2025 Minnesota High School Football Thread

[prespsguy]

Strongly disagree
A 7 beat a two just a couple years ago.
6 beats a 3 almost every year

Depending on the year there are 4-8 teams that are really bad. But most years the difference between 20 and 9 isn’t much.
25 could beat 5 in a one off

This whole turn in the conversation was based on you stating that Lakeville North is “still good”. They’re not…at all. They will likely go 1-7. That’s not “good” by any standard, And, it’s not like they are playing a tough schedule. They aren’t in the West and losing to Minnetonka, Maple Grove, Eden Prairie, or Edina. They’re putting up 3 points against Farmington, FARMINGTON. They are bad. Period. Some credibility is lost, to be honest.

 

[Some guy]

This whole turn in the conversation was based on you stating that Lakeville North is “still good”. They’re not…at all. They will likely go 1-7. That’s not “good” by any standard, And, it’s not like they are playing a tough schedule. They aren’t in the West and losing to Minnetonka, Maple Grove, Eden Prairie, or Edina. They’re putting up 3 points against Farmington, FARMINGTON. They are bad. Period. Some credibility is lost, to be honest.

Yup. Lakeville north isn’t that good this year in terms of how they’ll finish. So they’re slightly worse than Lakeville south. I bet if they played 2-1 Blaine they’d lose by 7
I bet if they played 3-0 farmington they’d lose by 4
I bet if they played 2-1 Lakeville south they’d lose by 16 and south would score on two short fields.



farmington is currently number 2 in the state in scoring defense in 6a
Farmington is 11-6 in their last 17 games.
Lakeville North’s QB went down in the first half and didn’t return vs Farmington.
Lakeville north vs farmington the past 6 years.
2025 - lost by 4
2024 - won by 7
2023 - won by 7
2022 - won by 1
2021 - lost by 1
2020 - lost by 22


I hate Lakeville north and don’t really care about farmington but your farmington slander in the name of defending Lakeville south for me saying they are only a little better than north is comedic

I just think you don’t watch high school football games is my take. Watch the games not the scores.
North is a pretty good football team. Could beat south on a given night. Could probably beat everyone in the south metro on a given night except shakopee. Probably finish 1-7 or 2-6 at best though.

 

[NotAFanOfBecky]

Doesn't that logic apply to every 6A school, though?

Again, any of these ... 400, 500, 600, or more kids per class ... boggles my mind that the cupboard could be bare in a year.

On the other hand, I don't really know what I'm talking about

I pondered that as well as my kids went to Roseville, with the last one graduating last year. He played football on those terrible teams. When he was younger they were competitive with most everyone they played, as they got older clearly not. They had 4 teams with 30-40 kids when they were younger, as they got older it was less and less. Overall now it’s very small numbers going out for football. Buddy of mine has a 7th grader and said they have enough for 1 team and it’s about 35-40 kids. Huge school of like 1800 enrollment and you can’t get 80-90 guys out for football? I remember going on the road to Stillwater a couple of years ago and they had over 100 kids on the sideline and we had like 45. Times have changed, football numbers are way down (at least there), sports specialization hurts. There also is a large amount of minority population there that culturally are not football fans.

 

[Some guy]

I pondered that as well as my kids went to Roseville, with the last one graduating last year. He played football on those terrible teams. When he was younger they were competitive with most everyone they played, as they got older clearly not. They had 4 teams with 30-40 kids when they were younger, as they got older it was less and less. Overall now it’s very small numbers going out for football. Buddy of mine has a 7th grader and said they have enough for 1 team and it’s about 35-40 kids. Huge school of like 1800 enrollment and you can’t get 80-90 guys out for football? I remember going on the road to Stillwater a couple of years ago and they had over 100 kids on the sideline and we had like 45. Times have changed, football numbers are way down (at least there), sports specialization hurts. There also is a large amount of minority population there that culturally are not football fans.

Yup. It’s tough and it hits different communities differently

There are some towns that can still get a team everyone once in a while that competes but super difficult to do year in and year out.

 

[prespsguy]

Yup. Lakeville north isn’t that good this year in terms of how they’ll finish. So they’re slightly worse than Lakeville south. I bet if they played 2-1 Blaine they’d lose by 7
I bet if they played 3-0 farmington they’d lose by 4
I bet if they played 2-1 Lakeville south they’d lose by 16 and south would score on two short fields.



farmington is currently number 2 in the state in scoring defense in 6a
Farmington is 11-6 in their last 17 games.
Lakeville North’s QB went down in the first half and didn’t return vs Farmington.
Lakeville north vs farmington the past 6 years.
2025 - lost by 4
2024 - won by 7
2023 - won by 7
2022 - won by 1
2021 - lost by 1
2020 - lost by 22


I hate Lakeville north and don’t really care about farmington but your farmington slander in the name of defending Lakeville south for me saying they are only a little better than north is comedic

I just think you don’t watch high school football games is my take. Watch the games not the scores.
North is a pretty good football team. Could beat south on a given night. Could probably beat everyone in the south metro on a given night except shakopee. Probably finish 1-7 or 2-6 at best though.

Since 2012 (13 years ago), Farmington has advanced beyond the first round of the playoffs just one time. I’m not “slandering” them. It is what it is.

This season, thus far, Farmington, like Lakeville North has not played very good competition.

Check in a few weeks and remind me of what Farmington’s rank is in scoring defense, after they play Lakeville South, Rosemount, Shakopee, and Prior Lake.

It seems like you are the one who just watches scores.

This is the last thing I’ll say and then you can get your final word, as it seems you must.

 

[Some guy]

Since 2012 (13 years ago), Farmington has advanced beyond the first round of the playoffs just one time. I’m not “slandering” them. It is what it is.

This season, thus far, Farmington, like Lakeville North has not played very good competition.

Check in a few weeks and remind me of what Farmington’s rank is in scoring defense, after they play Lakeville South, Rosemount, Shakopee, and Prior Lake.

It seems like you are the one who just watches scores.

This is the last thing I’ll say and then you can get your final word, as it seems you must.

You’re agreeing with me!
.
I say north isn’t that much worse than south.
You say north sucks and they haven’t played anyone.
North just played south.
You literally are saying what I’m saying!

 

[MaxyJR1]

It’s all about matchups at the top level. Teams like Forest Lake and Centennial probably matchup better against EP and Shakopee than Edina if they want to get into the top few teams. It will come down to matchups and who draws who in the crossover games, teams like Champlin Park, Osseo and Moorhead come playoff time won’t be talked about as much but can for sure make the final 8

Agree. 6A is most balanced and deep class. It comes down to defense and who can stop the heavy run offenses each year. Maple Grove and Shakopee semi was a defensive bloodbath last year. You see the most FG’s at this level as well.

I think it’s a two team race with MG and Minnetonka, but you’re dealing with the minds of 16-18 year olds.

 

[Some guy]

Agree. 6A is most balanced and deep class. It comes down to defense and who can stop the heavy run offenses each year. Maple Grove and Shakopee semi was a defensive bloodbath last year. You see the most FG’s at this level as well.

I think it’s a two team race with MG and Minnetonka, but you’re dealing with the minds of 16-18 year olds.

I think if shakopee stays healthy they can stick with those two. But they’ve had a rough time staying healthy the last few years.

 

[Gopher 461]

The EP/Tonka game in a couple of weeks will be a tell for me. MG beat EP on strong second half play but clearly was the better team and didn't make as many mistakes as EP. Tonka looked like a bruising squad in their win against Moorhead. If EP can beat Tonka then I believe the wildcard is Shakopee who I have not seen this year. Those four would make a great bunch of semi finalists this year, no disrespect to other 6A teams.

 

[GopherGrit]

I pondered that as well as my kids went to Roseville, with the last one graduating last year. He played football on those terrible teams. When he was younger they were competitive with most everyone they played, as they got older clearly not. They had 4 teams with 30-40 kids when they were younger, as they got older it was less and less. Overall now it’s very small numbers going out for football. Buddy of mine has a 7th grader and said they have enough for 1 team and it’s about 35-40 kids. Huge school of like 1800 enrollment and you can’t get 80-90 guys out for football? I remember going on the road to Stillwater a couple of years ago and they had over 100 kids on the sideline and we had like 45. Times have changed, football numbers are way down (at least there), sports specialization hurts. There also is a large amount of minority population there that culturally are not football fans.

Sure, these are great points.

At schools like Roseville, Hopkins, Burnsville .... schools that are still large but have a lot of non-football playing minorities, it makes a lot of sense.

 

[disco]

So again, I can buy this ... but what ever happened to waiting for your time? If you can't be a starter by the time you're a junior ... you just quit the sport?

I think it's more common than you think. Or if they feel they aren't going to get as much playing time as they'd like.

 

[Ope3]

So again, I can buy this ... but what ever happened to waiting for your time? If you can't be a starter by the time you're a junior ... you just quit the sport?

When the going gets tough, quit.

 

[disco]

I pondered that as well as my kids went to Roseville, with the last one graduating last year. He played football on those terrible teams. When he was younger they were competitive with most everyone they played, as they got older clearly not. They had 4 teams with 30-40 kids when they were younger, as they got older it was less and less. Overall now it’s very small numbers going out for football. Buddy of mine has a 7th grader and said they have enough for 1 team and it’s about 35-40 kids. Huge school of like 1800 enrollment and you can’t get 80-90 guys out for football? I remember going on the road to Stillwater a couple of years ago and they had over 100 kids on the sideline and we had like 45. Times have changed, football numbers are way down (at least there), sports specialization hurts. There also is a large amount of minority population there that culturally are not football fans.

Is Roseville like Hopkins, where you have a lot of kids in the district open enroll out, and are back filled with kids from the city open enrolling in?

 

[Gopherwatcher]

When the going gets tough, quit.

This is really a big part of the issue football is facing. I would argue maybe outside of wrestling, football is the most physically demanding sport schools offer. But unlike wrestling, you can (or should) only play 1 game per week. Many kids in our school HATE any kind of physical activity. Many of them even hate phy ed! That is just so hard for me to wrap my head around. Sports were the most fun I had in high school. Hanging out with teammates, road trips, playing games (win or lose) locker room talk. All great. Now it's not enough for kids to even play, they have to be starting.

Football also faces the issue now of competing against fall baseball and basketball leagues. I know the MSHSL put out a memo a couple of weeks ago saying football has the highest participation it's ever had. I'd really like to know where the increase has come because our school and every other school we face is at about 60% of the numbers they were 10 years ago....

 

[disco]

Football also faces the issue now of competing against fall baseball and basketball leagues. I know the MSHSL put out a memo a couple of weeks ago saying football has the highest participation it's ever had. I'd really like to know where the increase has come because our school and every other school we face is at about 60% of the numbers they were 10 years ago....

Yep. While a lot of sports are basically year round (or at least 9 months), football is more or less August, September and October. It's the easiest to drop if you want to concentrate on one thing.

 

[MaxyJR1]

This is really a big part of the issue football is facing. I would argue maybe outside of wrestling, football is the most physically demanding sport schools offer. But unlike wrestling, you can (or should) only play 1 game per week. Many kids in our school HATE any kind of physical activity. Many of them even hate phy ed! That is just so hard for me to wrap my head around. Sports were the most fun I had in high school. Hanging out with teammates, road trips, playing games (win or lose) locker room talk. All great. Now it's not enough for kids to even play, they have to be starting.

Football also faces the issue now of competing against fall baseball and basketball leagues. I know the MSHSL put out a memo a couple of weeks ago saying football has the highest participation it's ever had. I'd really like to know where the increase has come because our school and every other school we face is at about 60% of the numbers they were 10 years ago....

Football has a huge competition problem. I agree on the physical part of it. I hated it, but wanted to be part of a team and really liked the game.

There is no respect for the football season. Other sports all schedule tryouts and fall practices/games over the top of it. It's the shortest season out there with little out of season action, but there is not respect for the fall season.

It's week 4 and some youth leagues can't even get a schedule out beyond a week because of all the requests for dates off, due to baseball, basketball and hockey conflicts.

Baseball fields get more use in the fall than in the summer in many communities.

 

[Gopherwatcher]

Football has a huge competition problem. I agree on the physical part of it. I hated it, but wanted to be part of a team and really liked the game.

There is no respect for the football season. Other sports all schedule tryouts and fall practices/games over the top of it. It's the shortest season out there with little out of season action, but there is not respect for the fall season.

It's week 4 and some youth leagues can't even get a schedule out beyond a week because of all the requests for dates off, due to baseball, basketball and hockey conflicts.

Baseball fields get more use in the fall than in the summer in many communities.

Well, there is BIG money to be made running these leagues so it's not going anywhere.

 

[disco]

Football has a huge competition problem. I agree on the physical part of it. I hated it, but wanted to be part of a team and really liked the game.

There is no respect for the football season. Other sports all schedule tryouts and fall practices/games over the top of it. It's the shortest season out there with little out of season action, but there is not respect for the fall season.

It's week 4 and some youth leagues can't even get a schedule out beyond a week because of all the requests for dates off, due to baseball, basketball and hockey conflicts.

Baseball fields get more use in the fall than in the summer in many communities.

Yep. I hated this when I coached. We'd constantly have kids missing practice for hockey, soccer and baseball. And as much as you'd like to penalize those kids and reward the ones who are always there, you can't because of roster size, playing time requirements, and weight limits.

Our basketball programs have always been the most respectful, though my kid did have to miss a practice for tryouts this year. But that was because his football practice time changed a few days before - that wasn't the hoops program's fault.

Re: Baseball. I couldn't believe how many kids games I saw going on around the cities this past weekend.

 

[MaxyJR1]

Yep. I hated this when I coached. We'd constantly have kids missing practice for hockey, soccer and baseball. And as much as you'd like to penalize those kids and reward the ones who are always there, you can't because of roster size, playing time requirements, and weight limits.

Our basketball programs have always been the most respectful, though my kid did have to miss a practice for tryouts this year. But that was because his football practice time changed a few days before - that wasn't the hoops program's fault.

Re: Baseball. I couldn't believe how many kids games I saw going on around the cities this past weekend.

Boys club sports finally caught up with girls. Volleyball and Fastpitch clubs started 20 years ago and now Baseball has blossoms exponentially over the last 5 years. I see baseball complex lights on M-Th for club practices. Saturdays are big for Club and Sundays for Association fall league teams.

 

[FireDaveLee]

Regarding hockey, the biggest thing I note from 30-35 years ago is back then, you'd have practices & maybe some scrimmages in November and then the first big tournament was Thanksgiving weekend. The season really didn't ramp up until that weekend. Now, there's usually big tournaments Halloween weekend. Rochester hosts the Pumpkin tournaments for a lot of the top Bantam & Pee Wee AA & A teams. There are other Bantam tournaments happen early November. They literally moved up the season, which goes into football. Perhaps baseball started it cutting in to hockey so it was reactionary? I don't know....

Perhaps a small ray of hope: Eden Prairie this year moved squirt tryouts back to the end of October after MEA. Previously, they would always do tryouts in late September (Pee Wee & Bantam tryouts start this Saturday). The move was intended to allow for more of the 4th & 5th graders to be able to participate in more fall sports without having to worry about missing any games on weekends. There are still some clinics & stuff going on leading up to tryouts, but some of those are a little more justifiable to miss.

Unfortunately, I think football is going to always be the one that has to accommodate. They just are not going to win when it comes to deciding between basketball & hockey. You'd like to have more of the multi-sport athletes, but the bottom line is guys like Mason West & Owen Konrad (sophomore RB & talented hockey player for EP) are few & far between. Most kids need to concentrate if their goal is to be a HS starter at some of these mega schools.

 

[GopherGrit]

Moorhead death march:

they beat Wayzata in Moorhead, 28 to 27

 

[GopherGrit]

STrib's top 10 rankings and how they did last night:


1. Maple Grove (4-0): defeated No. 11 Edina 33-7. James Engle rushed for three touchdowns for Maple Grove, also No. 1 in Class 6A. Edina is No. 8 in Class 6A.

2. Minnetonka (4-0): defeated Prior Lake 33-15 at Prior Lake. Minnetonka is ranked second in Class 6A.

3. Shakopee (3-1): lost to Rosemount 17-10 at Shakopee. Jeru Bean rushed for two TDs, runs of 76 and 29 yards, for Rosemount. Shakopee is ranked fourth in Class 6A.

4. Forest Lake (4-0): defeated Woodbury 51-0 at Forest Lake. Forest Lake is ranked third in Class 6A.

5. Centennial (3-1): lost to No. 15 Andover 22-16 at Centennial. Centennial is ranked fifth in Class 6A.

6. Eden Prairie (3-1): defeated St. Michael-Albertville 38-13 at STMA. Andrew Johnson and Owen Konrad each ran for two touchdowns for Eden Prairie, ranked sixth in Class 6A.

7. Elk River (5A, 3-1): lost to Alexandria 52-16 at Alexandria in a rematch of the 2024 Prep Bowl. Talen Witt had two TD runs and two TD passes for Alexandria. Elk River is ranked first in Class 5A, Alexandria 10th.

8. Chanhassen (5A, 3-1): lost to St. Thomas Academy 38-13 at St. Thomas Academy. St. Thomas Academy was ahead when the game was called in the fourth quarter because of lightning. Chanhassen is ranked second and St. Thomas Academy third in Class 5A.

9. Moorhead (3-1): defeated Wayzata 28-27 at Moorhead. Austin Dryburgh’s pass to David Mack for a 30-yard TD with 1:15 left in the game won it for the Spuds, ranked ninth in Class 6A.

10. Lakeville South (3-1): defeated Farmington 35-6 at Farmington. Lakeville South is ranked 10th and Farmington seventh in Class 6A.

 

[Gopherchase]

I’m just hearing a lot of excuses for Lakeville North. I have nothing, absolutely nothing, against Lakeville North. But the truth of the matter is they are 0-3 and they still have to play Prior Lake, Rosemount, Champlin Park, and Shakopee. They might get one win out of that. They’ve scored four touchdowns in three games. Eastview put up four on Farmington alone.

Another poster wrote that they start a lot of Juniors. Well, so do lots of teams. I heard on a podcast that Shakopee, who is likely to be the #1 seed in the section, starts 10 juniors.

I know some Lakeville North people and it just seems that a lot of people on the north side of town are having a hard time accepting the reality of where their program is right now. Bottom line is they have not beaten a ranked team in a very long time. They are not the elite program they once were.

The folks at Lakeville North have seen this dip coming for a while. There were a couple three or four classes where there really weren’t a lot of good football players coming up through the youth leagues. They are down for a bit. They will bounce back. Really good coach.

 

[Gopherchase]

The program sends their kids to Wisconsin and now they play like them.

In basketball, yes, in football no. They lost one kid to Nebraska who ended up being pretty shitty OL at the college level but otherwise a lot of their really good kids haven’t been given a shot by the Gophers and have gone FCS, et
al and become all conference or all American type players. Greg Menard at NDSU being likely the biggest miss. Trey Heid would’ve also been great for the Gophers coming off his Mn Player of the Year Sr season, but no sense going there and opening up that can of worms.

 

[MNVCGUY]

STrib's top 10 rankings and how they did last night:


1. Maple Grove (4-0): defeated No. 11 Edina 33-7. James Engle rushed for three touchdowns for Maple Grove, also No. 1 in Class 6A. Edina is No. 8 in Class 6A.

2. Minnetonka (4-0): defeated Prior Lake 33-15 at Prior Lake. Minnetonka is ranked second in Class 6A.

3. Shakopee (3-1): lost to Rosemount 17-10 at Shakopee. Jeru Bean rushed for two TDs, runs of 76 and 29 yards, for Rosemount. Shakopee is ranked fourth in Class 6A.

4. Forest Lake (4-0): defeated Woodbury 51-0 at Forest Lake. Forest Lake is ranked third in Class 6A.

5. Centennial (3-1): lost to No. 15 Andover 22-16 at Centennial. Centennial is ranked fifth in Class 6A.

6. Eden Prairie (3-1): defeated St. Michael-Albertville 38-13 at STMA. Andrew Johnson and Owen Konrad each ran for two touchdowns for Eden Prairie, ranked sixth in Class 6A.

7. Elk River (5A, 3-1): lost to Alexandria 52-16 at Alexandria in a rematch of the 2024 Prep Bowl. Talen Witt had two TD runs and two TD passes for Alexandria. Elk River is ranked first in Class 5A, Alexandria 10th.

8. Chanhassen (5A, 3-1): lost to St. Thomas Academy 38-13 at St. Thomas Academy. St. Thomas Academy was ahead when the game was called in the fourth quarter because of lightning. Chanhassen is ranked second and St. Thomas Academy third in Class 5A.

9. Moorhead (3-1): defeated Wayzata 28-27 at Moorhead. Austin Dryburgh’s pass to David Mack for a 30-yard TD with 1:15 left in the game won it for the Spuds, ranked ninth in Class 6A.

10. Lakeville South (3-1): defeated Farmington 35-6 at Farmington. Lakeville South is ranked 10th and Farmington seventh in Class 6A.

Farmington was way overrated. They gave up 28 points to Eastview and Eastview team that was shut out by Rosemount.

Rosmeount's win last night at Shakopee was impressive. I don't think this Irish team has the firepower to contend with Maple Grove and Minnetonka but they can hang with a lot of teams.

 

[Some guy]

Farmington was way overrated. They gave up 28 points to Eastview and Eastview team that was shut out by Rosemount.

Rosmeount's win last night at Shakopee was impressive. I don't think this Irish team has the firepower to contend with Maple Grove and Minnetonka but they can hang with a lot of teams.

Farmington outgained Lakeville south through 3 quarters last night

Was special teams debacles that put them down 21-0 in the first quarter.

Farmington was overrated at 7
But they’re a legit 10-18th team, IMO.
South is probably a legit 5-10 team.
Farmington played without one of their best defensive players week 1 and didn’t scrimmage. Comparative scoring doesn’t really work in high school football, IMO
Eastview was shut out by Rosemount but moved up and down the field…was 0/3 in redzone.
I haven’t watched every 6a game this year but I’ve watched every south metro 6a game.
I would rank them:
1) shakopee pre-drama
2) south
3) Rosemount
3b) shakopee post drama
4) farmington
5) prior lake
6) north
7) Eagan
8) Eastview

I think teams 4-20 are pretty close this year
I’d have
1) maple grove
2) Minnetonka
3) Eden prairie
4) one of about 15-17 teams could be fourth best on a given night.
Would’ve gone shakopee here before last week. Sounds like shakopee has major drama and issues

 

[prespsguy]

Farmington outgained Lakeville south through 3 quarters last night

Was special teams debacles that put them down 21-0 in the first quarter.

Farmington was overrated at 7
But they’re a legit 10-18th team, IMO.
South is probably a legit 5-10 team.
Farmington played without one of their best defensive players week 1 and didn’t scrimmage. Comparative scoring doesn’t really work in high school football, IMO
Eastview was shut out by Rosemount but moved up and down the field…was 0/3 in redzone.
I haven’t watched every 6a game this year but I’ve watched every south metro 6a game.
I would rank them:
1) shakopee pre-drama
2) south
3) Rosemount
3b) shakopee post drama
4) farmington
5) prior lake
6) north
7) Eagan
8) Eastview

I think teams 4-20 are pretty close this year
I’d have
1) maple grove
2) Minnetonka
3) Eden prairie
4) one of about 15-17 teams could be fourth best on a given night.
Would’ve gone shakopee here before last week. Sounds like shakopee has major drama and issues

What is the drama at Shakopee?

 

[MaxyJR1]

Moorhead death march:

they beat Wayzata in Moorhead, 28 to 27

Starting QB hasn’t played for last couple games.

 

[Some guy]

What is the drama at Shakopee?

I don’t know the entire store but essentially they got a transfer who was sitting on a suspension.
They played said transfer for two games
Then sat him.
Might have penalties for playing him like forfeits of week 1-2 for playing ineligible player.
Have to wait for next MSHSL meeting.

All I have is rumor and innuendo

 

[MaxyJR1]

I took in the heavyweight tilt between New Ulm and Albert Lea tonight. The visiting Tigers walked off 17-14 on a 43 yard field goal that would have been good from 50 easily. The QB for AL can sling it but the line is pretty small. They have a pretty porous defensive backfield and luckily for AL, New Ulm also has a bad O line and below average QB.

AL lead for most or what was an ugly game but nearly gave up the ghost. New Ulm, who doesn't have a kicker, lined up to attempt a field goal with 1:08 left on the game, with the usual long snapper lining up to kick. AL blocked the kick and moved quickly down the field into scoeing position but penalties backed the Tigers up into what seemes like hail mary position. To everyone's surprise, the kicker came out and absolutely boomed the kick right through the uprights.

Neither team is very good but I believe AL is off to a 3-0 start while New Ulm falls to 1-2 but has a favorable schedule.

3-0 for first time since 1989 and now 4-0. Out scoring opponents 40-8 per game. Great for the program and kids.