A 19-point third quarter that complemented a 19-point first half carried Anoka to a 44-13 Week 8 victory over Park Center and a 5-3 finish in the Northwest Suburban Conference.

Combined with a Week 7 win, 57-35 over Elk River back on Oct. 10, Anoka was able to grab the No. 3 seed for the Section 7AAAAA playoff next week. Anoka will host the No. 6 seed, which was either going to be Forest Lake or Cambridge Isanti Tuesday (Oct. 21).

In its regular-season finale, Anoka had two big plays — one in the first quarter and another in the second — to take a 13-0 lead. Dominique Jackson broke a 51-yard touchdown run to get Anoka on the board, then rode Danny Wilson’s 48-yard punt return for a touchdown to its early advantage.

Park Center countered with a big play of its own — a 75-yard touchdown pass — and also scored on another pass just before half time. Between those two touchdowns, however, Anoka was able to maintain a 6-point advantage thanks to a 1-yard touchdown run by Seth Mathis.

In the third quarter, however, Anoka broke open the game with three touchdowns. The first was courtesy of its defense and an end zone fumble recovery by Blake Asmussen.

This score was followed by quarterback Nick Welle 3-yard touchdown run and a 52-yard touchdown punt return, this time by Pat Cotter. Casey Mosich completed the game’s scoring with a fourth-quarter 10-yard touchdown run.

The 44-point effort followed its 57-point showing five days earlier against Elk River.
Wilson scored the first three touchdowns of that game on a 30-yard pass from Welle and runs of 36 and 3 yards. Mathis then scored Anoka’s next two touchdowns on runs of 2 and 5 yards while Jackson and Dillon Schmidt collected the team’s final two offensive touchdowns on a 66- and 6-yard runs.

Also contributing to the touchdown parade was kicker and safety Chase Toensing, who had four successful point-after-touchdown kicks. As a defender, though, Toensing picked off an Elk River pass and returned it 38 yards for a third-quarter touchdown...