2025 Minnesota High School Football Thread

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Some guy said:
EP has good offense no defense vs pass game
Rogers super strange and I can’t figure it out

Anoka is cursed

STMA vs maple grove is the most puzzling to me.

I was curious how south vs Edina would go. I think south is good not great.
I personally don’t think south is a contender


I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the surprising results are injury related.


Tonka and maple grove are clearly the favorites

A handful are in the second tier.
EP, Rosemount, south, the top 3 in the north, forest lake, maybe prior lake or shakopee


But for a lot of teams the difference between being number 12 and number 25 is probably being healthy vs having 2 key guys out
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I heard a rumor that Tonka had a bunch of guys suspended for drinking or it could have been a bigger blowout. I don't know if that's true, but I trust the source.
 

Possible

Maple grove is favorite if Tonka QB doesn’t come back
Tonka is favorite if he does
disco said:
I heard a rumor that Tonka had a bunch of guys suspended for drinking or it could have been a bigger blowout. I don't know if that's true, but I trust the source.
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Gold Vision said:
My son is on the Tonka Sophomore team, and they won 61-8 against Wayzata on Wednesday. Throughout the youth association years, Wayzata had strong teams at his age level. Is there just a lot of attrition once they hit the High School level?
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I waited until tonight to answer this. My son plays 8th grade ball for Wayzata. We played two Tonka teams this week including tonight. Lost by 30+ in both games. Of the three Wayzata 8th grade teams their combined record is 1-20, the only win being our team beating the snot out of Hopkins last week.

The single biggest problem I see with Wayzata football at this level and I suspect it trickles up to some extent, is size. Not in terms of numbers, but physical size. With the exception of a Maple Grove team who was similar in size and skill to us, every team we play out weighs us by probably 50 pounds on average. Tonka tonight had a guy who was a 7th grader playing up who was 6-3, 250. St. Louis Park had a guy who was 6-4, 290 or something. And these weren't token fat kids. They were good players.

I asked my son, are there ANY big guys in your class, and he said no, not really. Not like that. My kid is just about 6' but he weighs about 140. All the biggest kids are pretty similar - tall, but thin.
And there are some REALLY small kids still playing that probably won't play next year as even now, they're starting to get hurt.

And Wayzata is closed to open enrollment, so if there aren't any big kids, there aren't any big kids. And some of the bigger kids his age actually go to Providence and will play there starting next season. Tonka, as I've said many times, is 40% open enrollment. And a lot of the families in the newer, northern parts of the district are Indian, and those kids aren't big, and very few play football (lots play youth basketball though).
 

And I think, but I'm not sure, that the current crop of Freshmen at Wayzata were really good when younger, but who knows if they still are.
 


Some guy said:
I think that probably true

All my my projections assumed shakopee was going to beat prior lake and prior lake was worse than the top 3


Prior lake should’ve beat Rosemount! Threw a pick 6 and lost by 3
They usually find ways to lose but they have high upside
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Prior Lake is solid. Of the teams Rosemount has played so far this year they were most impressive and Rosemount was fortunate to get out of there with a W.
 

disco said:
I waited until tonight to answer this. My son plays 8th grade ball for Wayzata. We played two Tonka teams this week including tonight. Lost by 30+ in both games. Of the three Wayzata 8th grade teams their combined record is 1-20, the only win being our team beating the snot out of Hopkins last week.

The single biggest problem I see with Wayzata football at this level and I suspect it trickles up to some extent, is size. Not in terms of numbers, but physical size. With the exception of a Maple Grove team who was similar in size and skill to us, every team we play out weighs us by probably 50 pounds on average. Tonka tonight had a guy who was a 7th grader playing up who was 6-3, 250. St. Louis Park had a guy who was 6-4, 290 or something. And these weren't token fat kids. They were good players.

I asked my son, are there ANY big guys in your class, and he said no, not really. Not like that. My kid is just about 6' but he weighs about 140. All the biggest kids are pretty similar - tall, but thin.
And there are some REALLY small kids still playing that probably won't play next year as even now, they're starting to get hurt.

And Wayzata is closed to open enrollment, so if there aren't any big kids, there aren't any big kids. And some of the bigger kids his age actually go to Providence and will play there starting next season. Tonka, as I've said many times, is 40% open enrollment. And a lot of the families in the newer, northern parts of the district are Indian, and those kids aren't big, and very few play football (lots play youth basketball though).
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There were (and are) a ton of new single family houses built (and building) in Plymouth and Maple Grove, probably over the last 20 years.

I don't see why all the football talent families in the last 15-18 years would've happened to pick MG over Plymouth?

I guess the main difference is school size?

Nonetheless it's an interesting point you bring up


I assume you're talking about northern Wayzata district ... not Tonka district (which would be the city of Woodland) https://education.mn.gov/mdeprod/groups/educ/documents/basic/mdaw/mdmy/~edisp/032985.pdf
 

Ski-U-Ham said:

Here are the MSHSL enrollment numbers. Albert Lea is at 827, St. Peter is 604. I also don't know what grades these numbers reflect, but it would strike me as odd if one school's enrollment would include 8th graders and another school's wouldn't.
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St Peter is one the smallest 4A schools and Albert Lea is 3A. They must have petitioned down.

St Peter good enough to go 7-1 in 3A but will likely get 3 or 4 seed in section with Marshall and Rocori.
 

GopherGrit said:
There were (and are) a ton of new single family houses built (and building) in Plymouth and Maple Grove, probably over the last 20 years.

I don't see why all the football talent families in the last 15-18 years would've happened to pick MG over Plymouth?

I guess the main difference is school size?

Nonetheless it's an interesting point you bring up


I assume you're talking about northern Wayzata district ... not Tonka district (which would be the city of Woodland) https://education.mn.gov/mdeprod/groups/educ/documents/basic/mdaw/mdmy/~edisp/032985.pdf
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It’s a lot more than just demographics

Osseo has won a big school state title in the past 15 years.

I don’t know much about wayzata coach or program. But, to me, they underachieve
 



GopherGrit said:
There were (and are) a ton of new single family houses built (and building) in Plymouth and Maple Grove, probably over the last 20 years.

I don't see why all the football talent families in the last 15-18 years would've happened to pick MG over Plymouth?

I guess the main difference is school size?

Nonetheless it's an interesting point you bring up


I assume you're talking about northern Wayzata district ... not Tonka district (which would be the city of Woodland) https://education.mn.gov/mdeprod/groups/educ/documents/basic/mdaw/mdmy/~edisp/032985.pdf
Click to expand...

This post assumes people would choose their schools based on their kid playing football. I doubt that's happening much in this state. A big thing is you pay a premium to be in the Wayzata district. The same house a mile apart will cost anywhere from 10-30% more on the Wayzata side.

We used to live in Brooklyn Park. The same was true if you lived in the Osseo (Park Center) district, or the Anoka (Champlin Park) district, only even more pronounced. The same house in the Anoka district was worth significantly more.

And both Wayzata and MG are closed to open enrollment so that's not a factor like it is with Tonka and Edina.
 

Some guy said:
It’s a lot more than just demographics

Osseo has won a big school state title in the past 15 years.

I don’t know much about wayzata coach or program. But, to me, they underachieve
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I like the coach and coaching staff, but I think that is part of it. But at the same time, pretty sure it's the same crew that coached a state championship team in 2019.
 

Power rankings;
1 point for a win over a non maroon
1 point for every win a team you beat has.

Tiebreakers are overall wins or head to head in a two way tie.
Maroon team loses tiebreak.
After that, tied.

1. Maple grove - 22 6-0
2. Minnetonka - 21 6-0
3. Centennial - 19 5-1
4. Forest lake - 17 6-0
5. Rosemount - 17 5-1
6. Shakopee - 17 4-2
7. Lakeville south and Champlin park - 16 5-1

9. Woodbury - 15 4-2
10. Andover - 12 5-1
11. Eden Prairie- 11 4-2
12. Prior Lake - 10 3-3
13. Moorhead - 9 3-3
14. Blaine - 8 4-2
15. East ridge, farmington, Edina - 7 3-3

18. Stillwater - 6 3-3
19. Eagan - 6 2-4
20. Rogers - 5 1-5
21. Moundsview - 4 2-4
22. Osseo - 3 3-3
23. North - 3 1-5
24. Hopkins - 2 3-3
25. St Michael Albertville - 2 1-5
26. White bear lake -1 2-4
27. Eastview - 1 2-4
28. Wayzata - 0 1-5
29. coon rapids - 0 1-5
30. Anoka -0 0-6
31. Roseville and Park - 0 0-6



Best 6-0 maple Grove, worst 6-0 forest lake
Best 5-1 centennial, worst 5-1 Andover
Best 4-2 shakopee, worst 4-2 Blaine
Best 3-3 prior lake, worst 3-3 Hopkins
Best 2-4 Eagan, worst 2-4 Eastview
Best 1-5 Rogers, worst 1-5 coon rapids
Best 0-6 Anoka, worst 0-6 park or Roseville
 
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disco said:
I like the coach and coaching staff, but I think that is part of it. But at the same time, pretty sure it's the same crew that coached a state championship team in 2019.
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Yup. And they’re in the gauntlet section.
So they play 3 of the top 5-6 in the state.
Plus Edina and Andover

So basically, against teams not in the top 15 they are 1-1 or 1-2 depending on how you feel about Moorhead and if Moorhead is in the top 15

6a football sucks.
There are 159 losses to take and only 32 teams to take them
 



disco said:
This post assumes people would choose their schools based on their kid playing football. I doubt that's happening much in this state. A big thing is you pay a premium to be in the Wayzata district. The same house a mile apart will cost anywhere from 10-30% more on the Wayzata side.

We used to live in Brooklyn Park. The same was true if you lived in the Osseo (Park Center) district, or the Anoka (Champlin Park) district, only even more pronounced. The same house in the Anoka district was worth significantly more.

And both Wayzata and MG are closed to open enrollment so that's not a factor like it is with Tonka and Edina.
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I'm trying to understand how it could be so different between Plymouth and Maple Grove, at the current time. Both more generally in football success, and what you posted about there not being very many big kids.

They're right next to each other and both have tons of new or new-ish homes that were being developed at around the same time. (I think ... might be slightly wrong but feels like this is at least mostly true ...)

So you're proposing that in the late 2000's let's say, the same home on the Plymouth side cost significantly more money and drove prospective buyers to the Maple Grove side?

That could very well be the answer ... I don't know.
 

disco said:
I waited until tonight to answer this. My son plays 8th grade ball for Wayzata. We played two Tonka teams this week including tonight. Lost by 30+ in both games. Of the three Wayzata 8th grade teams their combined record is 1-20, the only win being our team beating the snot out of Hopkins last week.

The single biggest problem I see with Wayzata football at this level and I suspect it trickles up to some extent, is size. Not in terms of numbers, but physical size. With the exception of a Maple Grove team who was similar in size and skill to us, every team we play out weighs us by probably 50 pounds on average. Tonka tonight had a guy who was a 7th grader playing up who was 6-3, 250. St. Louis Park had a guy who was 6-4, 290 or something. And these weren't token fat kids. They were good players.

I asked my son, are there ANY big guys in your class, and he said no, not really. Not like that. My kid is just about 6' but he weighs about 140. All the biggest kids are pretty similar - tall, but thin.
And there are some REALLY small kids still playing that probably won't play next year as even now, they're starting to get hurt.

And Wayzata is closed to open enrollment, so if there aren't any big kids, there aren't any big kids. And some of the bigger kids his age actually go to Providence and will play there starting next season. Tonka, as I've said many times, is 40% open enrollment. And a lot of the families in the newer, northern parts of the district are Indian, and those kids aren't big, and very few play football (lots play youth basketball though).
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Interesting. Thanks for the thoughtful response. You’ll be amazed to see the physical growth over the next couple years as the kids go through puberty and get in the weight room in high school. I noticed it especially from freshman to sophomore year. There are a few outliers that grow early like the kids you mentioned, but a lot of that real size comes early in high school when they are 15-16.

In general, there is a lot more emphasis on strength and conditioning from when I was a kid. These kids are all gym rats throwing up big weight all summer.
 

GopherGrit said:
I'm trying to understand how it could be so different between Plymouth and Maple Grove, at the current time. Both more generally in football success, and what you posted about there not being very many big kids.

They're right next to each other and both have tons of new or new-ish homes that were being developed at around the same time. (I think ... might be slightly wrong but feels like this is at least mostly true ...)

So you're proposing that in the late 2000's let's say, the same home on the Plymouth side cost significantly more money and drove prospective buyers to the Maple Grove side?

That could very well be the answer ... I don't know.
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It's not Plymouth vs. Maple Grove. City boundaries have nothing to do with it. It's school district boundaries that don't follow city lines. Plymouth is split between the Wayzata, Osseo and Robbinsdale districts. Minnetonka is split between Minnetonka, Wayzata and Hopkins.

A home on the Wayzata side of the boundary is a premium over the same house on the Osseo (MG) side. My wife's idiot cousin didn't look at the school district when they bought. They assumed Plymouth = Wayzata schools. They are in the Osseo district, so their kids will go to MG. That's not a bad thing. MG is a good school, but who doesn't look at the school district if you have kids?

I have a co-worker who lives very close to me. But in the Hopkins district. She was saying "we're looking at sending our kids to Wayzata." No, you're not, because it's closed. I told her she'd have better luck with Tonka.
 

disco said:
It's not Plymouth vs. Maple Grove. City boundaries have nothing to do with it. It's school district boundaries that don't follow city lines. Plymouth is split between the Wayzata, Osseo and Robbinsdale districts. Minnetonka is split between Minnetonka, Wayzata and Hopkins.

A home on the Wayzata side of the boundary is a premium over the same house on the Osseo (MG) side. My wife's idiot cousin didn't look at the school district when they bought. They assumed Plymouth = Wayzata schools. They are in the Osseo district, so their kids will go to MG. That's not a bad thing. MG is a good school, but who doesn't look at the school district if you have kids?

I have a co-worker who lives very close to me. But in the Hopkins district. She was saying "we're looking at sending our kids to Wayzata." No, you're not, because it's closed. I told her she'd have better luck with Tonka.
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If you ever go to orchestra hall it’s hilarious because you’ll see Tonka propaganda
 

I know Wayzata is having a tough year, but has anyone watched our DL recruit Diane? Any thoughts on his play?
 

Some guy said:
Yup. And they’re in the gauntlet section.
So they play 3 of the top 5-6 in the state.
Plus Edina and Andover

So basically, against teams not in the top 15 they are 1-1 or 1-2 depending on how you feel about Moorhead and if Moorhead is in the top 15

6a football sucks.
There are 159 losses to take and only 32 teams to take them
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I can’t argue with the math involved in wins and losses. I agree that the 6A ban on playing anyone in another class is stupid, but my guess is that when they created 6A, that was a stipulation by the teams left in 5A. I have no knowledge about it whatsoever, but we can all agree that teams 17-32 ( and maybe more) would not overwhelm solid to good 5A teams. To me, it’s all the same mindset the MSHSL has regarding playoffs and failing to find ways to make more games competitive for the 6A programs. The old adage that football is a numbers game holds a lot of truth, but there’s a lot more to it than that. Look at the comments on Wayzata’s current struggles. My belief is that the MSHSL promised the teams in 5A that there was 0 chance they’d ever have to play a school of a certain size or pedigree.
 

Hucklebearer said:
I can’t argue with the math involved in wins and losses. I agree that the 6A ban on playing anyone in another class is stupid, but my guess is that when they created 6A, that was a stipulation by the teams left in 5A. I have no knowledge about it whatsoever, but we can all agree that teams 17-32 ( and maybe more) would not overwhelm solid to good 5A teams. To me, it’s all the same mindset the MSHSL has regarding playoffs and failing to find ways to make more games competitive for the 6A programs. The old adage that football is a numbers game holds a lot of truth, but there’s a lot more to it than that. Look at the comments on Wayzata’s current struggles. My belief is that the MSHSL promised the teams in 5A that there was 0 chance they’d ever have to play a school of a certain size or pedigree.
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Everyone tries to fix the playoffs to be the solution when the real problem is the regular season

For 80% of teams the regular season is more important than the playoffs. Just short sightedness


I will credit MSHSL
The 6a schedule is better this year and the two before than it was 2018-2023. Those 6 years were a shit show
 

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