Lakeville North Duo To Play in Football All-Star Game

Al Erickson and Bret Piekarski, two senior teammates from Lakeville North, are getting the chance to play together one last time this weekend as a member of the South team in Saturday’s Minnesota Football High School All-Star Game at TCF Stadium.

The two helped lead the Panthers to a 7-3 mark, losing to Lakeville South 21-7 in the Section 1 semifinals.

Patch.com caught up with Erickson and Piekarski at the All-Star Game media session to learn more of his high school career, Saturday’s game and college future.

Lakeville Patch: What has this experience been like?

AE: It has been unreal. Meeting all these guys and knowing some of them because we played against them, it has been fun being on the same side of the ball with them. We all have the same interests. Hopefully, come Saturday, we are coming to win. It has been fun.

Lakeville Patch: You have a teammate playing with you ere this weekend. Has that made it a little bit easier for you guys?

AE: Definitely, but it was kind of nice too because we stayed separately, too. He met a lot of different O-lineman and I stayed with the DB's. In that aspect, it has been nice, getting to meet a lot of new people.

Lakeville Patch: Where are you going to be this fall?

AE: I am just going to Minnesota. I am not going to play football. My doctor told me because of my foot that I can’t play. That was a bummer, but it just makes this a bigger deal.

Lakeville Patch: Does that make it even more special knowing that this is your last game?

AE: Exactly. The last game I played in, we lost to Lakeville South, so it has been nice to have one last game to hopefully get a win. Not a lot of people win their last game. That would be cool. Hopefully, we can pull it off.

Lakeville Patch: I know that you are a competitive kid having played high school football and basketball. Is it going to be tough not playing a sport? Are you going to play intramurals to keep busy?

AE: I’ll definitely do some intramurals. Me and a friend are in a softball league, so that is as close as it is getting. We will do intramurals and stuff like that. At North, our football and basketball programs were pretty big and we had a lot of community come out and watch. You can’t really replicate that, but being competitive, I’ll stay in something.

Lakeville Patch: When you look back at your times at Lakeville, what is going to stand out as some of the highlights?

AE: It will be my senior season, since I broke my foot my junior season. Getting through that whole season and being able to play and just the people that I met. It has been pretty cool. When you are out there in the summer, you are with those guys the entire time. These are the types of relationships that you stay with.

Lakeville Patch: How has this experience been so far?

BP: This experience has been a blast. I’ve met a lot of new guys, a lot of guys that I have played against that we are playing with now. There are all great. They were just a face before, but it has just been a blast to hang out with everyone here.

Lakeville Patch: Is it funny to see guys here that maybe you didn’t like or even hated and now you are teammates with them?

BP: There were points during games that you would be pretty mad, but now that you get to know them, they are actually pretty cool. They don’t irate you anymore because you are not going up against them.

Lakeville Patch: What are your plans for this fall?

BP: I am going to St. Cloud to play football.

Lakeville Patch: When do you start practice?

BP: I  go up August 10^th and then August 17^th, we start practice.

Lakeville Patch: Is that kind of nice that a little bit of summer to yourself?

BP: This is it for summer, There is not much going on, lifting and the All-Star Game, but college life is going to be a blast.

Lakeville Patch: Jameson Parson from Eagan, who is playing in the All-Star Game is also going to St. Cloud. Have you talked to him?

BP: Parsons and one other player here is going to St. Cloud. We have gotten to be pretty good buddies now. I’m sure that we will have some good life experiences with each other for the next four or five years. This has been a great experience getting to know each other. You get to know each other, so when we get there this fall, we’ll have someone we know.

Lakeville Patch: How is it to play with Al one more time?

BP: It is great. This is going to be his last game playing. He hurt his foot back in football and couldn’t really play much, but one last game with him is going to be a honor.

Lakeville Patch: What types of things are you working on to get ready for your freshman season? Have they talked to you about redshirting you or will you play as a freshman

BP: I am going to redshirt my first year and then do their college workouts the whole first year with the possibility of playing my sophomore year.

Lakeville Patch: Was there some fear about St. Cloud, which had a great year, possibly dropping football? The students voted to raise fees to keep the program going.

BP: When we met with their coaches, they guaranteed us four years to play. That eased the tension of whether to go there.

Lakeville Patch: When you look back at your times at Lakeville, what is going to stand out as some of the highlights?

BP: My junior year, we won the section championship and beating South. We had not beaten South in the past seven years, since the school opened. We finally beat them.