemed to help the Lakers' defense the most.

"I'm really proud of our guys for dealing with the delays and maintaining their focus," said Gegenheimer. "They took it in stride and were able to stay motivated.

"We had a great week of practice and have built quite a rivalry with Lakeville North and it's such a fun game to be a part of," added Gegenheimer. "We knew going in how tough their defense is and I was very proud of our offense to score on our first two possessions. Yards and first downs became tougher and tougher as the game went on."

Junior Jamahl Johnson was a disruptive force in the middle of the defensive line. Anderson led the secondary that didn't let any allow any big plays. The Panthers had just 145 yards of total offense.

Yet Lakeville North had its chances in the second half. It had 1st-and-goal from the 10-yard line with roughly seven minutes to play. But a penalty and sacked and forced fumble on third down didn't allow the Panthers to even attempt a tying field goal.

Prior Lake gave Lakeville North another chance fumbling near midfield with 4:58 to play in the game. But again the Panthers went nowhere, losing yards on another third-down sack.

"Defensively our guys did a lot of prep work and played extremely well," said Gegenheimer. "Anytime you can force five turnovers and limit an offense to a little over 100 yards, you are playing pretty well.

"We were also 9 of 10 on third down, so our defense did a great job of getting off the field," added Gegenheimer.

Prior Lake did just enough on offense to score 10 points and salt the game away. On 3rd-and-2 at their own 28-yard line, the Lakers needed a first down to run the clock out with less than two minutes to play.

They got it and much more when senior Jacob Rosonke burst through the line on a 54-yard run to the Panthers' 18-yard line.

Prior Lake was at Apple Valley Friday (results not available at press time) in conference play. Hart was expected back for the game.

Following the Apple Valley game, the Lakers stay on the road Oct. 3 to face Eagan at 7 p.m.

Prior Lake ends the regular season at home versus Farmington Oct. 10 and Eastview Oct. 15. Both SSC games start at 7 p.m.