2024 MN High School Football thread

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Are there any state rankings or preseason polls out there? Would think they would be out by now but I haven't seen any.
 

What makes Hastings nice is, as mentioned, the sense of history/uniqueness - so many newer HS fields all look the same - and a lighting system so good it seems like you're in a medical examining room once the sun has set.

When your kid plays interior line honestly the biggest thing you look for is the height of the bleachers so that you can hopefully get an angle where you have a halfway decent look at what he's doing. Unfortunately most visiting side bleacher setups aren't very good for this.
 

I'm surprised at the number of smaller schools that have upgraded to turf fields. the smaller schools may not have the bleacher capacity of the larger venues, but the actual fields look very nice.

in SW MN, Russell-Tyler-Ruthton added a turf field recently. and Lakeview HS (in Cottonwood MN, north of Marshall) is one of the smaller schools in the state with turf. there is at least one 9-man program with turf - Mountain Iron-Buhl.

And after checking, I'm reminded that Canby is debuting a new turf field this fall.

among some larger schools in the region, both Worthington and New Ulm have upgraded their facilities in recent years. Worthington has a really nice setup.

FWIW, I've mentioned that Windom is playing on a temporary field this fall after their regular field was damaged by flooding this summer. sources inform me that Windom is working with a facilities planning consultant on options - and in some of the options, they are looking at a turf field that could host football and soccer. long way to go in the process - and the $$$ has to be figured out - but they are at least considering it as a possibility. if you have a couple of Million $$ laying around, I will accept donations on behalf of the school.......
 

Farmington has a great setting in a bowl with the school on the end. Buffalo doesn't have track around the field which is cool. Anoka and Hastings have historic settings. Roch John Marshall and Duluth Public School Stadiums are good.
 


disco said:
Baseball is an interesting one. That's a sport that's increasingly become more specialized with longer seasons than I remember it being in the past. A lot more bleed over into the fall sports than there once was.
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As the parent of a high school baseball player I think a lot of that is driven by all the club teams that have popped up. Seems like there is a new one every time we turn around.

The specialization discussion is a really interesting one. As a parent there is a lot of pressure to do it because you don't want your kid to "fall behind" the kids that are getting the high level training. Although our son is only in baseball at the high school level I am all for the kids that are able to play multiple sports. There are a lot of unrealistic expectations out there that many parents have about just how good their kid is or what their prospects are at the next level.

In the grand scheme of things the nearly all players will be done when their high school career ends (at least in terms of college and pro prospects). For us, we want our son to have the best opportunity to keep playing as long as possible without going insane with the amount of money we are putting in. He is at a large metro school so the competition level is high due to the larger numbers.

It is a shame to see how much youth sports has changed over the years. Used to be about playing as many sports as you could with your friends. Not saying that has gone away entirely (especially in smaller towns) but even high school sports are becoming big business these days.
 

MNVCGUY said:
As the parent of a high school baseball player I think a lot of that is driven by all the club teams that have popped up. Seems like there is a new one every time we turn around.

The specialization discussion is a really interesting one. As a parent there is a lot of pressure to do it because you don't want your kid to "fall behind" the kids that are getting the high level training. Although our son is only in baseball at the high school level I am all for the kids that are able to play multiple sports. There are a lot of unrealistic expectations out there that many parents have about just how good their kid is or what their prospects are at the next level.

In the grand scheme of things the nearly all players will be done when their high school career ends (at least in terms of college and pro prospects). For us, we want our son to have the best opportunity to keep playing as long as possible without going insane with the amount of money we are putting in. He is at a large metro school so the competition level is high due to the larger numbers.

It is a shame to see how much youth sports has changed over the years. Used to be about playing as many sports as you could with your friends. Not saying that has gone away entirely (especially in smaller towns) but even high school sports are becoming big business these days.
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without naming names - heard that an area HS SR - who was the starting QB on the school's football team last fall, is not playing football or basketball as a Senior - because he is going to focus only on baseball. apparently hoping to get D1 offers.
 

Maverick_52 said:
Are there any state rankings or preseason polls out there? Would think they would be out by now but I haven't seen any.
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The Star-Tribune will probably release a Metro Top Ten with tomorrow's season preview. The polling in this state is very poor and there's usually no quality preseason polls.
 

StarTribune just released its statewide top 20:

1. Maple Grove
2. Edina
3. Lakeville South
4. Eden Prairie
5. Lakeville North
6. Stillwater
7. Centennial
8. Anoka
9. Shakopee
10. Elk River (5A)
11. Minnetonka
12. Chanhassen (5A)
13. Alexandria (5A)
14. Mankato West (5A)
15. Forest Lake
16. Rogers
17. Andover (5A)
18. Sauk Rapids-Rice (5A)
19. St. Thomas Academy (5A)
20. Stewartville (4A)
 



MaxyJR1 said:
Farmington has a great setting in a bowl with the school on the end. Buffalo doesn't have track around the field which is cool. Anoka and Hastings have historic settings. Roch John Marshall and Duluth Public School Stadiums are good.
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South St Paul's "Ettinger Field" is tucked in a bowl. It's a beautiful setting for a football game.
 

xyz1 said:
StarTribune just released its statewide top 20:

1. Maple Grove
2. Edina
3. Lakeville South
4. Eden Prairie
5. Lakeville North
6. Stillwater
7. Centennial
8. Anoka
9. Shakopee
10. Elk River (5A)
11. Minnetonka
12. Chanhassen (5A)
13. Alexandria (5A)
14. Mankato West (5A)
15. Forest Lake
16. Rogers
17. Andover (5A)
18. Sauk Rapids-Rice (5A)
19. St. Thomas Academy (5A)
20. Stewartville (4A)
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I hate this. Teams don't generally play across class level, so why would you have a state/metro top ten or twenty. Rankings should be by class only. I thought it was stupid 30 years ago and it still is.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
without naming names - heard that an area HS SR - who was the starting QB on the school's football team last fall, is not playing football or basketball as a Senior - because he is going to focus only on baseball. apparently hoping to get D1 offers.
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Good luck with that. Most D1 baseball offers go to guys who played Juco ball.
 

xyz1 said:
What makes Hastings nice is, as mentioned, the sense of history/uniqueness - so many newer HS fields all look the same - and a lighting system so good it seems like you're in a medical examining room once the sun has set.

When your kid plays interior line honestly the biggest thing you look for is the height of the bleachers so that you can hopefully get an angle where you have a halfway decent look at what he's doing. Unfortunately most visiting side bleacher setups aren't very good for this.
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When they tore down the old school with the tunnel under US 61 a big chunk of the nostalgia went away from the Hastings field.
 



disco said:
Good luck with that. Most D1 baseball offers go to guys who played Juco ball.
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Although in today's insane world getting to a JUCO and hopefully moving on to Division I will usually depend on going all in on the club circuit. There is even a "post-grad" team attempting to create the baseball equivalent of the USHL in hockey - kids just lift weights and play baseball for a year and put off starting college.
 

disco said:
I hate this. Teams don't generally play across class level, so why would you have a state/metro top ten or twenty. Rankings should be by class only. I thought it was stupid 30 years ago and it still is.
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Yeah, not sure I get the point of ranking teams across classes like that. Unless they really believe 4A Stewartville is better than 2/3 of the teams playing 6A as well as most of 5A (I will freely admit I know nothing about Stewartville football).
 

I have not seen a pre-season football poll yet from the AP. then again, you also get rankings from the MN Football Hub, Max Preps, whatever the Strib does, and there's the QRF from MN Scores.net.

on a side note, the Minnesota Star-Tribune, as part of its new rebranding, is claiming that it wants to be more of a state-wide paper. they mentioned in an article that this extends to prep sports coverage, and they will try to expand their prep coverage outside the metro area. we'll see how that works out.
 

xyz1 said:
Although in today's insane world getting to a JUCO and hopefully moving on to Division I will usually depend on going all in on the club circuit. There is even a "post-grad" team attempting to create the baseball equivalent of the USHL in hockey - kids just lift weights and play baseball for a year and put off starting college.
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Serious question - does that hold true for pitchers? Seems like that much baseball would be a recipe for blowing out one's arm.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Yeah, not sure I get the point of ranking teams across classes like that. Unless they really believe 4A Stewartville is better than 2/3 of the teams playing 6A as well as most of 5A (I will freely admit I know nothing about Stewartville football).
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Stewartville would lose to every 6A school in the state.
 

disco said:
Serious question - does that hold true for pitchers? Seems like that much baseball would be a recipe for blowing out one's arm.
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Yes. At least in theory they would be following the latest ideas in sports medicine on inning limitations and required breaks from throwing, and focusing in October-December on other strengthening exercises. Although one suspects one of their main goals is getting kids to pay as much as they can for Rapsodo and Trackman and all the other space-age tools used in baseball development these days.

Minnesota Post Grad Baseball | Home

www.mpgbaseball.com www.mpgbaseball.com
 


xyz1 said:
What makes Hastings nice is, as mentioned, the sense of history/uniqueness - so many newer HS fields all look the same - and a lighting system so good it seems like you're in a medical examining room once the sun has set.

When your kid plays interior line honestly the biggest thing you look for is the height of the bleachers so that you can hopefully get an angle where you have a halfway decent look at what he's doing. Unfortunately most visiting side bleacher setups aren't very good for this.
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McNamara Field in Hastings is definitely one of the best
 

I'm seeing some announcements pop up on Twitter about game times being changed for HS FB games scheduled on Thursday. Owatonna at Hastings will move to a 2pm kickoff to try and avoid the worst of the weather. and I saw another game listed as being moved to Friday - I believe that was Rockford at Royalton.
 

MNVCGUY said:
As the parent of a high school baseball player I think a lot of that is driven by all the club teams that have popped up. Seems like there is a new one every time we turn around.

The specialization discussion is a really interesting one. As a parent there is a lot of pressure to do it because you don't want your kid to "fall behind" the kids that are getting the high level training. Although our son is only in baseball at the high school level I am all for the kids that are able to play multiple sports. There are a lot of unrealistic expectations out there that many parents have about just how good their kid is or what their prospects are at the next level.

In the grand scheme of things the nearly all players will be done when their high school career ends (at least in terms of college and pro prospects). For us, we want our son to have the best opportunity to keep playing as long as possible without going insane with the amount of money we are putting in. He is at a large metro school so the competition level is high due to the larger numbers.

It is a shame to see how much youth sports has changed over the years. Used to be about playing as many sports as you could with your friends. Not saying that has gone away entirely (especially in smaller towns) but even high school sports are becoming big business these days.
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Good post here. I'm a parent of a HS baseball and hockey player. I think club teams can suck. A lot of it is about money. On the other hand, I have good friends who's kids have played club ball, loved it and from what they tell me they really helped him out on getting seen by scouts, promoting him, etc. In our experience, he only played club ball one year, and it was kind of a waste of time and for sure money. I'm sure like anything, some are good and some are not, but I'm not a fan.

If you're good enough, I don't think you NEED club teams, especially if your son is in the metro area. There is good competition during the HS season and then summer Legion (which costs about $200). I've seen scouts from schools at those games/tourneys. I will say there were definitely more scouts at a couple of the club tourneys we went to, so there's probably more chance of being seen at club tourneys. Especially if you don't want to stay more local.

Your last paragraph is a really good one. It's too bad.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
Farmington has a great setting in a bowl with the school on the end. Buffalo doesn't have track around the field which is cool. Anoka and Hastings have historic settings. Roch John Marshall and Duluth Public School Stadiums are good.
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Farmington tiger eyes in end zone is cool
Love anoka

Haven’t been to Buffalo
Like JM and Duluth East
 


short ornery norwegian said:
I'm seeing some announcements pop up on Twitter about game times being changed for HS FB games scheduled on Thursday. Owatonna at Hastings will move to a 2pm kickoff to try and avoid the worst of the weather. and I saw another game listed as being moved to Friday - I believe that was Rockford at Royalton.
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I know this conversation happening a lot
 


FinnGopher said:
WaterwaySouth St Paul's "Ettinger Field" is tucked in a bowl. It's a beautiful setting for an game.
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I enjoy football fields. Agree. We drove by SStPaul stadium yesterday and wish I would have taken the time for a closer look,
 

JayBobDobbins said:
If you're good enough, I don't think you NEED club teams, especially if your son is in the metro area. There is good competition during the HS season and then summer Legion (which costs about $200).
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I think this is true in general. People know who the really good players are.
At the same time, if the reason for playing club ball is because the kid really, really loves to play the game, that's okay too.

I drove by a youth field yesterday and the sign said "fall ball starts September 7." That just felt weird.
 

disco said:
I think this is true in general. People know who the really good players are.
At the same time, if the reason for playing club ball is because the kid really, really loves to play the game, that's okay too.

I drove by a youth field yesterday and the sign said "fall ball starts September 7." That just felt weird.
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Baseball has finally fully caught up to where Fastpitch has been for 20 years. Clubs and Fall Ball are huge and you can't blame the kids that love the sport when the summer season can be pretty short. I too have to challenge my old school thinking. However, when I hear how our youth football league can't get me a schedule because it's a mess due to all the trying to working around Hockey and baseball tryouts, it's annoying. Every year the league tries to cater to all the requests and the last minute teams that fall apart. 7th and 8th grade football in our league for games is basically trying to squeeze 10 games into a 7 weeks.

"Gotta be done by MEA for all the Hockey players."
 

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