Ever since the offseason began, the Lakeville North football team’s defense has been touted as championship-caliber with at least three future Division-I defenders in linebacker Jesse Cardenas, linebacker Tristyn Hanson, and defensive end Carl Engwall.

The Hopkins Royals found this out all too quickly Thursday night.

With the dominant 39-13 win that included three defensive touchdowns, the North football team moved to 1-0 on the season. The game was over before it hardly began as the Royals showed intimidation from the first snap on offense. It was clear from the first defensive series for the Panthers that Thursday’s game was one of men against boys.

“As soon as (safety) Jordan (Cardenas) laid out their wide-out on one of the first plays on defense, it set the tempo for the rest of the game,” Jesse Cardenas said. “(Hopkins) knew they were in for a long night.”

Not long after Cardenas’ tackle, the Panthers scored their first defensive touchdown of the season. Senior linebacker Connor Melz picked off a Hopkins shovel pass and returned the interception 52 yards for the touchdown to put the Panthers up 7-0.

“It demoralizes their team,” Hanson said. “First quarter, you take that thing back, (Hopkins) is completely set back. That just gets our whole team going, not just the defense. It got the offense all hyped up and ready to go. It was perfect for us.”

While Melz’s touchdown could be seen as him being in the right place at the right time, head coach Brian Vossen attributes plays such as Melz’s touchdown as what the opportunistic Panther defense is all about.

“We worked all summer and all fall camp focusing on getting team points,” Vossen said. “That is our defense. We create takeaways and we swarm the football.”

North’s offense struggled to consistently move the ball in the first half. But they saw their own opportunistic play when receiver Kyle Rhodus caught a tipped pass from Stewart and walked into the end zone for the touchdown.

Despite the fact that luck may have been involved in Rhodus’ score, Vossen still pointed to Rhodus doing what he learned in practice.

“He was still in position and he was still running his route and when you do that stuff, good things happen,” Vossen said.

The Lakeville North offense didn’t play at the dominant level their defense did, but the offense played much better than the season opener last season. After turning the ball over five times against Lakeville South, the Panthers limited turnovers to only one Thursday night when quarterback Drew Stewart forced the ball into double coverage.

As the offensive limited turnovers throughout the game, the defense created them. In the third quarter, Jesse Cardenas dropped into coverage and was hit straight in the chest with the football. Cardenas held on to the ball and returned the interception for a 54-yard touchdown.

The defensive scoring didn’t stop there. On a bad snap from the Hopkins long snapper, the Hopkins punter couldn’t come down with the ball and junior Jackson Dunnell recovered the football in the end zone. In addition to two safeties, the defense became the offense Thursday evening.

“If you get one (defensive touchdown) you’ll probably win the game,” Vossen said. “If you get three, you get to have that score.”

While Thursday’s 39-13 win moved the Panthers in the right direction, one of the team captains in Hanson knows Thursday was just the beginning.

“We just have to keep playing physical and keep the hammer down,” Hanson said. “We can’t let up because I know a lot of the time, we’re playing good and then we let up a little bit. You’ve got to keep going. It doesn’t matter which team you’re playing.”