2023 MN High School Football season

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I went to the EP at Prior Lake game last night, won by EP 28-14.. There were some big L people on both teams, but in particular PL, with two 300 lb+ guys anchoring the center of their line. It was a slugfest. EP's center, Sather, had his hands full in the first half but in the second half you can see why he's such a great wrestler. EP ran right up the middle behind Sather and his two guards both of whom go 6'5"/270. Next weeks game vs Shakopee at EP should be a good one.
 

Gopher 461 said:
I went to the EP at Prior Lake game last night, won by EP 28-14.. There were some big L people on both teams, but in particular PL, with two 300 lb+ guys anchoring the center of their line. It was a slugfest. EP's center, Sather, had his hands full in the first half but in the second half you can see why he's such a great wrestler. EP ran right up the middle behind Sather and his two guards both of whom go 6'5"/270. Next weeks game vs Shakopee at EP should be a good one.
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Ethan Beckman for PL is 6'5, 325 and moves pretty well. Set the school record for squat this summer as an incoming Sophomore. He's close with Greg Johnson, and a big Gopher fan.
 

disco said:
Wayzata drops to 0-3 with a loss against Shakopee.
Minnetonka up big on Edina.
EP beats Prior Lake.
Maple Grove wins big against Centennial.
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Maple grove blew a 17-0 lead last week against Champlin and blew a 20-0 lead last night before defense and specials made a couple big plays to seal the win.
 

Ope3 said:
This week partly due to officials. However, some schools/conferences/districts in the past also move games for the Jewish holiday, Rosh Hashanah, which happens to be this Friday/tomorrow.
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The Westonka vs Big Lake game today is being played at the unusual time of 5:00 PM due to Rosh Hashanah.
 


Wow, I didn’t think it possible for a school like Wayzata to have a down year. Wonder what the story is
 

Gopher 461 said:
I went to the EP at Prior Lake game last night, won by EP 28-14.. There were some big L people on both teams, but in particular PL, with two 300 lb+ guys anchoring the center of their line. It was a slugfest. EP's center, Sather, had his hands full in the first half but in the second half you can see why he's such a great wrestler. EP ran right up the middle behind Sather and his two guards both of whom go 6'5"/270. Next weeks game vs Shakopee at EP should be a good one.
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I was there as well; seemed like EP was going to have a typical EP shove it down your throat performance when they got up 14-0, but credit to PL for tying it up. Then the usual EP 4-5 yards a play drive to take the lead, followed by the D stop & that was that.

Will be interesting to see when EP is going to have to pass. Seems like historically, they've been at least efficient when it comes to having to pass, but didn't see anything last night that indicates that.
 

MplsGopher said:
Wow, I didn’t think it possible for a school like Wayzata to have a down year. Wonder what the story is
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From what I know, dumb mistakes.

I didn't see, nor do I know much about the loss to Lakeville South in week one.

Week two I was at the game vs. Tonka. Wayzata fumbled into the endzone for a touchback, much like the Vikings did last night. Score that TD and Wayzata most likely wins.

Last night I was not at the game. Our team had practice, and I wouldn't have driven to Shakopee, but I guess Wayzata gave up two pick sixes.
 

MplsGopher said:
Wow, I didn’t think it possible for a school like Wayzata to have a down year. Wonder what the story is
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The story is they played
Lakeville south - a top 5 program the last 5 years
Minnetonka - the largest school in the state and lost by a possession
Shakopee - the 9th largest school in the state and lost by a possession


It’s pretty simple.
There are 32 6a teams.
In the regular season there are 128 losses for those 32 teams.
Teams gotta lose.
 




Steve Hamilton has done an incredible job at Elk River, in Georgia, and Michigan. Part of his success has been his ability to implement the Power T offense and get student-athletes to buy into a non-passing offense.

Not to hijack this thread, but could a D1 program implement the Power T and have sustainable success?
 

State of Football said:
Steve Hamilton has done an incredible job at Elk River, in Georgia, and Michigan. Part of his success has been his ability to implement the Power T offense and get student-athletes to buy into a non-passing offense.

Not to hijack this thread, but could a D1 program implement the Power T and have sustainable success?
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I could see the service academies try something like this, since the triple option has been legislated out of existence (which sucks).
 

State of Football said:
Steve Hamilton has done an incredible job at Elk River, in Georgia, and Michigan. Part of his success has been his ability to implement the Power T offense and get student-athletes to buy into a non-passing offense.

Not to hijack this thread, but could a D1 program implement the Power T and have sustainable success?
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No
 



@disco wait, what?? (Triple option legislated out of existence)

I very briefly tuned into Army/UTSA to see Army go up 14-0 in the first quarter, and they were running a kind of "shotgun option" thing. The TV broadcast was talking about the new OC who came from DII.

(Army did win the game, but the final score was only 37-29 !)
 

MplsGopher said:
@disco wait, what?? (Triple option legislated out of existence)

I very briefly tuned into Army/UTSA to see Army go up 14-0 in the first quarter, and they were running a kind of "shotgun option" thing. The TV broadcast was talking about the new OC who came from DII.

(Army did win the game, but the final score was only 37-29 !)
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This article explains it. The NCAA banned below the waist blocks which are a staple of the triple option.

theathletic.com

Why Army football is converting Jeff Monken’s triple-option offense to the shotgun

Monken felt he had to switch Army to the shotgun in the wake of an under-the-radar NCAA rules change last year.
theathletic.com theathletic.com
 

State of Football said:
Steve Hamilton has done an incredible job at Elk River, in Georgia, and Michigan. Part of his success has been his ability to implement the Power T offense and get student-athletes to buy into a non-passing offense.

Not to hijack this thread, but could a D1 program implement the Power T and have sustainable success?
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I think it would be very hard at the power 5 level. You'd have to get talent that would want to play in that system. And I can't imagine an offense like that would be great for getting players to the NFL.
 

I wouldn’t think that cut blocks were that critical to the success of triple option, but fair enough!
 

Re: PowerT at a high level.

I’ve had this thought for some time. It’s a half-baked thought and probably would be a disaster.

But

So you look at the world of rugby, and you see there’s a lot of success in that sport in the Pacific Islands realm of the world.

What if Hawaii football tried to make itself like that, with a bunch of those dudes??

Just punish the other team on offense.
 

MplsGopher said:
Re: PowerT at a high level.

I’ve had this thought for some time. It’s a half-baked thought and probably would be a disaster.

But

So you look at the world of rugby, and you see there’s a lot of success in that sport in the Pacific Islands realm of the world.

What if Hawaii football tried to make itself like that, with a bunch of those dudes??

Just punish the other team on offense.
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Yep. I think it could work at the lower D1 levels. It would probably be hard to defend too because no one ever sees it.
 

MplsGopher said:
Re: PowerT at a high level.

I’ve had this thought for some time. It’s a half-baked thought and probably would be a disaster.

But

So you look at the world of rugby, and you see there’s a lot of success in that sport in the Pacific Islands realm of the world.

What if Hawaii football tried to make itself like that, with a bunch of those dudes??

Just punish the other team on offense.
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I think you could win games with it. It would be very hard to win 11-12 games with it.

Basically you beat teams that aren’t disciplined and you beat teams that are weaker than you.
Hard to fool or overpower 12 teams in a season
 

GophersInIowa said:
I think it would be very hard at the power 5 level. You'd have to get talent that would want to play in that system. And I can't imagine an offense like that would be great for getting players to the NFL.
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That's why I suggested the academies. They will always have the smallest recruiting pool, hence running oddball offenses all these years.
 

MplsGopher said:
Re: PowerT at a high level.

I’ve had this thought for some time. It’s a half-baked thought and probably would be a disaster.

But

So you look at the world of rugby, and you see there’s a lot of success in that sport in the Pacific Islands realm of the world.

What if Hawaii football tried to make itself like that, with a bunch of those dudes??

Just punish the other team on offense.
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If anything, it could be really fun to watch. I love weird, alternative offensive schemes.
 

Glad this kid is keeping his chin up after a very ugly moment in garbage time of the Westonka blowout of Big Lake. The game was called early after this awful compound leg fracture on an extra point with 2 minutes and change left in the game. The two edge rushers smacked into each other in front of the kicker with disastrous results. Full speed helmet on planted leg.

1694905478625.jpeg
 

In that Class A matchup Friday, #1 rated Minneota stopped #2 BOLD 42-28.

Minneota faces Canby next week in a matchup of two 3-0 teams. looking at the schedule, if Minneota beats Canby, they should be favored in every game the rest of the way.

I think Springfield might move up to #2 in the ratings as they are also 3-0.
 

Notable games for week 4:

6A

Eagan @ Lakeville South
Rochester Mayo @ Rosemount
Maple Grove @ Anoka
Shakopee @ Eden Prairie
Wayzata @ Edina
Prior Lake @ Minnetonka

5A

Elk River @ Andover
Waconia @ Chanhassen
Chaska @ Mankato West
Brainerd @ Moorhead
Spring Lake Park @ Rogers
 

6A changed up the scheduling this year to play mostly section play with 1-2 cross over games. It's great for rivalries at the varsity level but causing issues at the lower levels. Not all 6A schools have the same levels of teams and schools are scrambling a bit to find opponents for JV, 10A, 10B, 9A, and 9B games. Some 5A schools have more teams than 6A teams.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
6A changed up the scheduling this year to play mostly section play with 1-2 cross over games. It's great for rivalries at the varsity level but causing issues at the lower levels. Not all 6A schools have the same levels of teams and schools are scrambling a bit to find opponents for JV, 10A, 10B, 9A, and 9B games. Some 5A schools have more teams than 6A teams.
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I think 5A did the same thing. Mankato West is playing an all section schedule with the remaining games against metro teams. Great change for them. They had to play some really bad teams in the Big 9 conference every year. Their trip to Andover in week 2 was the first time West has traveled to the metro for a regular season game since 1995. Their starters should get to play all 4 quarters in most games this season which will help come playoff time.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
6A changed up the scheduling this year to play mostly section play with 1-2 cross over games. It's great for rivalries at the varsity level but causing issues at the lower levels. Not all 6A schools have the same levels of teams and schools are scrambling a bit to find opponents for JV, 10A, 10B, 9A, and 9B games. Some 5A schools have more teams than 6A teams.
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This is not a new issue caused by this years schedule and this has been the case for the past few seasons. Particularly post Covid
 

If you have that many teams, it means you should split the school. :cautious:
 

MplsGopher said:
If you have that many teams, it means you should split the school. :cautious:
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Yes, because clearly school building decisions should be based entirely on how many boys go out for football. Have you been sniffing glue?
 

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