2023 MN High School Football season

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prespsguy said:
Coach Grant has rubbed many people the wrong way and frankly, he's earned quite a bit of that, but the truth remains, he is an incredible football coach.
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Grant was my head coach my junior and senior years. The sentence above is 100% true.
 

prespsguy said:
Coach Grant has rubbed many people the wrong way and frankly, he's earned quite a bit of that, but the truth remains, he is an incredible football coach. Additionally, the kids who play for him for the most part love being a part of his program. People often reach for "excuses' for why Eden Prairie has been so successful but the truth remains, Coach Grant is among the best coaches this state has ever seen and runs an incredible program that has continuity from 3rd grade to varsity.
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You got it right. He may rub some people the wrong way but no one hears about the stuff he does behind the scenes to make sure that his football program and other EP sports programs highlight academics and community involvement. If the current team makes it to the Championship game, I hope some GopherHolers write about the rituals EP has developed over the years during Prep Bowl Week that involve parents, students and the community.
 

prespsguy said:
Coach Grant has rubbed many people the wrong way and frankly, he's earned quite a bit of that, but the truth remains, he is an incredible football coach. Additionally, the kids who play for him for the most part love being a part of his program. People often reach for "excuses' for why Eden Prairie has been so successful but the truth remains, Coach Grant is among the best coaches this state has ever seen and runs an incredible program that has continuity from 3rd grade to varsity.
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This is what a successful program is. The kids have to buy in. I feel losing programs lack buy in and involvement from HS coaches. Winning helps with buy in.

I hate the spread RPO in our program. 1. you can’t pass well enough at young levels to develop skill. 2. It’s easy to defend if you don’t use some motion and misdirection.

People say it’s more fun than running power football at older ages. I disagree. If winning, the kids don’t care what the offense runs. The winning teams in MN pound the rock and those kids buy in and love it.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
This is what a successful program is. The kids have to buy in. I feel losing programs lack buy in and involvement from HS coaches. Winning helps with buy in.

I hate the spread RPO in our program. 1. you can’t pass well enough at young levels to develop skill. 2. It’s easy to defend if you don’t use some motion and misdirection.

People say it’s more fun than running power football at older ages. I disagree. If winning, the kids don’t care what the offense runs. The winning teams in MN pound the rock and those kids buy in and love it.
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Maxy is right. 16-20 play ground and pound offenses, taking 7-9 minutes of clock, win football games. Ask EP opponents.
 

a reminder - Semi-Finals start Thursday. No free TV - paid streaming only.

MSHSL State FB Semi-Final Schedule

Thurs, Nov 16
9-pl:
Kingsland vs Fertile-Beltrami - 10:30am
Ottertail Central vs Nevis - 1pm

4A: Byron vs Rocori - 4pm

6A: Centennial vs Lakeville South - 7pm
 


Word said:
I have a bunch of relatives that go or went to TG (some played sports there). I got to hear plenty of stories about the athletes there.
I also have coached for public school sports teams and have kids that play for public schools. I know of quite a few examples. This is in the metro suburbs.
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That pretty wells sums up the state of things .... Metro problems. Outstate solution.
 

swede2 said:
That pretty wells sums up the state of things .... Metro problems. Outstate solution.
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The solution is for kids to leave private schools for public schools, like in outstate MN?
 

Gopher 461 said:
Maxy is right. 16-20 play ground and pound offenses, taking 7-9 minutes of clock, win football games. Ask EP opponents.
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I’ve seen Centennial go on 9 minute drives and just take the Will out if the defense.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
I’ve seen Centennial go on 9 minute drives and just take the Will out if the defense.
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Centennial offensive coordinator Travis Littlefield played at Spring Lake Park under Legendary coach Bob Jackson who was known for running option football at SLP and White Bear Lake. Travis was on the 1991 state championship team. Made a great tackle on a kickoff in the championship game.
 



Unregistered User said:
He was OC at Armstrong prior to coming to Edina.

He was rather prickly his first season there, and I wasn't sure he was the right guy, but he has this squad going in the right direction.

Go Hornets! Beat Evil Prairie!
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For a guy that went to HS in the northern suburbs, rooting for either Edina or EP to win is like trying to decide between Gonorrhea and Syphilis.
 

disco said:
Grant was my head coach my junior and senior years. The sentence above is 100% true.
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Played against EP/Grant in the mid 90’s right before they started their run. From an opposing player perspective he just always sounded so whiny on the field. My senior year He spent the entire second half trying to get the ref to measure the studs on my cleats 🤣 but I have the utmost respect for how he has set up his program. At that time George Thole and Dick Hanson were legendary coaches. What Grant has accomplished is unreal. Greatest big school coach, and it’s not even close.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
a reminder - Semi-Finals start Thursday. No free TV - paid streaming only.

MSHSL State FB Semi-Final Schedule

Thurs, Nov 16
9-pl:
Kingsland vs Fertile-Beltrami - 10:30am
Ottertail Central vs Nevis - 1pm

4A: Byron vs Rocori - 4pm

6A: Centennial vs Lakeville South - 7pm
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Any idea who the streaming provider is? Was thinking it was Channel45 but can't find anything.
 






By reading local media as well as posts here, people don't seem to be giving Centennial much of a chance to beat South. Not sure why that is. In think they win and give EP a real competitive game in the Prep Bowl (EP wins).
 

I hope Centennial beats LS, but it took Coach Grant (EP) a few years against Elk River and LS to come up with a defensive scheme against the Power T that worked consistently and resulted in wins. Good luck Centennial coaches. Having said that, I think EP will get by Edina Friday night and will play Centennial if they figure out their defensive posture. If that happens it will be smash mouth, man on man, sloberknocker football for the Championship rather than an air raid. No weather issues. No wind. Comfortable indoor temperature. Could come down to special teams and turnovers.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
This is what a successful program is. The kids have to buy in. I feel losing programs lack buy in and involvement from HS coaches. Winning helps with buy in.

I hate the spread RPO in our program. 1. you can’t pass well enough at young levels to develop skill. 2. It’s easy to defend if you don’t use some motion and misdirection.

People say it’s more fun than running power football at older ages. I disagree. If winning, the kids don’t care what the offense runs. The winning teams in MN pound the rock and those kids buy in and love it.
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It's interesting that they are so involved with youth thru HS in EP. I can see why that would turn into a successful program from top to bottom. My experience with my kids in the NW burbs is the complete opposite. My older son plays hockey and baseball, and when he got to HS it became apparent that the coaches didn't care how you performed in youth (even higher levels like AAA baseball or Bantam A/AA hockey) when entering the HS programs. Especially in baseball. The HS coaches feel that the youth coaches are morons and basically have said, somewhat paraphrasing here, "forget what you learned in youth sports, how good you did, where you played. Those coaches didn't know shit". Meanwhile, my kids youth baseball coach was a minor league coach for a time, so he's pretty knowledgeable. One kid, who was a machine in the outfield started his HS career playing SS/2nd. Just dumb. A year later he's finally in the outfield again doing super well.

Anyway, I really like the idea of youth/HS being on the same page. I don't know as much as you all about EP, but obviously it's worked really well for them.
 

Gopher 461 said:
I hope Centennial beats LS, but it took Coach Grant (EP) a few years against Elk River and LS to come up with a defensive scheme against the Power T that worked consistently and resulted in wins. Good luck Centennial coaches. Having said that, I think EP will get by Edina Friday night and will play Centennial if they figure out their defensive posture. If that happens it will be smash mouth, man on man, sloberknocker football for the Championship rather than an air raid. No weather issues. No wind. Comfortable indoor temperature. Could come down to special teams and turnovers.
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Ummmmm....Coach Grant has never played Elk River and he's only coached against the Lakeville South Power T twice; he's 1-1 against it. Regardless, they aren't playing South this weekend.
 

Ummmmmm....EP played Elk River 8/26/13 which was one of Grant's first exposures to the Power T. That, coupled with scouting and actual games against LS brought about his philosophy against that particular style of offense. If LS beats Centennial in the semis he will face the offense again if EP wins their game against Edina..
 

Gopher 461 said:
Ummmmmm....EP played Elk River 8/26/13 which was one of Grant's first exposures to the Power T. That, coupled with scouting and actual games against LS brought about his philosophy against that particular style of offense.
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Ok, fair point. I didn't know they played ten years ago. Looking back, EP won that game 56-17.
 


short ornery norwegian said:
Hey, it's the climax of the season. Let's make everyone pay to watch the games. that will boost interest for the casual fans. --- the MSHSL in all its glory.
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Yeh, and charge $17.64 (w/fees) to actually attend the game in person for an adult. No Senior pricing. Lets see. Parking $30. Ticket $17+. Concessions $$$
 

prespsguy said:
By reading local media as well as posts here, people don't seem to be giving Centennial much of a chance to beat South. Not sure why that is. In think they win and give EP a real competitive game in the Prep Bowl (EP wins).
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I think it’ll be close.
Either team could win. South isn’t what they have been recently but obviously are still pretty good.
 

Some guy said:
I think it’ll be close.
Either team could win. South isn’t what they have been recently but obviously are still pretty good.
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Which team has the where with all to impose their will given their different styles of play.
 

JayBobDobbins said:
It's interesting that they are so involved with youth thru HS in EP. I can see why that would turn into a successful program from top to bottom. My experience with my kids in the NW burbs is the complete opposite. My older son plays hockey and baseball, and when he got to HS it became apparent that the coaches didn't care how you performed in youth (even higher levels like AAA baseball or Bantam A/AA hockey) when entering the HS programs. Especially in baseball. The HS coaches feel that the youth coaches are morons and basically have said, somewhat paraphrasing here, "forget what you learned in youth sports, how good you did, where you played. Those coaches didn't know shit". Meanwhile, my kids youth baseball coach was a minor league coach for a time, so he's pretty knowledgeable. One kid, who was a machine in the outfield started his HS career playing SS/2nd. Just dumb. A year later he's finally in the outfield again doing super well.

Anyway, I really like the idea of youth/HS being on the same page. I don't know as much as you all about EP, but obviously it's worked really well for them.
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I think it depends on the sport. I think the coaches having some involvement at the 7t/8th grade level of football makes sense. There may be fundamentals to the program that they want to instill. I don't think any involvement other than camps is needed for anything under 7th grade.

Most coaches don't want that bias or information before growth spurts.

In my community there were 28-30 kids in traveling 8th grade boys basketball last year. 75 showed up for 9th grade tryouts for 20 spots yesterday.
 

Gopher 461 said:
Yeh, and charge $17.64 (w/fees) to actually attend the game in person for an adult. No Senior pricing. Lets see. Parking $30. Ticket $17+. Concessions $$$
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We are in the Centennial district and they sent home fliers about the game with our elementary age kids. I'm not into HS football, but my son loves all things football so I looked into it, and I was rather surprised at the cost. Likewise that it's not free to stream. I get that there are costs associated with the event, so maybe I'm being naïve. I know this has nothing to do with them, but my first response at seeing the cost of the game was "man, it would be good PR for the Vikes to cover the expenses and make the event free". Considering they're reaping most of the benefits of the state-owned stadium, it seems like a small gesture that would be really good PR.
 

3D
Gopher 461 said:
Yeh, and charge $17.64 (w/fees) to actually attend the game in person for an adult. No Senior pricing. Lets see. Parking $30. Ticket $17+. Concessions $$$
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There are several parking options within a few blocks of the Zygi Dome that are much more reasonable for parking, in the $10 range. The nearby ramps do not charge the same as they do for the Vikings game or a concert.
 

Ope3 said:
3D

There are several parking options within a few blocks of the Zygi Dome that are much more reasonable for parking, in the $10 range. The nearby ramps do not charge the same as they do for the Vikings game or a concert.
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Thanks Ope3. I was going by the Ticketmaster screenshot of parking.
 


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