High school football weekend recap: Swarm mentality drives Shakopee

The "Red Swarm" is causing chaos.

Shakopee's starting defensive unit has yielded only one touchdown in three games to help the Class 6A, No. 4 Sabers get off to a 3-0 start. They defeated Wayzata 21-17 on Thursday.

"We take a lot of pride in being a disciplined, physical defense that swarms to the ball," Shakopee coach Ray Betton said.

Betton is in his ninth season at the helm of the program, having guided the Sabers to a 7-4 mark and a berth in the state tournament quarterfinals last season. Only four starters from that defensive unit returned this season. Various players have filled the gaps.

"Our defensive leaders have been different from game to game depending on a team's offense," Betton said.

Shakopee's defense has forced two fumbles and made eight interceptions. Two of the interceptions were returned for touchdowns Thursday, by juniors Jack Hove and Jacob Kasper. Junior Michael Naber also intercepted a pass in the end zone on a play broken up by junior Brody Miller with 8.5 seconds remaining to preserve the victory.

In the past two games, including a 28-7 triumph over Prior Lake, Shakopee has allowed a total of only 93 rushing yards. The Sabers opened the season with a 72-16 blowout of Hopkins.

When Shakopee is stuffing an opponent's offense, the players have a goal within the goal.

"One of the defense's traditions here at Shakopee is to earn the red practice jersey," Betton said. "That is why we call our defense the 'Red Swarm.' "

Wayzata is looking snakebit, its troubles driven by a difficult schedule.

The Trojans are 0-3, but other numbers indicate strength: All of their losses are to teams ranked in the top five in Class 6A. Besides the loss to Shakopee, they lost to No. 2 Lakeville South 41-27 and No. 5 Minnetonka 22-21. They led Shakopee and Minnetonka in the fourth quarter and trailed Lakeville South 27-21 early in the final quarter.

All of the teams that defeated Wayzata are 3-0, and there's more difficulty ahead. The Trojans travel to Edina (1-2) next week before hosting No. 1 Eden Prairie (3-0) in Week 5.

Eagan coach Nick Johnson is in his fifth season running the Wildcats program. He has moved the win column chains each season, starting with a winless 2019.

He has the Wildcats coming off their best season in 20 years. They finished 5-4 in 2022, losing to Forest Lake in the opening round of the Class 6A playoffs. But this season began with an uneasy feeling caused by a 34-7 loss at home to Edina on opening night.

"Edina was a great wake-up call for us," Johnson said. "We severely underestimated Edina's speed. That was very eye-opening for us."

The Wildcats (2-1) responded with a resounding 40-14 victory over Rochester Mayo, and then came a 17-6 victory Friday over No. 9 Rosemount at Eagan.

"Beating Rosemount was a huge win for us, especially being at home. They are one of the best programs in the state," Johnson said. "We want to compete with everyone. We need to prove we can play with anyone.

"We keep talking about not going backwards. I love the direction we are heading."

"He's one of the best backs I've seen in a long, long time. He's elusive, he's explosive." — Rochester Century coach Jon Vik, to the Rochester Post Bulletin after watching Chanhassen senior running back Maxwell Woods score seven touchdowns in a 63-41 victory over his Panthers. Woods, committed to North Dakota State for college, rushed for 243 yards on 15 carries and scored on runs of 6, 19, 20, 40, 46 and 57 yards. He also took a kickoff back 87 yards for a touchdown.