St. Anthony rolls to Zero Week victory over Breck in the first game of the high school football season

St. Anthony Village refers to its football philosophy as “NASCAR,” especially on offense. Breck, meanwhile, blamed attrition for its inability to keep Friday’s game close.

Deadlocked after one quarter at a touchdown each, the Huskies revved their engines for a 39-7 victory Friday at the TCO Performance Center in Eagan.

The teams were taking part in a Zero Week venture, a concept started in 2011 as the Minnesota State High School League’s way of providing what was then a growing number of schools the best — or only — option to play a complete eight-game regular-season football schedule. If two teams are interested in playing each other but their schedules don’t match up, Zero Week makes the game possible. That made St Anthony and Breck the first Minnesota teams to play this season. The rest of the state’s teams start Thursday and next Friday.

Friday’s location, the site of the Vikings’ practice facility, made this Zero Week game maybe the most memorable start to any football season. St. Anthony Village certainly made the evening one to savor.

Senior quarterback Dylan Held and fellow captain Lincoln Urdahl, a senior running back, ran for a combined three first-half scores. Held also threw for a touchdown.

The Huskies defense added interception returns for touchdowns by Will Rehfuss and Brett Siroin. Siroin also caught Held’s touchdown pass.

”This victory feels great; we’ve got a special group, and that leads to good things,” Urdahl said. “It was a great team victory.”

For Breck, Mu Muhammad took Benjie Sullivan‘s pass 35 yards to level the score 7-7 in the first quarter. But Breck has just 18 players on the roster, none of them freshmen, and St. Anthony’s tempo exacerbated the Mustangs’ lack of depth.

”On the practice field, it felt like there were a lot of guys,” Breck coach Marcus Harris said. “But then, last night I was handing out stickers, it was like, ‘That’s it?’ ”

The Zero Week teams opened practice a week earlier in August than other teams. Teams that play Zero Week games must take a bye week later in the season during which practice time must be shortened.