2023 MN High School Football season

Third week of school means Petri dish is in full bloom. (My kids say everyone is sick at their school with colds, covid etc.) Newpaper article I found, says it's due to lack of healthy players and they expect to play next week.
Yeah, our youth team has had a bunch of bugs going through. I think we've only had one game where we didn't have someone out sick.
 

Going to the east ridge vs Woodbury game tonight. Crosstown rivalry always has a little extra spice
 

Back to the Games tonight: Some intreguing games.

Shakopee at EP: Somebodies O has to go.
Prior Lake at Minnetonka: Can Minnetonka go to 4-0?
Maple Grove at Anoka: Can Anoka get to 4-0?
Elk River at Andover: Elk River trying to get back to .500
St Thomas at Mahtomedi: Both 2-1, but good measuring game.
Spring Lake Park at Rogers: Rogers outscoring teams by 33 a game.

3-0 vs 3-0
Pequot Lakes vs Esko.
Cannon Fall vs Caledonia
GFW vs Lester Prairie
Minneota vs Canby
 

Back to the Games tonight: Some intreguing games.

Shakopee at EP: Somebodies O has to go.
Prior Lake at Minnetonka: Can Minnetonka go to 4-0?
Maple Grove at Anoka: Can Anoka get to 4-0?
Elk River at Andover: Elk River trying to get back to .500
St Thomas at Mahtomedi: Both 2-1, but good measuring game.
Spring Lake Park at Rogers: Rogers outscoring teams by 33 a game.

3-0 vs 3-0
Pequot Lakes vs Esko.
Cannon Fall vs Caledonia
GFW vs Lester Prairie
Minneota vs Canby
A big game in Sec 1-5A, Owatona vs Northfield. Winner will have a big advantage towards getting #1 Seed.
 

a note on how populations and enrollments change. Pat Reusse was talking about attending a 60th class reunion in Fulda. He lived in Fulda through his Junior year in HS, then the family moved to Prior Lake.

Here's the kicker - when he was a Senior in HS, the graduating class in Prior Lake was smaller than the graduating class in Fulda.

on the current MSHSL enrollment list, they have Fulda HS at 92 after the free-and-reduced adjustments.

Prior Lake - 2655.
 


a note on how populations and enrollments change. Pat Reusse was talking about attending a 60th class reunion in Fulda. He lived in Fulda through his Junior year in HS, then the family moved to Prior Lake.

Here's the kicker - when he was a Senior in HS, the graduating class in Prior Lake was smaller than the graduating class in Fulda.

on the current MSHSL enrollment list, they have Fulda HS at 92 after the free-and-reduced adjustments.

Prior Lake - 2655.
I remember Reusse telling that story before. My mom's best friend graduated with Reusse from PL. (sidebar - she did NOT like him.)
 

Wayzata wins their first of the year 24-21 at Edina.

Here's an ugly score.
Cherry 80 - Cook County 6.
 

in SW MN, in Class 1A:
Minneota goes to 4-0 with 28-6 win over Canby (3-1)
Springfield also 4-0 with a 53-20 win over Wabasso.

in class 3A, #4 rated Fairmont goes to 4-0 with 21-0 win over St. Peter. Fairmont plays Marshall in 2 weeks.

and I get to wake up early on Saturday. Windom is playing its homecoming game against Tracy-Milroy-Balaton. Game was scheduled for 1:00pm, but due to forecast of heavy rain and strong winds, kickoff has been moved up to 10:00am - so I need to be at the field by 9:00am to get ready for PA duties.
 




Shakopee at EP a real good football game. Back and forth and then EP took over after halftime adjustments. Next up for EP is Wayzata, followed by Minnetonka, Woodbury, and Rochester Mayo.
 

17-16 Tonka over PL. Missed extra point for PL the difference. Minnetonka QB left the game with an apparent knee injury.
 

A big game in Sec 1-5A, Owatona vs Northfield. Winner will have a big advantage towards getting #1 Seed.
Huskies prevail 26-21. Exciting but turnover filled game. Down 20-7 at half, Raiders roared back early in the 3rd to take the lead.

Owatonna retook the lead with just over 4 minutes left in the game and Northfield failed to answer.

I think it's an odd seeding format, especially with only 5 teams in the section. Only games against the other 4 teams count. The other 4 "non-section" contests have no bearing. So in theory a 4-4 overall team could get the #1 Seed while a 7-1 or 6-2 gets the #2.
 





The west side of Lake Minnetonka is abuzz for a battle of the unbeatens next Friday between Mound Westonka and Orono. It should be a huge homecoming crowd on hand in Minnetrista to see the old next door rivals meet in the regular season for the first time since district scheduling became a thing.
 

The west side of Lake Minnetonka is abuzz for a battle of the unbeatens next Friday between Mound Westonka and Orono. It should be a huge homecoming crowd on hand in Minnetrista to see the old next door rivals meet in the regular season for the first time since district scheduling became a thing.
Orono by 17
 

Wow - saw this note in the Strib -

Defending Class 5A champion Elk River fell to 1-3, racking up 695 rushing yards and still losing 63-56 to Andover. Three Elk River players ran for more than 140 yards, led by senior quarterback Owen Van Drehle's 232 yards on 16 carries and three touchdowns on runs of 31, 42 and 77 yards. All seven of Elk River's touchdowns were on runs of 31 yards or longer. Andover countered with four passing touchdowns by Hudson Maynard, all in the first half, and two rushing TDs by Maynard, both in the fourth quarter. Maynard passed for 305 yards.

imagine running for almost 700 yards and losing.
 

Wow - saw this note in the Strib -

Defending Class 5A champion Elk River fell to 1-3, racking up 695 rushing yards and still losing 63-56 to Andover. Three Elk River players ran for more than 140 yards, led by senior quarterback Owen Van Drehle's 232 yards on 16 carries and three touchdowns on runs of 31, 42 and 77 yards. All seven of Elk River's touchdowns were on runs of 31 yards or longer. Andover countered with four passing touchdowns by Hudson Maynard, all in the first half, and two rushing TDs by Maynard, both in the fourth quarter. Maynard passed for 305 yards.

imagine running for almost 700 yards and losing.
Schedules are interesting this year. Elk River honestly might be the 6th or 7th best team in 5a but finish 3-5 because of their schedule
 

Sounds like Andover starting QB went out or missed. The game injured
Wow - saw this note in the Strib -

Defending Class 5A champion Elk River fell to 1-3, racking up 695 rushing yards and still losing 63-56 to Andover. Three Elk River players ran for more than 140 yards, led by senior quarterback Owen Van Drehle's 232 yards on 16 carries and three touchdowns on runs of 31, 42 and 77 yards. All seven of Elk River's touchdowns were on runs of 31 yards or longer. Andover countered with four passing touchdowns by Hudson Maynard, all in the first half, and two rushing TDs by Maynard, both in the fourth quarter. Maynard passed for 305 yards.

imagine running for almost 700 yards and
 



Huge game in 5A this week as #1 ranked Mankato West travels to #2 Chanhassen for playoff homefield advantage and the #1 seed in section 2AAAAA. Only similar opponent both teams have played so far is Waconia. West beat Waconia 35-6 and Chanhassen beat them 20-13. Should be a high scoring affair. Big challenge for the West defense to try and slow down Chanhassen RB Maxwell Woods. Nobody has been able to do it thus far.
 

^ perfect example of why MN state tournament should be a single bracket. Abolish section brackets. The compromise can be like: one team from each section guaranteed in the state bracket, then plus X best remaining teams. Seed overall for the state bracket.

6A could be 12 team bracket (4+8), others 16 team bracket (8+8). Or whatever

Abolish section tournaments. They’re horse dung
 

Top matchups this week in 6A and 5A

6A

#3 Minnetonka @ #6 Shakopee

#7 Forest Lake @ #8 Stillwater

Some good top 10 showdowns in 5A

#1 Mankato West @ #2 Chanhassen

#6 Alexandria @ #4 Brainerd

#5 Robbinsdale Armstrong @ #9 St. Thomas Academy
 

Top matchups this week in 6A and 5A

6A

#3 Minnetonka @ #6 Shakopee

#7 Forest Lake @ #8 Stillwater

Some good top 10 showdowns in 5A

#1 Mankato West @ #2 Chanhassen

#6 Alexandria @ #4 Brainerd

#5 Robbinsdale Armstrong @ #9 St. Thomas Academy
You forgot Apollo at Spectrum
 



matchups to watch in smaller classes:

9-Player:
#4 Cherry (4-0) at Littlefork-Big Falls (4-0)

1A:
#2 Springfield (4-0) at Sleepy Eye United (4-0) (receiving votes in AP poll)

B-B-E (4-0) at #9 Upsala-Swanville (4-0)

#8 in 2A Norwood-Young America (4-0) at #6 Lester Prairie (4-0)
 

^ perfect example of why MN state tournament should be a single bracket. Abolish section brackets. The compromise can be like: one team from each section guaranteed in the state bracket, then plus X best remaining teams. Seed overall for the state bracket.

6A could be 12 team bracket (4+8), others 16 team bracket (8+8). Or whatever

Abolish section tournaments. They’re horse dung
This would make a lot of sense if we were willing to go 9 regular season games and not everyone makes the playoff

Really hard to do in the lower classes as currently constructed because you don’t want to make a team travel 200 miles for a 1 vs 8 game.

Lower classes having unbalanced sections in terms of quantity of teams also makes the 6a playoff model infeasible

I would most prefer the 6a playoff model with a 9 game regular season. Only the top 4 in each section make the playoff.
 

The point of a state tournament is that you’re playing the best teams from all over the state. Not just your corner farm region of the state.

It’s a special deal. Hold a bake sale, if needed.

Compromise on a neutral site that’s somewhat in the middle.
 




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