2025 Minnesota High School Football Thread

[prespsguy]

Strongly disagree
A 7 beat a two just a couple years ago.
6 beats a 3 almost every year

Depending on the year there are 4-8 teams that are really bad. But most years the difference between 20 and 9 isn’t much.
25 could beat 5 in a one off

This whole turn in the conversation was based on you stating that Lakeville North is “still good”. They’re not…at all. They will likely go 1-7. That’s not “good” by any standard, And, it’s not like they are playing a tough schedule. They aren’t in the West and losing to Minnetonka, Maple Grove, Eden Prairie, or Edina. They’re putting up 3 points against Farmington, FARMINGTON. They are bad. Period. Some credibility is lost, to be honest.

 

[Some guy]

This whole turn in the conversation was based on you stating that Lakeville North is “still good”. They’re not…at all. They will likely go 1-7. That’s not “good” by any standard, And, it’s not like they are playing a tough schedule. They aren’t in the West and losing to Minnetonka, Maple Grove, Eden Prairie, or Edina. They’re putting up 3 points against Farmington, FARMINGTON. They are bad. Period. Some credibility is lost, to be honest.

Yup. Lakeville north isn’t that good this year in terms of how they’ll finish. So they’re slightly worse than Lakeville south. I bet if they played 2-1 Blaine they’d lose by 7
I bet if they played 3-0 farmington they’d lose by 4
I bet if they played 2-1 Lakeville south they’d lose by 16 and south would score on two short fields.



farmington is currently number 2 in the state in scoring defense in 6a
Farmington is 11-6 in their last 17 games.
Lakeville North’s QB went down in the first half and didn’t return vs Farmington.
Lakeville north vs farmington the past 6 years.
2025 - lost by 4
2024 - won by 7
2023 - won by 7
2022 - won by 1
2021 - lost by 1
2020 - lost by 22


I hate Lakeville north and don’t really care about farmington but your farmington slander in the name of defending Lakeville south for me saying they are only a little better than north is comedic

I just think you don’t watch high school football games is my take. Watch the games not the scores.
North is a pretty good football team. Could beat south on a given night. Could probably beat everyone in the south metro on a given night except shakopee. Probably finish 1-7 or 2-6 at best though.

 

[NotAFanOfBecky]

Doesn't that logic apply to every 6A school, though?

Again, any of these ... 400, 500, 600, or more kids per class ... boggles my mind that the cupboard could be bare in a year.

On the other hand, I don't really know what I'm talking about

I pondered that as well as my kids went to Roseville, with the last one graduating last year. He played football on those terrible teams. When he was younger they were competitive with most everyone they played, as they got older clearly not. They had 4 teams with 30-40 kids when they were younger, as they got older it was less and less. Overall now it’s very small numbers going out for football. Buddy of mine has a 7th grader and said they have enough for 1 team and it’s about 35-40 kids. Huge school of like 1800 enrollment and you can’t get 80-90 guys out for football? I remember going on the road to Stillwater a couple of years ago and they had over 100 kids on the sideline and we had like 45. Times have changed, football numbers are way down (at least there), sports specialization hurts. There also is a large amount of minority population there that culturally are not football fans.

 

[Some guy]

I pondered that as well as my kids went to Roseville, with the last one graduating last year. He played football on those terrible teams. When he was younger they were competitive with most everyone they played, as they got older clearly not. They had 4 teams with 30-40 kids when they were younger, as they got older it was less and less. Overall now it’s very small numbers going out for football. Buddy of mine has a 7th grader and said they have enough for 1 team and it’s about 35-40 kids. Huge school of like 1800 enrollment and you can’t get 80-90 guys out for football? I remember going on the road to Stillwater a couple of years ago and they had over 100 kids on the sideline and we had like 45. Times have changed, football numbers are way down (at least there), sports specialization hurts. There also is a large amount of minority population there that culturally are not football fans.

Yup. It’s tough and it hits different communities differently

There are some towns that can still get a team everyone once in a while that competes but super difficult to do year in and year out.

 

[prespsguy]

Yup. Lakeville north isn’t that good this year in terms of how they’ll finish. So they’re slightly worse than Lakeville south. I bet if they played 2-1 Blaine they’d lose by 7
I bet if they played 3-0 farmington they’d lose by 4
I bet if they played 2-1 Lakeville south they’d lose by 16 and south would score on two short fields.



farmington is currently number 2 in the state in scoring defense in 6a
Farmington is 11-6 in their last 17 games.
Lakeville North’s QB went down in the first half and didn’t return vs Farmington.
Lakeville north vs farmington the past 6 years.
2025 - lost by 4
2024 - won by 7
2023 - won by 7
2022 - won by 1
2021 - lost by 1
2020 - lost by 22


I hate Lakeville north and don’t really care about farmington but your farmington slander in the name of defending Lakeville south for me saying they are only a little better than north is comedic

I just think you don’t watch high school football games is my take. Watch the games not the scores.
North is a pretty good football team. Could beat south on a given night. Could probably beat everyone in the south metro on a given night except shakopee. Probably finish 1-7 or 2-6 at best though.

Since 2012 (13 years ago), Farmington has advanced beyond the first round of the playoffs just one time. I’m not “slandering” them. It is what it is.

This season, thus far, Farmington, like Lakeville North has not played very good competition.

Check in a few weeks and remind me of what Farmington’s rank is in scoring defense, after they play Lakeville South, Rosemount, Shakopee, and Prior Lake.

It seems like you are the one who just watches scores.

This is the last thing I’ll say and then you can get your final word, as it seems you must.

 

[Some guy]

Since 2012 (13 years ago), Farmington has advanced beyond the first round of the playoffs just one time. I’m not “slandering” them. It is what it is.

This season, thus far, Farmington, like Lakeville North has not played very good competition.

Check in a few weeks and remind me of what Farmington’s rank is in scoring defense, after they play Lakeville South, Rosemount, Shakopee, and Prior Lake.

It seems like you are the one who just watches scores.

This is the last thing I’ll say and then you can get your final word, as it seems you must.

You’re agreeing with me!
.
I say north isn’t that much worse than south.
You say north sucks and they haven’t played anyone.
North just played south.
You literally are saying what I’m saying!

 

[MaxyJR1]

It’s all about matchups at the top level. Teams like Forest Lake and Centennial probably matchup better against EP and Shakopee than Edina if they want to get into the top few teams. It will come down to matchups and who draws who in the crossover games, teams like Champlin Park, Osseo and Moorhead come playoff time won’t be talked about as much but can for sure make the final 8

Agree. 6A is most balanced and deep class. It comes down to defense and who can stop the heavy run offenses each year. Maple Grove and Shakopee semi was a defensive bloodbath last year. You see the most FG’s at this level as well.

I think it’s a two team race with MG and Minnetonka, but you’re dealing with the minds of 16-18 year olds.

 

[Some guy]

Agree. 6A is most balanced and deep class. It comes down to defense and who can stop the heavy run offenses each year. Maple Grove and Shakopee semi was a defensive bloodbath last year. You see the most FG’s at this level as well.

I think it’s a two team race with MG and Minnetonka, but you’re dealing with the minds of 16-18 year olds.

I think if shakopee stays healthy they can stick with those two. But they’ve had a rough time staying healthy the last few years.

 

[Gopher 461]

The EP/Tonka game in a couple of weeks will be a tell for me. MG beat EP on strong second half play but clearly was the better team and didn't make as many mistakes as EP. Tonka looked like a bruising squad in their win against Moorhead. If EP can beat Tonka then I believe the wildcard is Shakopee who I have not seen this year. Those four would make a great bunch of semi finalists this year, no disrespect to other 6A teams.

 

[GopherGrit]

I pondered that as well as my kids went to Roseville, with the last one graduating last year. He played football on those terrible teams. When he was younger they were competitive with most everyone they played, as they got older clearly not. They had 4 teams with 30-40 kids when they were younger, as they got older it was less and less. Overall now it’s very small numbers going out for football. Buddy of mine has a 7th grader and said they have enough for 1 team and it’s about 35-40 kids. Huge school of like 1800 enrollment and you can’t get 80-90 guys out for football? I remember going on the road to Stillwater a couple of years ago and they had over 100 kids on the sideline and we had like 45. Times have changed, football numbers are way down (at least there), sports specialization hurts. There also is a large amount of minority population there that culturally are not football fans.

Sure, these are great points.

At schools like Roseville, Hopkins, Burnsville .... schools that are still large but have a lot of non-football playing minorities, it makes a lot of sense.

 

[disco]

So again, I can buy this ... but what ever happened to waiting for your time? If you can't be a starter by the time you're a junior ... you just quit the sport?

I think it's more common than you think. Or if they feel they aren't going to get as much playing time as they'd like.

 

[Ope3]

So again, I can buy this ... but what ever happened to waiting for your time? If you can't be a starter by the time you're a junior ... you just quit the sport?

When the going gets tough, quit.

 

[disco]

I pondered that as well as my kids went to Roseville, with the last one graduating last year. He played football on those terrible teams. When he was younger they were competitive with most everyone they played, as they got older clearly not. They had 4 teams with 30-40 kids when they were younger, as they got older it was less and less. Overall now it’s very small numbers going out for football. Buddy of mine has a 7th grader and said they have enough for 1 team and it’s about 35-40 kids. Huge school of like 1800 enrollment and you can’t get 80-90 guys out for football? I remember going on the road to Stillwater a couple of years ago and they had over 100 kids on the sideline and we had like 45. Times have changed, football numbers are way down (at least there), sports specialization hurts. There also is a large amount of minority population there that culturally are not football fans.

Is Roseville like Hopkins, where you have a lot of kids in the district open enroll out, and are back filled with kids from the city open enrolling in?

 

[Gopherwatcher]

When the going gets tough, quit.

This is really a big part of the issue football is facing. I would argue maybe outside of wrestling, football is the most physically demanding sport schools offer. But unlike wrestling, you can (or should) only play 1 game per week. Many kids in our school HATE any kind of physical activity. Many of them even hate phy ed! That is just so hard for me to wrap my head around. Sports were the most fun I had in high school. Hanging out with teammates, road trips, playing games (win or lose) locker room talk. All great. Now it's not enough for kids to even play, they have to be starting.

Football also faces the issue now of competing against fall baseball and basketball leagues. I know the MSHSL put out a memo a couple of weeks ago saying football has the highest participation it's ever had. I'd really like to know where the increase has come because our school and every other school we face is at about 60% of the numbers they were 10 years ago....

 

[disco]

Football also faces the issue now of competing against fall baseball and basketball leagues. I know the MSHSL put out a memo a couple of weeks ago saying football has the highest participation it's ever had. I'd really like to know where the increase has come because our school and every other school we face is at about 60% of the numbers they were 10 years ago....

Yep. While a lot of sports are basically year round (or at least 9 months), football is more or less August, September and October. It's the easiest to drop if you want to concentrate on one thing.

 

[MaxyJR1]

This is really a big part of the issue football is facing. I would argue maybe outside of wrestling, football is the most physically demanding sport schools offer. But unlike wrestling, you can (or should) only play 1 game per week. Many kids in our school HATE any kind of physical activity. Many of them even hate phy ed! That is just so hard for me to wrap my head around. Sports were the most fun I had in high school. Hanging out with teammates, road trips, playing games (win or lose) locker room talk. All great. Now it's not enough for kids to even play, they have to be starting.

Football also faces the issue now of competing against fall baseball and basketball leagues. I know the MSHSL put out a memo a couple of weeks ago saying football has the highest participation it's ever had. I'd really like to know where the increase has come because our school and every other school we face is at about 60% of the numbers they were 10 years ago....

Football has a huge competition problem. I agree on the physical part of it. I hated it, but wanted to be part of a team and really liked the game.

There is no respect for the football season. Other sports all schedule tryouts and fall practices/games over the top of it. It's the shortest season out there with little out of season action, but there is not respect for the fall season.

It's week 4 and some youth leagues can't even get a schedule out beyond a week because of all the requests for dates off, due to baseball, basketball and hockey conflicts.

Baseball fields get more use in the fall than in the summer in many communities.

 

[Gopherwatcher]

Football has a huge competition problem. I agree on the physical part of it. I hated it, but wanted to be part of a team and really liked the game.

There is no respect for the football season. Other sports all schedule tryouts and fall practices/games over the top of it. It's the shortest season out there with little out of season action, but there is not respect for the fall season.

It's week 4 and some youth leagues can't even get a schedule out beyond a week because of all the requests for dates off, due to baseball, basketball and hockey conflicts.

Baseball fields get more use in the fall than in the summer in many communities.

Well, there is BIG money to be made running these leagues so it's not going anywhere.

 

[disco]

Football has a huge competition problem. I agree on the physical part of it. I hated it, but wanted to be part of a team and really liked the game.

There is no respect for the football season. Other sports all schedule tryouts and fall practices/games over the top of it. It's the shortest season out there with little out of season action, but there is not respect for the fall season.

It's week 4 and some youth leagues can't even get a schedule out beyond a week because of all the requests for dates off, due to baseball, basketball and hockey conflicts.

Baseball fields get more use in the fall than in the summer in many communities.

Yep. I hated this when I coached. We'd constantly have kids missing practice for hockey, soccer and baseball. And as much as you'd like to penalize those kids and reward the ones who are always there, you can't because of roster size, playing time requirements, and weight limits.

Our basketball programs have always been the most respectful, though my kid did have to miss a practice for tryouts this year. But that was because his football practice time changed a few days before - that wasn't the hoops program's fault.

Re: Baseball. I couldn't believe how many kids games I saw going on around the cities this past weekend.

 

[MaxyJR1]

Yep. I hated this when I coached. We'd constantly have kids missing practice for hockey, soccer and baseball. And as much as you'd like to penalize those kids and reward the ones who are always there, you can't because of roster size, playing time requirements, and weight limits.

Our basketball programs have always been the most respectful, though my kid did have to miss a practice for tryouts this year. But that was because his football practice time changed a few days before - that wasn't the hoops program's fault.

Re: Baseball. I couldn't believe how many kids games I saw going on around the cities this past weekend.

Boys club sports finally caught up with girls. Volleyball and Fastpitch clubs started 20 years ago and now Baseball has blossoms exponentially over the last 5 years. I see baseball complex lights on M-Th for club practices. Saturdays are big for Club and Sundays for Association fall league teams.

 

[FireDaveLee]

Regarding hockey, the biggest thing I note from 30-35 years ago is back then, you'd have practices & maybe some scrimmages in November and then the first big tournament was Thanksgiving weekend. The season really didn't ramp up until that weekend. Now, there's usually big tournaments Halloween weekend. Rochester hosts the Pumpkin tournaments for a lot of the top Bantam & Pee Wee AA & A teams. There are other Bantam tournaments happen early November. They literally moved up the season, which goes into football. Perhaps baseball started it cutting in to hockey so it was reactionary? I don't know....

Perhaps a small ray of hope: Eden Prairie this year moved squirt tryouts back to the end of October after MEA. Previously, they would always do tryouts in late September (Pee Wee & Bantam tryouts start this Saturday). The move was intended to allow for more of the 4th & 5th graders to be able to participate in more fall sports without having to worry about missing any games on weekends. There are still some clinics & stuff going on leading up to tryouts, but some of those are a little more justifiable to miss.

Unfortunately, I think football is going to always be the one that has to accommodate. They just are not going to win when it comes to deciding between basketball & hockey. You'd like to have more of the multi-sport athletes, but the bottom line is guys like Mason West & Owen Konrad (sophomore RB & talented hockey player for EP) are few & far between. Most kids need to concentrate if their goal is to be a HS starter at some of these mega schools.