Prep athletes of the week: Edina attacker battles through re-injury to find scoring success

The senior attacker purged nearly a season's worth of frustration in the Hornets' final five regular-season games, scoring 10 goals to take over the team lead and adding three assists.

Cattelin pulled a hamstring during club soccer over the summer and spent six weeks rehabbing it before reinjuring it in Edina's second game of the season. "It was awful, knowing all the work I did to get back, just to injure it again right away," he said. "I wasn't sure I had the motivation to go through it again."

Cattelin reached deep, found his desire to play again and finally got back on the field Sept. 29 vs. Wayzata. He proceeded to score twice in a 5-3 victory. Three days later, he tallied all four goals in a 4-2 victory over Eden Prairie. Another goal came the next day in a 4-0 shutout over Benilde-St. Margaret's, followed by a hat trick as the Hornets beat Eden Prairie for a second time. He added two assists in the finale, a 6-1 victory against Cretin-Derham Hall.

"I had a point to prove," he said. "I had to show why the coaches picked me to be on the team. It helped having teammates feeding me fantastic balls so I was able to score."

Cattelin was most pleased by helping the Hornets earn the No. 1 seed in the Class 2A, Section 2 playoffs. "Hopefully, we can keep it going," he said.

The Bengals defense gets much of the credit for the team's 6-0 record, and no one means more that defense than Becker, a 6-4, 255-pound defensive end. In Friday's 22-13 victory over Centennial, he had three solo and nine total tackles — four of those for loss — and three hurries.

Perhaps no Minnesota high school player has meant as much to his team's success this season than Cavanagh, a senior running back and linebacker. In a 21-7 victory over Minnetonka on Friday, he rushed 25 times for 181 yards and two touchdowns, and made 13 tackles on defense.

The senior won the 100-yard freestyle (54.99 seconds) and 200-yard freestyle (1 minute, 59.85 seconds) and swam the anchor leg for the winning 200 medley relay team (1:43.53), leading the Tigers to the team title at the Class 2A, Section 1 True Team meet.

RILEY HABISCH

While much of the attention goes to Buffalo's potent passing attack, the senior running back showed off his rushing skills in the Bison's 70-42 victory over Cambridge-Isanti. Habisch rushed 25 times for 276 yards and three fourth-quarter touchdowns.

After a long list of near-misses, the junior earned her first medalist honor by winning the Victoria Lions Invitational on Oct. 1 in a 5K time of 18:20, leading the Eagles to the team title. Before that, she had finished third once and second three times.

JIM PAULSEN