high school football 2014

S3The Free Press / Thursday, August 28, 2014

By Chad [email protected]

MAPLETON — Waterville-Elysian-Mor-ristown had a five-year hold on the Gopher Valley 2A Conference title until Maple River grabbed the trophy last season. Eagles coach Brian Schoneck hopes that experience will have some carryover effect this season.

“Hopefully, that raised the bar,” he said. “But each year is a little different. We gradu-ated some very good football players, so we’ll need some kids to step up. If things fall into place, I hope we can be right there again.”

This is the last season of the Gopher Val-ley 2A. Many conferences will be eliminated next season and replaced by the district scheduling. The Gopher Valley 2A teams will compete in the South Central District, which

has 28 teams, and while some rivalries will be maintained, a championship this season will carry well into the future.

“It would be nice to get another one; it’s one of our goals,” Schoneck said. “The conference is very competitive, and every game is going to be a dogfight for us. If we get lucky, and we stay away from injuries, it would be fun to compete for that.”

Schoneck said that Medford and New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva should have strong teams, and WEM and Lake Crys-tal Wellcome Memorial will be improved. Last season, the Eagles had to defeat Med-ford in the final game to avoid a three-way tie for the championship.

WEM coach Jon Bakken said his team would have had a better chance if quarter-back Ben Boran hadn’t suffered a broken foot

this summer. Bakken said Boran could be back in the second half of the season.

“We are going to need a lot of young guys

to step up,” Bakken said. “They’re learning things at an incredibly fast rate, but we’ll be OK, probably a darkhorse.”

High School Football-3

TCU, Belle Plaine should challenge for MRC titleSimonette, Narveson among top players

The Free Press

On paper, Tri-City United and Belle Plaine are the favorites in the Minnesota River Conference for 2014. Over the next two months or so, we'll find out if paper translates well to reality for those two squads.

The Minnesota River, like all of the conferences in Minnesota, will disband after the 2014 season as football moves to sectional align-ments for the regular season. The league has been around for 56 years. The original members from the 1959 season were: Arlington-Green Isle, Belle Plaine, Jordan, Le Center, Le Sueur, Montgomery and New Prague.

Co-favorite TCU is coached by Ken Helland, who is in his third year with the program. He was the longtime coach at Le Center before the team merged with Montgomery-Lonsdale to form Tri-City United.

The Titans are the defend-ing MRC champions with good numbers again this season. They have approximately 75 players out in grades 9-12, including a talented

group of juniors.TCU graduated most of its start-

ers, but still has the players to con-tend. They return tight end Charlie Simonette, who should be a major target and is a college prospect.

The defensive line will be anchored by Alex Burns, a big, physical junior. The Titans rely on a solid, power running game and hard hitting defense.

Over in Belle Plaine, head coach Justin Johnston is beginning his ninth year at the helm. He has more than 70 players out which includes some of the MRC's best talent at certain positions.

At the top of that list is junior QB Luke Narveson. The 6-foot-4, 180-pounder was the MRC Offen-sive MVP back as a freshman last year. He is a true dual threat as a passer and runner in the Tigers' spread offense.

Running back Ben Stier returns to the backfield after being named to the all-Minnesota River Confer-ence team, along with Narveson, a year ago. The Tigers have the luxury of large numbers, so they have the opportunity to choose from many and rest their starters when appropriate.

At Sibley East, Chuck Hartman

begins his sixth year as head coach. The Wolverines will have some of the MRC's biggest linemen this season.

John Dufrane, a 240-pound senior lineman, leads several other young linemen, who earned experi-ence last year. Sibley East has the option of emphasizing its size with its traditional power running game or they could use their sizable line to pass protect for their rookie quarterback.

While the Wolverines have experience in the line, they have to replace their entire backfield. Junior Quin Riffenburg gained some expe-rience running the ball last year.

Mayer Lutheran's Dean Aurich starts his 26th year this season and is the senior member of the MRC coaches. He leads a team that is small in numbers but has some big, talented individuals.

Junior lineman Sam Schlueter (6-7, 278) has good size and experi-ence. Tight end Taylor Otterstatter is 6-6, 235 and is considered a solid college prospect.

Taylor's brother, Jeff Otterstat-ter (6-6, 235) will also contribute in the line. If Mayer Lutheran can find some skilled position players to operate behind that big line, it

could be a team that could surprise people.

Craig Johnson of Watertown-Mayer is beginning his third season with the team. The Royals won a share of the MRC title last year and it was the first for Johnson.

Watertown-Mayer has good numbers and some decent size to make a run at another title. Senior quarterback Brett Johnson was All-MRC as he led the Royals in rushing last season.

Senior Bill Staufer returns in the line after being an All-MRC honorable mention pick a year ago. Staufer will be joined by lineman Andrew Ziegenhagen. Ryne Alger also returns as a leading receiver.

Jordan's Craig Albers is in his fifth year with the Hubmen. Jordan was the section champion in 2012 but slipped to four wins last year.

The Hubmen believe they are a contending program again. They have increased the number of play-ers and will have very good size in the line as 15 players are listed at 200 pounds or more on their roster.

Andrew Fogarty, senior running back, returns after being All-MRC in 2013. Fogarty is threat as a run-ner or receiver.

Paul Henn of Norwood Young

America begins his ninth year this season. He led the Raiders on a late-season surge in 2013 that ended up losing the section title by one point.

NYA hopes to continue the momentum from that success in 2014. They will be led by All-MRC running back Noah Peterson. The senior Peterson has run for more than 1,000 yards in each of the last two seasons and will be the main ball-carrier again this season.

Senior quarterback Isaac Hor-mann is a three-year starter and was honorable mention All-MRC last season. If the Raiders' passing game can take some pressure off Pe-terson, he could have a big year and NYA could sneak up in the league standings.

Le Sueur-Henderson's Mike May starts his third season in charge of the Giants. The team's numbers are down but they do return several starters from last season's squad.

Senior running back/defensive back Jordan Kahlow is a three-year starter and was the Giants leading rusher in 2013. Seniors Connor Boettcher and Clayton Colling should anchor the lines.

Several other inexperienced play-ers will have to step up in order to keep the Giants competitive.

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Eagles look to soar again in Gopher Valley 2A Conference

The Free Press / Thursday, August 28, 2014

By Chad [email protected]

MANKATO — The Mankato West football team has had some dangerous offenses and stingy defenses in the last decade, with all those glitzy long passes and aggressive blitzes catching the eye.

But you can’t make the spectacular play without solid performance up front, and the Scarlets lost some awfully good linemen to graduation.

“I was concerned in the offseason,” coach Mark Esch said, “but after seeing how hard these guys worked, I’m not as concerned. We’ve had a lot of guys step up in the offsea-son.”

The Scarlets open the season at home Aug. 28 against Albert Lea, which isn’t a long time to build an offensive and defensive front. However, there are 19 seniors with which to build.

On the offensive line, senior tackles Alex Goettl and Evan Richter and senior guard Dan Kiecker were all starters last season, and senior guard Conor Wollenzien, who didn’t play last season, had some experience as a sophomore. Junior Justin Kurtz will take over at center.

“We have some guys who have starting ex-perience and played in playoff games,” senior quarterback Ryan Schlichte said. “They have some chemistry, and they know what to do. I’m not worried.”

Schlichte will be the starting quarterback for the third season, hoping to build on a junior season in which he totaled nearly 3,000 yards of offense and 35 touchdowns. He completed 151 of 212 passes for 2,185 yards with 25 touchdowns, and he was the Scarlets’ leading rusher with 683 yards and 10 scores.

“He’s better physically and confidence-wise,” Esch said. “When you’re a senior, you’re so much more confident. When you’re a quarterback for the third year and you have a lot of the same guys around you, this is the year you’ve waited for.”

Senior Travon Jones, who had seven touchdown runs last season, and junior Van Neils will handle the running-back duties for the first month, when senior Cory Johnson should return from a knee injury. Johnson rushed for 593 yards and nine touchdowns and caught 19 passes with two scores.

“Whoever needs to run the ball for us to win, that’s what we’ll do,” Schlichte said.

The receivers are explosive, with seniors Connor Watts, Kevin Marzolf, Josh Athey and Jon Pytlak. Watts had 35 receptions for

535 yards and five touchdowns, and Mar-zolf finished the season strong, making 21 catches for 389 yards and three scores.

“They know what I want to do, and I know what they want to do,” Schlichte said. “We’re on the same page.”

Defensively, Goettl, Wollenzien, Brandon Marsh, Zach Jakes and Nick LeDuc will play in the line, with junior Charlie Schwarz at linebacker. Schwartz, who made 58 tackles and five sacks, will hold one linebacking spot while three others compete for the other linebacker position.

The defensive backs are Athey, Marzolf, Watts, junior Hunter Frericks and junior

Carter Burroughs. The safety is senior Nate Nelson, who ranked second on the team with 70 tackles.

“We had some juniors step up and make plays,” Nelson said. “I think we can really be good on defense.”

Esch said that Owatonna, Rochester Mayo and Rochester John Marshall will be the top teams in the Big Nine Conference, and the Scarlets will play all three this season. West hopes to return to the section championship game, where it lost to Chaska.

“I think that game left a little bitter taste in our mouths,” Esch said. “We want to get back on top in the section.”

S4

Mankato West-4

Scarlets need to rebuild offensive, defensive fronts

Photo by Pat ChristmanMankato West coach Mark Esch (middle) discusses some strategy with his players during a preseason practice at the high school. The Scarlets open the season today, at home against Albert Lea.

Mankato West ScarletsHead coach: Mark

EschAssistants: Greg

Ellsworth, Logan Deopere, J.J. Helget, Pat Burmeis-ter, Scott Higgins, Drew Weber, Mike Richter, Scott Pick.

2013 record: 8-2

Returning leadersRushing Yds. TDRyan Schlichte 683 10Cory Johnson 593 9Passing Com.-Att. Yds TDsRyan Schlichte 151-212 2,185 25Receiving Rec. Yds. TDsConnor Watts 35 535 5Kevin Marzolf 21 389 3Defense T Int. SacksNate Nelson 70 1 0Charlie Schwartz 58 0 5

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By Shane [email protected]

MANKATO — The Mankato East football team took some baby steps last season, fol-lowing a winless 2012 campaign.

After winning one game in 2013, the Cougars hope they’re ready not only to walk but run a little this year.

“My prediction?” junior lineman Logan Swanson said. “No matter what, we’ll be better than last year. I think we can win four games, minimum. If we keep going like we’re going, playing physical and playing smart, we’ll have a successful year.”

It’s taken time for East to gain traction since coach Eric Davis returned to the program two years ago. Last season’s win snapped a 14-game losing streak. However, both Swanson and senior quarterback Nic Seiler said during the first week of practice that the team was three or four weeks ahead of where it was at the same time a year earlier.

“We’re certainly well ahead of where we’ve traditionally been in the first week,” Davis said. “The main thing is the numbers

are back up. It’s not just having the bodies, but we can push each other in practice. It’s nice to have that depth.”

Davis said East has 101 players, fresh-men through seniors, out for football this season.

“We’ve had a shortage of bodies and shortage of speed in the past,” Davis said. “We’re seeing the return of some faster kids and more of them.”

The Cougars also return some experi-ence, something that was lacking during Davis’ first season back.

Seiler, a dual-threat quarterback who, run-ning and throwing, accounted for 766 yards of offense and eight touchdowns last season, will be starting for the third year in a row, as will Swanson.

Swanson, a two-way player who was an All-Big Nine Conference defensive lineman, was East’s top tackler a year ago, and Davis expects he’ll be scouted closely by “high-level” college programs.

“He’s a guy who’s not only a good player but an intelligent player,” Davis said. “He’s a

4.0 (GPA) student. He’s what you want as a football player.”

Other top returners include senior Ryan Carlsten, who can play running back or receiver and is also a defensive back, and last year’s leading receiver senior Brandon Adams. Another receiver, senior Cooper Wolfe, will move to outside linebacker on defense this season to fill in the void left

from last year’s graduation, Davis said.Other linemen working with Swanson

include seniors Cory Weston and Andrew Leite and junior Mackenzie Slocum.

“We have some good football players,” Davis said. “We have some guys with good heads on their shoulders.”

The Cougars will open the season on Friday at home against Rochester Century.

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Cougars strive to make big strides in 2014Numbers improving as East continues to rebuild

Mankato East lineman Logan Swanson (59) led the team in tackles last season and was an All-Big Nine Conference selection.

Photo by Pat ChristmanMankato East CougarsHead coach: Eric DavisAssistants: Joe John-

son, Dusty Julius, Tony Ball, Mark Stewart, Pat Griffiths, Mark Seiler, Tay-lor Waldorf, Mike Barger, Dan Quame

2013 record: 1-8

Returning leadersRushing Yards TDRobert Miller 375 1Nic Seiler 280 6Ryan Carlsten 171 1Passing Com-Att. Yds. TD Int.Nic Seiler 62-110 486 2 6Receiving No.-Yds TDBrandon Adams 23-193 0Cooper Wolfe 19-177 1Ryan Carlsten 13-90 1Defense Tackles Sacks Int.Logan Swanson 45 2 0Brandon Adams 29.5 0 1Mitch Strand 21 0 1

Eric Davis


By Denny WellerSpecial to The Free Press

MANKATO — When you’re riding a 21-game losing streak there’s plenty of room for negativity and criticism, but that’s not toler-ated around the Mankato Loyola football team.

With nine players having started on both sides of the ball at one time last season and another nine having experienced starting one way, the Crusaders were poised to end that drought and set a foundation for future success last Friday.

“We’ve got guys who are hungry and have done things in the offseason for us to be successful,” Loyola coach Kevin Mettler said. “They have to believe they can win and deserve to win.

“We have to do the small things because small things eventually turn into big things. We need to have success right away and things will follow from there. ... Winning breeds winning.”

The Crusaders came through in their season-opener against Faribault Bethlehem Academy, winning 23-14 at home.

Much of Mettler’s optimism for the season surrounds the return of senior quarterback John Fink and an offensive line that features seniors Dugan Bradley, Tom McDermott, Charlie Lena and Shane Price. Fink, a three-sport standout, completed 69 of 183 passes for 791 yards and four touchdowns. He also rushed for 106 yards and a team-best six scores.

Other two-way returners include seniors Jake Pellar and Taylor Barnes along with juniors Taylor Gross and Andy Sharpless. Senior running back Jake Klingsporn is expected to help rev up the offense after missing last season with a knee injury.

“Our numbers are up, and these seniors have been working hard for three years,” Mettler said. “We have to be mistake-free, play physical football and make sure we take care of the little things. We also have to stay healthy, and with Jake Klingsporn we feel we have one of the best running backs in our

conference.”Six more seniors — Luke Haefner, Austin

Ellingworh, Joe Vetter, Brett Taylor, Aidan Eesley and Austin Eesley — along with juniors Kim Huynh, Noah Rajtar and Sean Willaert are the balance of the returning regulars. Sharpless rushed for 119 yards and caught six passes for 94 yards a year ago, while Pellar gained 101 yards on the ground and 71 yards through the air.

Fink led the Crusaders with 50 tackles last season while Pellar (28), Vetter (26) and Barnes (25) followed.

“We’re ready and focused to play,” Fink said. “We have to be ready for every game, forget bad plays and know that we are good enough to win.

“It’s all mental right now. We have the physical competitiveness to win games. ... We just need to change the culture.”

S6

Loyola-6

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Crusaders hope to keep on winningLoyola returns 18 players with starting experience

Photo by John CrossRunning back Jake Klingsporn returns to the Mankato Loyola football team after missing last season with a knee injury.

Mankato Loyola CrusadersHead coach: Kevin

MettlerAssistants: Chris Rich-

ardson, Jake Berling, Nate Clark, Garrett Mensing, Jeff Barnett

Returning leadersPassing Comp.-Att. Yds. TDJohn Fink 69-183 791 4Rushing Att. Yds.Andy Sharpless 24 119Jake Pellar 33 101Receiving No.-Yds. Avg.Sharpless 6-94 15.7Pellar 7-71 10.1Austin Ellingworth 6-57 9.5Defense TacklesFink 50Pellar 28Joe Vetter 26Taylor Barnes 25

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For LCWM, veteran’s could help young quarterbackBy Shane [email protected]

LAKE CRYSTAL — There will be a young, new quarterback on the Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial football team this season, but there’s hope that sophomore Mac Graupman will have a veteran nucleus around him to be successful.

“He has a very high football IQ,” Knights coach Mike Schaffer said of Graupman, who was LCWM’s JV quarterback as an eighth-grader and competed for the varsity job a year ago.

Graupman, who will replace the graduated Bryson Yackel, is more of a dual threat than his predecessor was in the Knights’ spread offense Schaffer said.

The Knights are coming off a 2-6 season and face an improving Gopher Valley 2A conference schedule.

However, the team returns several key players, including its leading rusher and receiver from a year ago.

Junior running back Matt Sheets racked up 450 yards on the ground last season, averaging 3.7 yards a carry, and scored a team-high six touchdowns.

Senior receiver Chuck Menne had 32 catches for 352 yards and a pair of touch-downs. Senior Nick Thul had 21 catches for 272 yards and four TDs.

“We have some very good returning guys,” Schaffer said. “The main thing is to stay healthy. We have 40 guys out in grades 9 through 12. We need to stay healthy, like ev-erybody else. But I like our team. It’s a close team; there’s a lot of team chemistry.”

As important as having returning skill players, Schaffer said experience on the

offensive and defensive lines may be the Knights’ biggest asset.

Returning players include senior and fourth-year starter Nick Meixell. Seniors Shane Nelson and A.J. King Quale will be third-year starters.

“That’s going to be the strong part of our team,” Schaffer said. “We have experience there and a lot of depth there. It all starts up front.”

The Knights will have to replace the pro-duction of Bryan Davis, a do-it-all offensive player who could run, catch and return kicks.

“That’s a big loss for us,” Schaffer said.

“Anytime he touched the ball he had a chance to take it the distance. That will be a tough position to fill, and it won’t be filled by just one guy.”

Schaffer said senior Jared VanRyswyk and juniors Nick Saucier and Junior Welsch will work to fill that gap.

Defensively, the Knights lost two of their top three tacklers from last season, but Nate Neitzel, who was second on the team with 51 tackles, is back.

LCWM will open the season Friday at Kimball Area.

LCWM KnightsHead coach: Mike

SchafferAssistants: Jer-

emy Steffensmeier, Kevin Hagge, Ryan Meyer, Tyler Ginnestad

2013 record: 2-6

Returning leadersRushing Yards TDMatt Sheets 450 6Receiving No.-Yds TDChuck Menne 32-352 2Nick Thul 21-272 4Matt Sheets 14-174 1Defense Tackles Sacks IntNate Neitzel 51 1 0Mac Graupman 40 0 1Shane Nelson 39 0 0

Knights sophomore ready for his close-up

Photo by Pat ChristmanLake Crystal Wellcome Memorial senior Nate Neitzel is the team’s top returning tackler from last season with 51. The Knights are looking to improve on a 2-6 season from a year ago.

Mike Schaffer

“The main thing is to stay healthy. We have 40 guys out in grades 9

through 12. We need to stay healthy, like everybody else. But I like our team. It’s a close team; there’s a

lot of team chemistry.”CoaCh MIKe SChaFFeR

The Free Press / Thursday, August 28, 2014S8

St. Peter-8

St. Peter’s size up front will be team strengthBy Denny WellerSpecial to The Free Press

ST. PETER — With nearly all of its skill players lost to graduation, the St. Peter football team will look for its offensive and defensive lines to set the tone for the upcom-ing season.

“We can put some decent size out there and our big kids are fairly athletic,” Saints’ coach Brian Odlund said. “I would say our lines on both sides of the ball will be our strengths. We’re just so young that we’ve got a lot of guys learning plays so right now it’s just getting into the flow and making things habitual on the field for them.

“We’ve really slowed down the rate at which we’re installing things just to get guys on the same page. We’ll be solid through our first 11 guys but then we’ll be inexperienced. We need to develop those younger players so we can create some depth by the middle of the season. This is a good cohesive group and I don’t expect any discipline problems with them and that will carry over to the field.”

Senior center/defensive end Brandon Evans and junior guard/defensive end Travis Brock are expected to anchor things down for the Saints in the trenches. Junior guard/linebacker Dayton Sawyer; junior tackle/linebacker Nate Wenner; senior guard/line-backer Major Brock; senior tackle/linebacker Jackson Keeley; junior tackle/linebacker Dustin West; and senior guard/defensive end Nick Zarn add plenty of depth up front.

“We have a big line this year which we’re excited about,” Evans said. “We’re probably going to be running it up the middle a lot.

“I’ll try to show some leadership and show the younger guys the ropes. We’re a close-knit group and we just need to go out and play as a team.”

Keely echoed those same sentiments, “We’ve got a good size line for the first time in a while,” he said. “We’ve also got some nice running backs with speed so things should be pretty good.

“We’re looking for a winning season and to go a ways in the playoffs. We’re just looking to be the best we can be and leave a positive legacy behind.”

Odlund indicated that senior Noah Hildeb-randt and junior Avery Bachman are locked in a battle for the starting quarterback spot with the runner-up moving out to a wide receiver spot. Seniors Nic Glidden and Brett Zallek are the top running back candidates

while senior Shaun Timmerman, junior Alex Hoehn and senior Andrew Olson complete the Saints’ receiving core.

“We’re a younger team this year but we’ve been filling the holes nicely,” Zallek said. “It’s just going to take that playing experience. Everyone is ready to step up and do their part.

“We’ve got a small senior class but the juniors are working really hard. We’re excited to be on the field together and so far everyone is having a lot of fun. ... We’ll be ready at game time.”

Two other players — senior nose guard Jared Schave and junior slot-back/defensive back Zeke Haugen — are also expected to fill major roles. Evans and Wenner are the top returning defenders while Zallek’s five catches for 123 yards and one touchdown heads the offensive side.

St. Peter, coming off a 5-4 record a year ago, opens its season Friday by hosting Windom.

St. Peter SaintsHead coach: Brian

OdlundAssistants: Justin

Helget, Greg Emley, Kurt Moelter and Pat Klubben

2013 record: 5-4

Returning leadersRushing Att.-Yds TDNic Glidden 8-66 1Noah Hildebrandt 21-41 0Receiving No.-Yds TDBrett Zallek 5-123 1Defense Tckls Sacks FRBrandon Evans 45 2 0Nate Wenner 32 0 1

Hildebrandt, Bachman are top QB contenders Senior lineman Brandon Evans is the team’s top returning tackler with 45 a year ago. He also had two quarterback sacks.

Photo by John Cross

Brian Odlund

“I would say our lines on both sides of the ball will be our strengths. We’re just so young that we’ve got a lot of guys learning plays so right now it’s just getting into the flow and making

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Waseca’s Bluejays have big, big shoes to fillBy Shane [email protected]

WASECA — The big question around Waseca these days is: How do you replace Thomas O’Neil?

The short answer? You don’t.But there’s a longer answer for Bluejays

coach Brad Wendland.“We aren’t asking anyone to be Thomas

O’Neil, that’s for sure,” he said. “We made that clear in our end-of-the-season meetings last year.”

O’Neil graduated following a 3,000-yard season. The quarterback threw for 1,379 yards and 17 touchdowns and ran for 1,406 yards and 14 scores as the Bluejays went unbeaten in the regular season.

“We called that riding the horse,” Wend-land said.

There’s no one horse to ride this year, so O’Neil’s production will be divided among several players. There have been two players vying to take over at quarterback: senior Isaac Highum and junior Nick Dufault.

“Both have done a lot to get ready for the season,” Wendland said. “Both have stud-ied. Both have had great summers. They’re super-competitive, great kids. It’s a tremen-dous problem to have. We’ve never had two guys at the position as ready to play as they are.”

The Bluejays return their second and third leading rushers from a year ago, Dyan Hermanstorfer and Brady “Bear” Bomsta. Their rushing totals were less than half of what O’Neil ran for, but Wendland said their roles will be bigger this season.

Wendland also is looking to see a big jump from Josiah Frye in the running and passing game.

Waseca also brings back J.P. Eykyn, who was a two-way starter at cornerback and wide receiver and tight end Tyler Kolander and All-South Central Conference pick last season.

The conference has expanded to the Big South this year, a combination of the old SCC and Southwest Minnesota Conference.

The Bluejays did not lose last season until the section playoffs, and Wendland hopes that the success of last season will carry over to this season and seasons to come.

“The example was set,” Wendland said.

“There’s a lot more two it than being talent-ed. It’s how you practice — and we practiced great last year. When your best players are your hardest workers, when those guys are at their best on every rep, that sets a really good example for the young guys. That was the example set last year, and I think it will carry out this year.”

The Bluejays will open the season Friday at Worthington.

O’Neil will be replaced by multiple players Tyler Kolander is Waseca’s top returning tackler from last year’s team, which went undefeated in the regular season.

Photo by John Cross

Waseca BluejaysHead coach: Brad

WendlandAssistants: Joe Heder-

vare, Eric Teders, Levi Fossen, Kevin Britton, Ted Hammond, Chris Ahlshager

2013 record: 9-1

Returning leadersRushing Yards TDDylan Hermanstorfer 297 2Bear Bomsta 232 4Adam Clayton 115 6Receiving No.-Yds TDTyler Kolander 9-152 2J.P. Eykyn 10-142 1Dylan Hermanstorfer 6-71 2Bear Bomsta 6-80 1Defense Tackles-Asst-TotalTyler Kolander 44-22-66Bear Bomsta 43-13-56Isaiah Williamson 29-15-44

Brad Wendland

“There’s a lot more two it than being talented. It’s how you

practice — and we practiced great last year. When your best players are your hardest workers, when those guys are at their best on

every rep, that sets a really good example for the young guys. That

was the example set last year, and I think it will carry out this year.”

BRad Wendland


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New league provides new hope at St. JamesBy Drew LyonSpecial to The Free Press

ST. JAMES — The days of overmatched St. James football teams facing opponents with far larger rosters are mostly over.

Starting this year, the Saints are playing in the newly formed Big South Conference, which combines the Southwest Conference and the South Central Conference. The re-alignment suits St. James coach Jeff Whitney just fine, though he lamented the end of a longstanding rivalry against New Ulm.

“It’s going to be nice playing against teams that are our size,” Whitney said. “Now there’s no excuse, and that’s a good thing. Hopefully it’ll be better for our program. But it’s too bad we couldn’t keep our game against New Ulm.”

Whitney’s team returns from a 2-7 record, an improvement over a winless 2012 season.

“It was a pretty good year us, considering our numbers,” Whitney said. “Our numbers are always going to be our downfall in a way.”

Whitney reports the team’s 41-player turnout during the first week of practice is a slight decrease from previous seasons. But senior receiver/defensive back Luke Ton-sager fronts a group of seniors that Whitney hopes will bring leadership and, in turn, more victories for the Saints, who graduated 15 seniors.

Brady Halverson will inherit quarter-back duties, while Chris Johnson and Josh

Stordalen are expected to carry the load at fullback. Whitney also anticipates Tonsager, the team’s leading receiver from last season, will handle more carries this season.

“This year we’re running a different offense,” he said. “We lost a nice passing quarterback, so I think we’re going to go with speed on the ground. Luke’s going to be more of a slot guy, jet-motion handoffs. And Josh is going to get a lot of time; he’ll be a workhorse.”

Whitney’s offensive line has three return-ing starters: senior tackles Alex Martinez and Joe Bologna, and senior center Colin Hoppe.

“We’re pretty solid on the starting line,” Whitney said. “But again, we just don’t have much depth. I always worry about our depth coming back to haunt us.”

Defensively, Tonsager, who finished with 53 tackles and 3 interceptions in only five games last year, and defensive end Chris Johnson look to lead the Saints. Tonsager broke his leg in the team’s 2013 homecoming game, the third consecutive year a broken bone put a premature end to his season.

“I just want to stay healthy,” said Ton-sager, who added 10 pounds during the

offseason. “I’m excited, have a lot of goals. I’d like to break the school’s (single season) interception record.”

“Other than Chris and Luke, we’re pretty green on defense,” said Whitney, who enters his third year as head coach. “Hopefully there are other kids who step up.”

Whitney has welcomed a return to normalcy this preseason. Last season, he suffered a mild stroke after the team’s first practice.

“When we got closer to that first day of practice this year,” Whitney said, “I thought,

‘Oh gosh.’ But it’s awesome. I’m feeling great.”

His team isn’t accustomed to a winning re-cord, and Whitney hopes a new schedule will grant his program a fresh start. But victories are secondary, he emphasized.

“A lot of this is just getting these boys to grow up and be responsible adults,” he said. “Wins are great, but helping them grow as young men is another win for me.”

The Saints opened the season Aug. 22 with a 50-25 loss against Brooklyn Center in a nonconference game.

Tonsager hopes to stay healthy, lead young team

Senior Luke Tonsager is the top returning senior for the St. James football team.

Photo by Pat Christman

St. James SaintsHead Coach: Jeff

WhitneyAssistants: Dave Whit-

ney, Steve Walker, Mark Johnson, Alex Hein, Gary Blom, Jon Wilson, Adam Schroeder

2013 record: 2-7

Returning leadersReceiving No. Yds. TDsLuke Tonsager 15 150 2Defense Tackles Int.Luke Tonsager 53 3Chris Johnson 70 0

Jeff Whitney


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Offensive line hopes to get Giants back on trackBy Denny WellerSpecial to The Free Press

LE SUEUR — After suffering through an 0-9 season, the Le Sueur-Henderson football team hopes an experienced of-fensive line will generate enough room for senior running back Jordan Kahlow to operate and help turn the Giants’ fortunes around.

Kahlow carried the ball 117 times for 470 yards and one touch-down last season while also catching 21 passes for 196 yards. He was also productive on the defensive side of the ball in coming up with three interceptions and collect-ing 64 tackles.

“There’s no doubt last season was a disappoint-ing one,” Kahlow said. “This year, we just have to go out and finish business. We’ve been doing a lot of drills over the summer, and we’re bringing in some new offensive things which should work better. There’s going to be a lot of leadership going on with our seniors.

“We are all pretty athletic and will be able to contribute to the team so we can have some suc-cess. We need to make sure we hold the ball tight and run with our heads up. Our receiv-ers need to watch the ball into their hands and then get extra yards after the catch. Things have been really positive.”

Kahlow will operate behind an offensive front that is spearheaded by seniors Clayton Colling and Connor Boettcher and junior Kallan Hudson.

“We’ve got a lot of experience coming back in the trenches, and that’s what really makes a team go,” third-year coach Mike

May said. “We need to improve at keeping the ball off the ground and then create some turnovers on the defensive side of the ball. We need to run the ball effectively and play solid defense.

“We’ve got a lot of guys coming back that have experience and really understand what we’re trying to do, offensively and defensively. They have a good headstart in what direction we want to go this year. I am looking forward to a lot of improvement, and

I know these guys are excited to get back out there and put forth an effort that will give them a good name.”

Junior linebacker Tyler Eccles was in on 76 tackles and recovered three fumbles last season, while senior defensive back Tyler Ko-tasek totaled 55 stops. Those two are listed as the top two quarterbacks on the depth chart as well.

Boettcher was also a standout on defense, coming up with 68 stops from his defensive end spot. Senior linebacker Sam Gerdts is also back and will spell Kahlow in the backfield.

Kahlow is top returning offensive player

Photo by John CrossLe Sueur-Henderson senior Jordan Kahlow is back this year after rushing for 470 yards, accumulating 196 yards receiving and making 64 tackles.

Le Sueur-Henderson GiantsHead coach: Mike MayAssistant coaches:

Dave Swanberg, Terry Turek, Tom Quiram, Mike Goggin, Don Marcussen and Eric Lewis.

Top returning players Rushing Attt. Yds. TDJordan Kahlow 117 470 1Receiving Rec. Yds. TDJordan Kahlow 21 196 0Tyler Eccles 4 107 1Passing Com.-Att. Yds.Tyler Eccles 3-8 31Defense T FR Int.Tyler Eccles 76 5 0Jordan Kahlow 64 0 3Connor Boettcher 68 0 0Tyler Kotasek 55 0 0

Mike May

“We’ve got a lot of guys coming back that have experience and

really understand what we’re trying to do, offensively and defensively.

They have a good headstart in what direction we want to go this year.”

CoaCH Mike May


12

Date Opponent Site Time08/28 Sleepy Eye Saint Mary Away 07:00 PM09/05 Wabasso Away 07:00 PM09/12 MCW Home 08:00 PM09/19 RRC Home 11:00 AM09/26 BL-H Away 07:00 PM10/03 Springfield Home 07:00 PM10/10 New Ulm Cathedral Home 07:00 PM10/15 Sleepy Eye Away 08:00 PM

Date Opponent Site Time08/29 Bethlehem Academy Home 07:00 PM09/05 JWP Away 07:00 PM09/12 LCWM Home 07:00 PM09/19 Blooming Prairie Home 07:00 AM09/26 Loyola Away 07:00 PM10/10 USC Away 07:00 PM10/15 GFW Home 07:00 PM

Date Opponent Site Time08/29 Luverne Home 07:00 PM09/05 Windom Away 07:00 PM09/12 Pipestone Away 07:00 PM09/26 JCC Away 07:00 PM10/03 Redwood Valley Home 07:00 PM10/10 Worthington Home 07:00 PM10/15 Waseca Away 07:00 PM

Date Opponent Site Time08/29 SWU Home 07:00 PM09/05 RCC Away 07:00 PM09/12 WWG Home 07:00 PM09/19 GHEC Truman Away 07:00 PM09/26 Alden-Conger Home 07:00 PM10/03 Cleveland Away 07:00 PM10/10 Mt. Lake Area Home 07:00 PM10/15 Nicollet Away 07:00 PM

Date Opponent Site Time08/29 TCU Home 07:00 PM09/05 Blooming Prairie Home 07:00 PM09/12 Medford Home 07:00 PM09/19 GFW Away 07:00 PM09/26 NRHEG Away 07:00 PM10/03 LCWM Home 07:00 PM10/10 Maple River Home 07:00 PM10/15 USC Away 07:00 PM

Date Opponent Site Time08/28 JWP Home 07:00 PM09/06 Bethlehem Academy Away 06:00 PM09/12 Blue Earth Area Away 07:00 PM09/19 Loyola Home 07:00 PM09/26 Lester Prairie Away 07:00 PM10/03 Blooming Prairie Away 07:00 PM10/10 St. Clair Home 07:00 PM10/15 WEM Home 07:00 PM

Date Opponent Site Time08/28 Hill-Beaver Creek Away 07:00 PM09/05 Fulda Home 07:00 PM09/12 Edgerton Home 07:00 PM09/19 Cleveland Away 07:00 PM09/26 GHEC-Truman Home 07:00 PM10/03 Mt. Lake Area Away 07:00 PM10/10 Alden-Conger Away 07:00 PM10/15 Madelia Home 07:00 PM

NICOLLETRAIDERS

MN VALLEY LUTHERANCHARGERS

ST. CLAIRCYCLONES

W.E.MBUCCANEERS

UNITED SO. CENTRALREBELS

Date Opponent Site Time08/29 Worthington Away 07:00 PM09/05 St.Peter Home 07:00 PM09/12 New Ulm Away 04:00 PM09/19 Redwood Valley Home 07:00 PM09/26 St. Paul Central Away 07:00 PM10/03 Marshall Home 07:00 PM10/10 Fairmont Away 07:00 PM10/15 St. James Area Home 07:00 PM

WASECABLUEJAYS

MADELIABLACKHAWKS

ST. JAMESSAINTS

2014PREP

FOOTBALLSchedules

For additional team andschedule information, visit

www.mshsl.org

Get updated statsand scores at

mankatofreepress.com


13

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Date Opponent Site Time08/29 Blooming Prairie Away 07:00 PM09/05 Lester Prairie Away 07:00 PM09/12 JWP Home 07:00 PM09/19 USC Away 07:00 PM09/26 St. Clair Home 07:00 PM10/03 Maple River Away 07:00 PM10/15 LCWM Home 07:00 PM

Date Opponent Site Time08/29 Windom Home 07:00 PM09/05 Waseca Away 07:00 PM09/12 JCC Home 07:00 PM09/19 Pipestone Away 07:00 PM09/26 Redwood Valley Away 07:00 PM10/03 New Ulm Home 07:00 PM10/10 Marshall Away 07:00 PM10/15 Fairmont Home 07:00 PM

Date Opponent Site Time08/29 Kimball Area Away 07:00 PM09/05 NRHEG Home 07:00 PM09/12 St. Clair Away 07:00 PM09/19 Medford Home 07:00 PM09/26 Maple River Away 07:00 PM10/03 WEM Away 07:00 PM10/10 GFW Home 07:00 PM10/15 Loyola Away 07:00 PM

Date Opponent Site Time08/29 WEM Home 07:00 PM09/05 Mayer Lutheran Home 07:00 PM09/12 Le Sueur – Henderson Away 07:00 PM09/19 Sibley East Away 07:00 PM09/26 Watertown-Mayer Home 07:00 PM10/03 Jordan Away 07:00 PM10/10 Belle Plaine Away 07:00 PM10/15 Norwood Young America Home 07:00 PM

Date Opponent Site Time08/29 Rochester Century Home 07:00 PM09/05 Faribault Away 07:00 PM09/12 Mankato West Away 07:00 PM09/19 Red Wing Home 07:00 PM09/26 Northfield Away 07:00 PM10/03 Winona Away 07:00 PM10/10 Albert Lea Home 07:00 PM10/15 Austin Home 07:00 PM

Date Opponent Site Time08/28 WWG Home 07:00 PM09/05 Southwest Star Concept Away 07:00 PM09/12 RCW Away 07:00 PM09/19 Nicollet Home 07:00 PM09/26 Mountain Lake Away 07:00 PM10/03 Madelia Home 07:00 PM10/10 GHEC Away 07:00 PM10/15 Alden-Conger Home 07:00 PM

Date Opponent Site Time08/28/ USC Away 07:00 PM09/05 St. Clair Home 07:00 PM09/12 Loyola Home 07:00 PM09/19 Faribault Home 07:00 PM09/26 St. Paul Humboldt Home 07:00 PM10/03 Lester Prairie / Holy Trinity Home 07:00 PM10/10 Blooming Prairie Away 07:00 PM10/15 Maple River Away 07:00 PM

Date Opponent Site Time08/30 Maple River Home 03:00 PM09/05 Watertown-Mayer Home 07:00 PM09/12 Tri-City United Home 07:00 PM09/19 Jordan Away 07:00 PM09/26 Belle Plaine Home 07:00 PM10/03 Sibley East Away 07:00 PM10/10 Norwood Young America Home 07:00 PM10/15 Mayer Lutheran Away 07:00 PM

Date Opponent Site Time08/30 Le Sueur – Henderson Away 03:00 PM09/05 Medford Away 07:00 PM09/12 GFW Home 07:00 PM09/19 NRHEG Away 07:00 PM

Date Opponent Site Time09/26 LCWM Home 07:00 PM10/03 Loyola Home 07:00 PM10/10 WEM Away 07:00 PM10/15 JWP Home 07:00 PM

Date Opponent Site Time08/28 Albert Lea Home 07:00 PM09/05 Northfield Away 07:00 PM09/12 Mankato East Home 07:00 PM09/19 Owatonna Away 07:00 PM

Date Opponent Site Time09/26 Red Wing Away 07:00 PM10/03 Rochester Century Home 07:00 PM10/10 Rochester Mayo Away 07:00 PM10/15 Rochester John Marshall Home 07:00 PM


By Joe TischlerSpecial to The Free Press

MAPLETON — Coach Brian Schoneck has seen Maple River go through ups and downs in his eight seasons with the football program.

In his first season in 2006, the Eagles had an undefeated regular season, but in 2009, Maple River was winless. The Eagles have had a winning record every season since, culminating with a 9-2 record last season and a Section 3AA championship loss to Jackson County Central.

For Maple River, who won the Gopher Val-ley 2A Conference title last season, the next progression is to get to state, something this program has never done.

“The success we had last season makes ev-erybody want to work harder to push through that level and get to state for once in Maple River,” said senior quarterback Jay Sohre.

The recent success of this program is making that winless season of five years ago a thing of the past.

“When you’re 0-9, you have to make sure you’re taking steps not to repeat that sea-son,” Schoneck said. “We’ve had a winning record every year since then, and we want to keep that going.

“There’s no magic plan in doing that. You just have to make sure your kids are getting along, working hard and putting in the time during the offseason.”

If Maple River wants to take that next step, they will be relying on a significant amount of underclassmen as the team has only six seniors. Part of the fun of the early season is seeing which of the younger play-ers step up.

“We’re a young team and because of that, it’s really fun to see the kids break out, be-cause we lost a lot of seniors last year so it’s interesting to see the younger kids grow up and fill in positions,” Sohre said.

Sohre will be one of the seniors. He was an honorable mention all-conference per-former at quarterback last season, passing for 992 yards and nine touchdowns. He will

be protected by a powerful offensive line, led by senior Grant Sonnek.

Sohre will have a couple of veteran wide receivers in senior Jonah Breiter and junior Andrew Albrecht. The duo combined for 216 receiving yards in 2013.

Breiter and Albrecht also make a differ-ence on the defensive side of the ball. Breiter earned all-conference honors by making 49 tackles at linebacker, and Albrecht added 25 from defensive back.

This team has a good mixture of experi-ence and youthful talent. The job will be to blend this together.

“Last year was a great experience for everybody. We got close to state, and now we want to make sure we take that last step,” Schoneck said. “It’s a difficult chal-lenge, because you have a different makeup, the personalities are different, the leader-ship is different. It’s those intangible things that need to happen for us to have a good season.”

The Eagles begin the season Saturday against Le Sueur-Henderson at Gustavus Adolphus.

S14

Maple River-14

Maple River hopes to take the next stepTeam will rely on veterans, lots of underclassmen

Maple River senior quarterback Jay Sohre wants to be sure everybody forgets about the team’s winless season five years ago. Instead he wants a repeat of last year’s Gopher Valley championship.

Photo by John Cross

Maple River EaglesHead coach: Brian

SchoneckAssistant coaches:

Dusty Drager, Jake Umb-reit, Jeremy Olson, Steve Arndt, Brad Kemnitz.

2013 record: 9-2

Top returning playersPassing Yds. TDJay Sohre 992 9Receiving Rec. Yds. Jonah Breiter 11 92Andrew Albrecht 10 124Defense T SacksJonah Breiter 49 0Andrew Albrecht 25 0Grant Sonnek 19 4

Brian Schoneck

“Last year was a great experience for everybody. We got close to state, and now

we want to make sure we take

that last step.”CoaCh BRian SChonECk


By Jim [email protected]

NEW ULM — Longtime Minnesota Valley Lutheran head coach Jim Buboltz doesn’t expect his team to be world-beaters this year, but he does expect the Chargers to be better.

The team went 5-4 a year ago and was eliminated in the first round of the Class A playoffs. Buboltz believes MVL is capable of more wins and going deeper into the playoffs in 2014.

“We’re just a little more athletic as a team all-around,” he said. “That’s a credit to the work these kids have done in the offseason. We have 11 kids back who were either start-ers or played a lot of downs last year, and that’s a good nucleus.”

One of those top returning players is senior Seth Kroells, a fullback/linebacker/defensive end. Kroells first went out for football as a freshman after watching his brother Zac play for four years with the Chargers.

“He looked like he had fun so I thought I’d give it a try, too,” Seth said. “That first year I was just running around with the freshman team. I got a little better as a sophomore, but last year was when I made the big jump. I’m hoping to build on that.”

As a junior, Kroells delivered 41 tack-les, including three sacks, and recovered a fumble. He also rushed 93 times for 399 yards and two touchdowns.

“I’m sure I’ll be playing some special teams, too,” he said. “I’m just not sure in what capacity yet.”

Kroells says he’s not big on setting per-sonal goals but wouldn’t mind getting more than 1,000 yards rushing and more than 75 tackles on defense this year.

“The main thing is we want to win ball games,” he said. “If we can do that, the individual numbers will take care of them-selves.”

Buboltz has about 35 players out for this year’s squad, which is up a little bit from last year.

“Our leadership will come from our seniors, but the we have good numbers in the sophomore and junior classes,” Buboltz said. “That bodes well for us for the next few years.

“We’re hoping to be pretty balanced offen-

sively. We have a new quarterback in Noah Edwards and he’s been looking pretty good in practice.”

The run game should be solid as the Chargers return six offensive linemen from a year ago. Some of them will cross over to play defense, as well, but they are expected to shine on offense.

In addition to Edwards and Kroells, the backfield should feature Josh Wong and Lukas Borgwardt much of the time. Both were used sparingly in a senior-dominated backfield last season.

Edwards’ top target this year will be junior Jacob Hoffmann. The 6-foot-4, 190-pounder, caught 18 passes a year ago for 399 yards and five touchdowns.

The defensive line will be anchored by Sam Genelin and Blake Guth. Genelin is 6-2, 235 and had 36 tackles with three sacks last season. Guth is 6-1, 300 and had 26 tackles with four sacks.

Buboltz said the usual suspects — New Ulm Cathedral and Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s — will be the favorites both in the Tomahawk Conference and the section this season.

“They will both be strong again,” he said. “We expect to compete with both of them. If we can avoid too many injuries we hope to be pretty salty by the time the playoffs roll around.”

MN Valley Lutheran-15

Area Football Teamsfor a Successful 2014 Season!

Chargers looking for improvement over last seasonCoach expects team to be more ‘athletic’ in 2014 Senior

Seth Kroells, a fullback, linebacker and defensive end for Minnesota Valley Lutheran, is expected to be one of the Chargers’ top players.

Photo by John Cross

Minnesota Valley Lutheran Chargers

Head coach: Jim Buboltz

Assistants: John Gunderson, Kevin Hulke, Nate Doering.

2013 record: 5-4

Returning leadersRushing Att-Yds TDSeth Kroells 93-399 2Josh Wong 13-45 1Receiving No-Yds TDJacob Hoffmann 18-399 5Defense Tackles Sacks IntJosh Wong 50 0 1Seth Kroells 41 3 0Sam Genelin 36 3 0Hoffmann 35 0 0Borgwardt 33 1 0

Jim Buboltz


St. Clair-16

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Principal by day, coach by night in St. ClairBy Drew LyonSpecial to The Free Press

ST. CLAIR — For nine years, Dustin Boss-hart has walked the halls of St. Clair High School as the school’s principal. Beginning this year, he’s pulling double duty, adding football coach to his resume.

“I think the kids are getting over that hurdle of me just being their principal,” Bosshart said during the team’s first week of preseason practice. “And then understanding that I know a little bit about football, too.”

Bosshart had served as the Cyclones’ as-sistant coach years earlier, he and takes over for the departed Chris Harvey, who led the Cyclones to the state tournament in 2012.

While his team chanted “We are ... Cyclones!” in the background, Bosshart exhorted the value of team camaraderie. The philosophy already appears to have paid dividends.

“I’m trying to get them to buy into the concept of: ‘We’re all family and we look out for each other,’” Bosshart said. “I think they’re buying into that. Last night, there were about 40 kids at Buffalo Wild Wings after practice. That was pretty impressive.”

On the field, the Cyclones will look to burly senior fullback and linebacker Gage Thom to set the tone.

“This is a big year for him,” Bosshart said of Thom, a star wrestler recovering from an LCL tear to his knee. “He felt that he got short-changed last year in wres-tling because of the knee injury. So he thinks he has a lot to make up for.”

Surely he’s taking it slow in camp, right coach?

“He’s not that kind of kid,” Bosshart said. “Those fullbacks and linebackers, they don’t ease into anything. And he’s a senior, he wants to take charge.”

Thom say he’s wouldn’t tolerate any spe-cial treatment, either.

“My knee feels good,” he said. “I was lift-ing a lot (during the offseason). Did 7 on 7s. Now I’m ready for the games to start.”

In the team’s new 4-man front defense,

Thom will be aided by a trio of senior lineman: Alex Anderson, Andrew Yock and Kyler Drummer.

“We don’t have many big boys up front,” Bosshart said, “but we’re looking forward to those seniors stepping up.”

Bosshart envisions the team’s four return-ing offensive lineman — Tayler Lehmann,

Tanner Hauser, Mason Arndt and Paul Lang — will be crucial to the success of the Cyclones’ double-wing of-fense.

“We’re going to go as far as our offensive line takes us,” he said. “Anytime you can bring back four guys on your line, that’s going to help. And we’re looking forward to hav-ing them for two years.”

The quarterback battle is a three-way competition be-tween Brandon Goebel, Bran-don Freitag and Sam Schruin. Coach Bosshart was unwill-

ing to name a favorite, though he indicated a preseason scrimmage against St.James would factor heavily into his decision.

“They all bring a little something differ-ent,” he said. “I’ll be comfortable with any of them starting the season.”

The Cyclones opened their season and Go-pher Valley Conference schedule on Aug. 22 at Lester Prairie/Holy Trinity, which reached the state tournament in 2013.

“We’re going to know pretty early on where we stand,” Bosshart said. “My job is to make sure they’re doing the little things right, and I want them out there having fun, too.”

Bosshart takes over Cyclones team Senior fullback and linebacker Gage Thom isn’t easing into the football season despite recovering from a knee injury suffered during last year’s wrestling season.

Photo by Pat Christman

St. Clair CyclonesHead coach: Dustin

BosshartAssistants: Bill

Braunger, Coltt Ullom, Nate Hawker

2013 record: 3-7

Returning leadersNot available

Dustin Bosshart

“We’re going to go as far as our offensive

line takes us. Anytime you can bring back

four guys on your line, that’s going to help. And we’re looking forward to having

them for two years.”CoACh DuStin BoSShARt


WEM-17

New year brings new expectations for BuccaneersBy Joey DentonSpecial to The Free Press

WATERVILLE — The 2013 season was a down year to say the least for the Waterville-Elysian-Morristown football team, but now it’s a new year with new expectations from head coach Jon Bakken.

“It wasn’t what we wanted. It’s not very common for us,” Bakken said. “It’s the way it goes, but we have definitely have improved this year.”

The Buccaneers started the season 1-2 with a 53-18 victory over Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop, but they suffered a four-game losing skid before defeating Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial to end the regular season 2-6, fourth place in the Gopher Valley AA Conference. Then it was one and done in

the section playoffs.Their offense

struggled putting points on the board in 2013, posting 15.7 points per game. It might take time to improve that output as returning quarter-back Ben Boran has a cracked bone in his heel and, according to Bakken, won’t be back until late September at best.

The 5-foot-9 quar-terback had 49 completions for 619 passing yards and six touchdowns last year. His best game was his 144-yard, three-touchdown performance in the Bucs’ win over Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop victory. In the rushing attack, he accounted for 334 yards and a touchdown and tied for first in tackles with 65.

Luckily for the Buccaneers, there is a younger Boran ready to go to start the season. Sophomore running back/linebacker Brody Boran also had 65 tackles and added 2.5 sacks and a fumble recovery.

The team’s leading rusher is junior Mitchell Wolter, who rushed for 433 yards, averaging 7 yards per gain. He, too, will be a vital asset on defense, posting 57 tackles and an interception in 2013.

Everything is lining up for WEM to develop one of the most intimidating rushing attacks in the Gopher Valley. Two returning

running backs and three of the five starters on the offensive line are back. Tackle Nick Amundson, guard Hunter Morsching and center Nick Stiernagle will help keep the offense together.

“Those three guys are really key players,” Bakken said.

Bakken said he is very impressed how hard his players have practicing and prepar-ing for a new campaign.

“We are really looking into definite im-provement. The kids have worked hard the first couple of weeks,” he said.

Returning quarterback has cracked bone in heel Tackle Nick Amundson is one of three returning starters on the Waterville-Elysian-Morristown offensive line this season.

Photo by John Cross

WEM BuccaneersHead coach: Jon Bak-

kenAssistants: Gave

Hauer, Dave Wollin, Jeff Wagner, Mike Richards

2013 record: 2-7

Returning LeadersRushing Yards TDBrody Boran 188 0Ben Boran 334 1Mitchell Wolter 433 1Passing Comp-Att Yds TDBen Boran 49-108 619 6Receiving No-Yds TDBrody Boran 3-21 0Tyler Tegmeier 3-22 0Defense Tackles Sacks IntBrody Boran 65 2.5 0Ben Boran 65 0 1Brett Whitehurst 32 0 0Mitchell Wolter 57 0 1

Jon Bakken

Everything is lining up for WEM to develop one of the most intimidating

rushing attacks in the Gopher Valley. Two returning running backs and three of the five starters on the offensive line are back. Tackle Nick Amundson, guard Hunter Morsching and center Nick Stiernagle will help

keep the offense together.

“We are really looking into definite

improvement. The kids have worked hard

the first couple of weeks.”

CoACH JoN BAkkEN


Tri City United-18

TCU looks to bounce back after early playoff exitBy Joe TischlerSpecial to The Free Press

MONTGOMERY — Head coach Ken Hel-land has done a nice job of building Tri-City United into a winning program in a short amount of time.

In two years, the Titans have amassed a record of 15-5, including a 7-1 regular season mark in 2013, which earned them a share of the Minnesota River Conference championship with Belle Plaine and Water-town-Mayer.

There’s a stinging loss, however, that still lingers as TCU begins its third season. After outscoring their opponents 296-64 during the regular season, the Titans earned the No. 2 seed in the Section 1AAA playoffs. They hosted No. 7 seed Cannon Falls and suffered a stunning 29-26 defeat in the open-ing round.

“We haven’t forgotten,” Helland said. “We’ve mentioned it a couple of times, but we don’t like to dwell on the past that much. It’s something in the back of our minds that we don’t want to happen again.”

As disappointing as that loss was, the pro-gram has seen its share of good moments. Senior tight end/defensive end Charley Sim-onette was on Tri-City United’s first team in 2012 and has seen how the players have adjusted from going through a major transi-tion to being comfortable with one another.

“The first year was starting a new tradi-tion and letting go of the past,” he said. “Now we’re all one. You realize you’re more of a team and you’re here to work together, and we know everyone like we’ve been going to school forever.”

To keep building on the program’s suc-cess, the Titans will rely on a lot of new-comers. The Titans bring back only three offensive starters and four on defense.

Simonette is one of those starters who ex-celled on both sides of the ball. He grabbed 22 receptions for 315 yards and three touch-downs on offense while recording 36 tackles and eight sacks on defense.

Who he will be catching passes from is up

in the air as one of the team’s many posi-tion battles is at quarterback where juniors Keegan Oak and Trevor Smisek are compet-ing.

Whoever steps up to be the clear-cut starter will be protected by one of the strengths of the team, the offensive line.

“We have some athletic kids with some size,” Helland said. “In football, if your line is solid, the rest of it falls into place and that’s what we’re hoping will happen.”

The Minnesota River Conference figures to be very competitive with five teams competing for a conference crown including TCU. With how many starters they’ve lost, the early season will tell a lot in determin-ing if the Titans will be in contention in the end.

“We have inexperience at many posi-tions,” Helland said. “A lot of them haven’t played varsity games. When that first game comes around, that’ll be the first varsity start for many. How they react to that situa-tion is going to be really important.”

TCU begins the season Friday at home against Waterville-Elysian-Morristown.

Titans beginning third season as a program

Photo by John CrossCharley Simonette plays tight end and defensive end for Tri-City United and has excelled at both positions.

Tri-City United TitansHead coach: Ken Hel-

landAssistant Coaches:

Pete Plut, Phil Campbell, Cory Immerman, Andrew Meier, Adam Hanson, Dave Krenik, Brad O’Keefe, Matt Collins

2013 record: 7-2 (6-1 in MRC)

Returning leadersReceivers No. Yds. Avg. TDCharley Simonette 22 315 14.2 3Jamison Beulke 9 106 11.8 1Defenders Tckls SacksSimonette 36 8Gabino Rodriguiz 56 NAAlex Burns 56 NA

Ken Helland


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JWP looks to start tradition of winningBy Joe TischlerSpecial to The Free Press

JANESVILLE — Last season was a year of transition for the Janesville-Waldorf-Pem-berton football program. Joe Joyce was the Bulldogs’ new head coach, and after playing 9-man football for the regular season, JWP switched over to Class A 11-man football for the postseason.

Despite all of the changes, the Bulldogs managed to do something the program hadn’t done since 1996 — have a winning season.

JWP finished 5-3 in the Southern Confederacy Conference before losing to Springfield in the first round of the Section 2A playoffs.

Senior guard/defensive tackle Easton Schuch feels proud to be a part of the school’s first winning season in 17 years.

“It’s awesome to be able to have a winning season after so much constant losing,” he said. “I think part of what let us win was that we all got along with each other, we respect-ed the coaches, we respected each other and we trusted each other.”

This season, the Bulldogs know Joyce’s system, and they know they will be playing Class A football all season as part of the Go-pher Valley Conference — both things they had to work through last season.

“We made the best out of a really bad situ-ation,” Joyce said. “We had practices where we had to split up between 11- and 9-man. It definitely was interesting. This team is bet-ter off now after having to do that last year.”

Now the only thing they will have to transition through in 2014 is maintaining a culture of winning.

“When we got that fifth win in the last game of the year, the kids were really proud of that, and they should have been because they worked their butts off for it,” Joyce said. “Hopefully we can keep parlaying that suc-cess into bigger and better things here.”

The Bulldogs return 15 players who saw significant time last season, including 11 starters. The running game averaged 175

yards on the ground and that figures to be a strong point again in 2014. Senior Zach Janike and sophomore Tom Gannon are backs who bring great vision and know when to cut and aren’t afraid to run people when they have to.

Senior Jordan Richardson split time last year at quarterback and will be taking more of a full-time role at the position. He threw for 961 yards and 13 touchdowns last sea-son. He will have the luxury of having a big target to throw to in senior 6-foot-5 tight end Ricky Johnson who grabbed seven touch-down receptions in 2013.

Defensively, Schuch will look to be a leader on the Bulldogs’ defense. He had 11 sacks to go with 50 tackles. Janike had 83 stops from his linebacker spot.

Even though the Bulldogs are looking to establish that winning atmosphere, it’s a topic that isn’t brought up at practices.

“We just want to compete out there,” Joyce said. “If we can go out there and give our best effort every time, we think the wins will just fall in line with that.”

JWP begins the season today at United South Central.

2013 marked first year over .500 since ‘96

Senior guard/defensive tackle Easton Schuch hopes to help JWP to a second consecutive winning season.

Photo by John Cross

JWP BulldogsHead coach: Joe JoyceAssistants: Ryan

Luedtke, Connor Morton, Colter Combellick, Bjorn Peterson, Scott Kaminski

2013 record: 5-4 (5-3 in Southern Confederacy)

Returning leadersPassing Yds. TDsJordan Richardson 961 13Receiving No.-Yds. TDsRicky Johnson 26-328 7Defense T S I FFZach Janike 83 0 1 1Easton Schuch 50 11 0 2

Joe Joyce

“When we got that fifth win in the

last game of the year, the kids were

really proud of that, and they should

have been because they worked their

butts off for it. Hopefully we can

keep parlaying that success into bigger and better things

here.”CoaCH Joe JoyCe


By Drew LyonSpecial to The Free Press

WELLS — After a 2-7 campaign in 2012, Brad Huse’s United South Central Rebels football team improved its record to 5-4 in 2013.

“We started out 1-4 last year but we got four wins a row,” Huse said. “It was a good way to head into this season.”

In 2014, Huse’s squad holds lofty ambi-tions.

“I hope we can make it to state,” said senior wide receiver/defensive back Colin Wegner. “Our football team’s never made it to state, so that’s our highest goal.”

But first there are holes that require replacing. Fourteen seniors graduated last season, including star linebacker Colten Carlson and quarterback Travis Brown.

“We had some big losses,” said Huse, who enters his sixth season as the Rebels’ head coach. “It was a good group of seniors, but we’re filling in the spots, and so far we’ve had good turnouts and enthusiasm.”

Huse is encouraged by the talent at the skill positions. He’d like to maintain a bal-anced pass/rush ratio, but admits “it will probably be heavier on the pass side.”

Junior running back Derek Herman returns after a four-touchdown sophomore season, while Wegner leads a deep receiv-ing corps ready to catch passes from quar-terbacks Luke Trio and Trevor Stencel, who are vying for the starting spot.

“His skills are pretty good,” Huse said of Wegner. “He’ll probably be called upon a bit more as a senior, since we lost two of our top receivers from last year.”

Wegner, a three-year starter, is confident both potential starting quarterbacks are capable of running the team’s shotgun of-fense.

“Either of them will do great,” Wegner said. “We have a lot of good receivers, they can catch almost anything that’s thrown to them, which really helps the quarterbacks out.”

Senior Nate Pederson, the team’s leading statistical returning receiver from 2013, is also primed for a breakout season.

“He’s put on some muscle and grew a couple more inches,” Huse said. “He’s going to be a big target for our quarterback —

that go-to receiver when we need a big play. He can really jump.”

Huse expressed concerns with the team’s unseasoned defensive and offensive lines.

“If you look for weaknesses, I would say our depth and inexperience on the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball,” he said. “Those are works in progress.”

Defensively, Huse will lean on Wegner and outside linebacker Riley Kloos, who finished his junior season on a strong note with two interceptions and three fumble recoveries.

“We’re showing improvement every day,” Wegner said during the team’s first week of preseason practice. “We have a lot of new guys coming in, and we’re just trying to bet-ter ourselves every day.”

Early in camp Huse was impressed with his team’s numbers (41 players on the ros-ter) and pleased, if not completely satisfied, with their conditioning.

“Well, as a coach you always want them in better shape than they are,” Huse said, laughing. “But I do feel they are in better shape this year than they were last year, be-cause they know now what to expect with their conditioning.”

The Rebels start the season today at home against Gopher Valley Conference rival Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton.

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Rebels looking for another step forward in 2014United South Central RebelsHead coach: Brad HuseAssistants: Pat Frank,

Pierre Stencel, Todd Ras-mussen

2013 record: 5-4

Returning leadersRushing Att. Yds TDDerek Herman 61 281 4Receiving No.-Yds. Avg. TDNate Pederson 23-330 14 3Colin Wegner 12-156 13 0Defense Tackles INT Fumble Rec.Colin Wegner 27 0 1Ryan Kloos 27 2 3

USC had four straight wins at end of last season United South Central senior Colin Wegner averaged 13 yards per reception last season. He also had 27 tackles as defensive back.

Photo by John Cross

Brad Huse


By Jim Ruedajrueda@ mankatofreepress.com

NICOLLET — Nicollet football coach Tom Murphy and his players have been waiting for this season for a while.

The nine-man football team has eight seniors, which is a large num-ber considering the small size of the squad. The thing is, it’s not just eight se-niors, it’s eight pretty talented seniors.

“We’ve been playing together for awhile now,” se-nior linebacker/running back Jay Hendrycks said. “We know what we can do as individuals and as a group. We think this is the year we can do something special.”

Hendrycks won’t say it out loud, but it’s obvious from his demeanor that when he says “something special” he means go all the way — as in win the Prep Bowl and be crowned state champions.

There’s good reason for such optimism. The Raiders have been a force in the Southern Confederacy, the East division, for a number of years. Last season they won all their games until they reached the state semifinals where they dropped a 34-21 deci-sion to eventual state runner-up Underwood.

Nicollet finished 11-1, and Murphy, who has been in charge for the last 24 years, has a career record of 145-89. The Raiders are the returning Southern Confederacy East and Section 2 champions.

This year’s squad has 21 returning letter-winners, 10 of whom were significant start-ers in some capacity last season. Among the

returnees are three all-con-ference players — Hendrycks, Colin Bloemke, Dalton Elliott — and honor-able mention all-conference player Andrew Radke.

Hendrycks will be a leader on defense. The third-year starter made 70 tackles last sea-son with six in-terceptions, one fumble recovery, a sack and three defensive touch-downs.

“I’ve always liked playing defense,” Hen-drycks said. “I like going after people. This will be my first year at running back, and I’m looking forward to it.

“Matt Chris-tenson moved from the offensive line to run-ning back his senior season, and it worked out well for us. If I can make a similar transi-tion, we should be OK.”

Linebacker Bloemke will be key cog on the defense. He had 133 tackles in 2013, in-cluding a sack and a fumble recovery. Junior Gavin Nourie, a defensive back, finished with 78 tackles, a sack and an interception.

The senior Radke had seven sacks last season and ended up with 68 tackles and an interception. Fellow defensive back Marshall Barrer, a junior, picked off eight passes and delivered 22 tackles.

“We’re a little short on linemen this year so those are spots we have to fill,” Murphy said. “We need to find ways to put more pressure on the quarterback. We need to be more aggressive in that area.”

While defense will ultimately determine how far the Raiders go this fall, it’s the high-powered passing attack that gets the most

notoriety. The aerial circus that has become synonymous with Nicollet football is led by trigger man Elliot.

The senior holds 12 school records and is coming of a year in which he threw for 2,872 yards and 37 touchdowns. In 25 career starts, he has amassed 6,349 yards passing and 79 touchdowns with 21 interceptions.

His top returning target is senior wide re-ceiver Kenny Fischer, who caught 33 passes for 632 yards and five TDs. Seniors Travis Murphy and Bloemke are also back at the wideout spots after catching three touch-downs apiece.

Elliott is also the top returning rusher. He compiled 1,366 yards on the ground last year, scoring 21 times. For his career he has 2,309 yards rushing with 31 scores.

“We return all of our starting offensive lineman,” coach Murphy said. “We lost three all-conference players off last year’s team so we need to find a way to replace them.

“If we stay healthy we should be in pretty good shape. We should be competitive in all the games we play.”

Nicollet-21

Raiders expecting big things in 2014Nicollet is coming off an 11-1 campaign

Photo by Pat ChristmanSenior Jay Hendrycks feels like this could be a special season at Nicollet.

Nicollet RaidersHead coach: Tom

MurphyAssistants: Kevin

Christenson, Christian Harmeyer, Bruce Wilk-ing, Darin Elliott, James Bernau.

2013 record: 11-1

Returning LeadersRushing Yards TDDalton Elliott 1,366 21Travis Murphy 371 2Passing Comp-Att Yds TDDalton Elliott 175-293 2,872 37Receiving No-Yds TDKenny Fischer 33-632 5Travis Murphy 20-202 3Colin Bloemke 15-174 3Desmond Wills 13-82 0Defense Tackles Sacks IntColin Bloemke 133 1 0Jay Hendrycks 70 1 6Gavin Nourie 78 1 1Andrew Radke 68 7 1Marshall Barrer 22 0 8

Tom Murphy


Cleveland to go with co-head coaches for 2014By Joe TischlerSpecial to The Free Press

CLEVELAND — Erik Hermanson and Kyle Atherton are no strangers to the Cleveland football program. Hermanson, the team’s offensive coordinator last season, is going into his 20th season with the squad while Atherton ran the defense and has been with the team more than 10 years.

In 2014, these two will retain those roles but will also add titles of co-head coaches, replacing Rich Kern who remains as the school’s athletic director. Knowing how well the two have worked together, it seemed to be a natural fit to put them both in charge.

“In all the years we’ve been together, I don’t think we’ve had a major dispute on even the smallest things,” said Hermanson. “We have the same philosophies and we’ve worked great together divvying up the responsibilities and it’s just fun.”

One key player the duo will be relying on is senior Spencer Davies who Hermanson calls a “Jack-of-all-trades.”

Last season Davies led the Clippers in rushing with 542 yards and eight touch-downs, caught 33 passes for 412 yards and three scores, and even threw a 54-yard touchdown pass.

“Spencer has really good speed and agility and just natural football instincts, so we just try to get him in space whenever we can,” said Hermanson. “In 9-man, especially, there’s one less guy on the outside, so if we get him in space its good for us.”

Senior Dylan Baker is someone both Her-manson and Atherton will be counting on as well on both sides of the ball. While Davies has speed and agility, Baker is a bruising back who often looks for people to run into. He’s the leading tackler on defense from his middle linebacker spot.

The Clippers have a lot of depth at wide receiver and they will be led by last year’s leading pass catcher Spencer Lynch. He grabbed 34 receptions for 550 yards and six touchdowns.

“Our passing game will be really good,” said Davies. “We have a ton of receivers and have good agility and are ready to catch and we have a good quarterback coming in who can throw accurately.”

That quarterback is freshman Carter Kopet. Even though he is young, he brings with him some experience.

“He played varsity basketball as a seventh grader and he took a number of the first team reps (at QB) last year as an eighth grader,” said Hermanson. “I don’t even think about him as a first-year player; he just hap-pens to be a freshman.”

The Cleveland football program is seeing a rise in numbers. Both head coaches want to continue that increase while becoming a team that the Cleveland community can be proud of.

“Our biggest goal is just to have Cleve-land have a program that people can rely on and count on and they know that Cleveland football is a positive thing, a successful thing where kids want to be in it,” said Herman-son.

Cleveland begins the season today, at home against Westbrook-Walnut Grove.

Cleveland-23

Cleveland ClippersHead Coaches: Erik

Hermanson and Kyle Atherton

Assistant Coaches: Brady Hahn, Matt Miller

2013 record: 3-6, 3-5 Southern Confederacy East

Returning leadersRushing Yards TDSpencer Davies 542 8Dylan Baker 150 0Passing Yards TDCarter Kopet 128 3Receiving No.-Yds TDSpencer Lynch 34-550 6Spencer Davies 33-412 3

Erik Hermanson

Jack-of-all-trades Spencer Davies is back

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Photo by John Cross Senior Spencer Davies is back for the Clippers this season after rushing for 542 yards and eight touchdowns and catching 33 passes for 412 yards and three more scores a year ago.

“Our biggest goal is just to have Cleveland have a program that

people can rely on and count on and they know that Cleveland football is a positive thing, a successful thing

where kids want to be in it.” ERik HERmanSOn


24

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