Five observations from Week 1 of prep football season

One week of high school football down. Here are five things worth noting after Week 1:

• The best players play quarterback. If your team has an elite athlete but no signal caller, you'll likely play him at quarterback. Lakeville North's RaJa Nelson, Hutchinson's Russell Corrigan, Champlin Park's Jaice Miller and Anoka's Cody Lindenberg have all been recruited to play other positions in college but played QB last weekend.

• Defenses are ahead of the offenses. That was obvious in games like St. Michael-Albertville's 27-6 victory over Maple Grove, Wayzata's 19-0 victory over Blaine and 15 other shutouts around the metro.

• Depth trumps star power. Benilde-St. Margaret's lost top running back Isaiah Smith to a broken foot last week, but the Red Knights didn't stumble a bit in a 21-7 victory over Orono, thanks to a wealth of talent in the backfield. On the flip side, Buffalo still has star Aidan Bouman at QB, but heavy losses to graduation and the loss of top receiver Tony Dahl to injury exposed the Bison's inexperience on offense in a 56-20 loss at Alexandria.

• Elk River just keeps rolling. The Elks' vaunted Straight-T offense, with only halfback Carter Otto having played more than half the season a year ago, still managed to roll up 561 yards rushing in a 57-0 rout of Brainerd.

• Richfield ended a 19-game losing streak dating to 2016 with a 49-34 victory over St. Croix Lutheran. And Academy Force, a cooperative of eight small schools in the east metro, ended an 11-game losing streak by beating St. Paul Harding 21-0.

1. Lakeville North (1-0): While RaJa Nelson at QB got the pub, the Panthers' defense held Woodbury scoreless until the game's final minute in a 24-7 victory.

3. St. Michael-Albertville (1-0): It was all about the defense for the Knights, who had two pick-sixes in the fourth quarter of a 27-6 triumph over Maple Grove.

4. Wayzata (1-0): The Trojans outmuscled Blaine in a 19-0 whitewashing of the Bengals.

5. Mounds View (1-0): No first-game bugs to iron out for the Mustangs, who controlled the game from the outset in a 24-6 victory over Burnsville.

6. Lakeville South (1-0): John Olson capped a 13-point fourth-quarter spurt with a 42-yard field goal in the waning seconds in a 13-10 victory over Totino-Grace.

7. Prior Lake (1-0): An opportunistic defense and depth in the backfield — eight different players carried the ball — lifted the Lakers to a 28-13 victory over Rosemount.

9. Woodbury (0-1): Things don't get easier for the Royals, who play at Eden Prairie this week.

10. SMB Wolfpack (Class 4A) (1-0): Add the names of RBs Sanjay Redd and Dewayne Givens to the Wolfpack's list of top talent.