2025 Minnesota High School Football Thread

[MaxyJR1]

This was a very contentious issue in the school district for a long time. There were adequate facilities in both Winthrop and in Fairfax (especially) but local politics closed the Fairfax facility quite some time ago. The tax base in the district is almost entirely agricultural, there being very little commercial/industry and the housing has very little value. The demographics suggest the possibility the school may not exist before the bonds are paid off. In a nod to current political absurdity, GFW had to drop the "Thurderbirds" mascot and adopt "Firebirds" as their new mascot.

Not far from McLeod West where politics (more community pride) blew out the district a few years ago.

 

[Slim Tubby]

Sad to hear that about Long Prairie.

Here is my Small school rankings with some reasoning

AA
1. JCC - Haven't played as stiff of competition as some but still have the best player in MN...
2. Holdingford - #1 in QRF by a large margin - many AAA teams on schedule
3. Staples-Motley - Crazy Schedule so are and were runners up last year with most skill guys back
4. Pillager - Same Schedule as SM - Play each other Friday, 3 straight losses to SM coming in
5. Chatfield - Winning but not by the margins of teams in front of them or the competition level
6. Osakis - Only loss is to Holdingford - pair of wins over AAA teams
7. Goodhue - Best win is over 3-3 AAA Lake City
8. Moose lake-Willow River - Haven't played anyone - Best win over Rush City
9. Waterville-Elysian-Morristown - Best win is over Maple River
10. Aitkin

Class A
1. Minneota - no need to explain that one...
2. Mahnomen - Beneficiary of Springfields last game and just being SOLID for 30 years
3. Springfield - Not sure what the story was but last week went into overtime with a 1 win Sleepy eye team
4. Breckenridge - Hardest schedule in class A and blowing everyone out but Parkers Prairie
5. Cleveland - 6-0 team but not blowing anyone away and no "real" signature wins
6. Filmore Central - Same as Cleveland as far as quality wins go
7. Barnum - Only loss is to AA Moose Lake Willow River
8. Parkers Prairie-Only loss is to Breckenridge on the road - Wins over U.S.A, OTC
9. Red Lake County - Only loss was to Mahnomen - But no other competition
10. U.S.A - Blowing everyone out, Only loss is on road to Parkers Prairie

9P - I do not know much about 9P but this is what I come up with after looking through each teams schedules and results through 6 games

1. Kittson County
2. Hills Beaver Creek
3. Steven Argyle - Only loss was a by 2 @ KCC
4. Mabel-Canton
5. Mille Lacs
6. Red Rock Central
7. Wabasso
8. Cromwell - Lost to Mille Lacs
9. Hillcrest - Only team with winning record played is Ortonville, and they are suspect
10. Bertha Hewitt - Loss to Cromwell last week

Tons of excitement up this way for Pillager and S-M. I still think Holdingford is the team to beat in 2A but not without a fight.

 

[Random Guy 12]

Tons of excitement up this way for Pillager and S-M. I still think Holdingford is the team to beat in 2A but not without a fight.

Down here we have Chatfield @ Caledonia this week. Chatfield with a slight edge but game at Caledonia which is always tough. Caledonia lost season opener with a QB injury but can't be discounted here. Still a great program with one of the best coaches in the state. Triton and Rochester Lourdes are both right there as well in a pretty loaded section.

 

[mcrow47]

Yeah, McLeod County football is down. GSL and Hutch used to dominate. GSL been down nearly a decade at this point and this is the second year in a row where Hutch does not look like they are a serious contender to even get out of the section.

Granted in AAAA Becker is down, Rocori is down, Hutch is down....ect so many of the usual top contenders are down. Yeah, Rocori is 5-1 but they barely beat Hutch and Hutch isn't very good. They also barely beat Willmar who isn't very good. But they did beat a good Fergus Falls team so we will see but I don't think they're as good as some of the better teams in recent history.

But for Hutch and GSL it seems like numbers are way down. I heard GSL was barely able to fill a JV. Hutch used to have like 5 teams, Varsity, JV, C...ect. I don't think they had numbers to fill the usual number of teams. Plus Hutch is way down on size. Used to be the Tigers would line up a bunch a big kids and just maul teams into submission. They are quite the opposite now and struggling to find an identity.

We will see if Hutch rises again or goes the way of GSL and doesn't seem like they will get it back anytime soon.

 

[MaxyJR1]

Yeah, McLeod County football is down. GSL and Hutch used to dominate. GSL been down nearly a decade at this point and this is the second year in a row where Hutch does not look like they are a serious contender to even get out of the section.

Granted in AAAA Becker is down, Rocori is down, Hutch is down....ect so many of the usual top contenders are down. Yeah, Rocori is 5-1 but they barely beat Hutch and Hutch isn't very good. They also barely beat Willmar who isn't very good. But they did beat a good Fergus Falls team so we will see but I don't think they're as good as some of the better teams in recent history.

But for Hutch and GSL it seems like numbers are way down. I heard GSL was barely able to fill a JV. Hutch used to have like 5 teams, Varsity, JV, C...ect. I don't think they had numbers to fill the usual number of teams. Plus Hutch is way down on size. Used to be the Tigers would line up a bunch a big kids and just maul teams into submission. They are quite the opposite now and struggling to find an identity.

We will see if Hutch rises again or goes the way of GSL and doesn't seem like they will get it back anytime soon.

Marshall should walk that section. Still think Rocori is second best team. St. Peter should get 3 seed for section but they played all 3A schools. Rocori beat (4-2) Totino Grace and plays (3-3) Becker this week.

 

[mcrow47]

Marshall should walk that section. Still think Rocori is second best team. St. Peter should get 3 seed for section but they played all 3A schools. Rocori beat (4-2) Totino Grace and plays (3-3) Becker this week.

Yeah, Marshall is the clear favorite. Easily beat Hutch and Rocori.

Not sure what happened with Marshall but they used always play a lot of smaller schools and come into the playoffs with a nice record but never tested but this year they have a schedule that compares to what Hutch, Becker, and Rocori typically play. I always viewed playing down (and not even to good smaller school teams) didn't help them prep to play teams like Hutch but now seems like they're playing a tough schedule and winning too.

 

[MaxyJR1]

Yeah, Marshall is the clear favorite. Easily beat Hutch and Rocori.

Not sure what happened with Marshall but they used always play a lot of smaller schools and come into the playoffs with a nice record but never tested but this year they have a schedule that compares to what Hutch, Becker, and Rocori typically play. I always viewed playing down (and not even to good smaller school teams) didn't help them prep to play teams like Hutch but now seems like they're playing a tough schedule and winning too.

They finally fixed it with the new districts for the next 2 years. 5A and 4A have done a nice job of competitive balance for scheduling.

Marshall is too big and good for any of the teams or rivals they were still playing so they pushed them north playing all 4A opponents this cycle.

They grouped Albert Lea, Belle Plaine, Fairmont, TCU, Waseca, Worthington, Austin, New Ulm, and St. Peter together. All have been 3A or 4A for quite a few years and traditional Rivals or Opponents.

 

[Some guy]

Why don't the teams in this section (6-AA) schedule each other? They have decent proximity being within an hour or so of each other. They'd suffer some losses but only one team comes out in the end anyway. At least this season anyway they are missing out on the opportunity for some great games.

Because they don’t control their schedule

 

[Some guy]

Oh, I misunderstood you. LOL why does the MNSHL schedule the way they do? because they do what they want i guess... I did here some schedule committee member on the Rady Shaver podcast state they are trying to get each team to 4-4 each year, which is laughable be cause most schools are going to be drastically different from year to year. S-M was 0-9 in 2022 and in the AA championship game in 2024... Now tell me how you are setting up a schedule off last years results and you know who will be good or bad and have it be one size fits all. Doing it this way is how you have killed all most 100% of the rivalries in football.

If you really heard them say that that’s one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard.

 

[Some guy]

They finally fixed it with the new districts for the next 2 years. 5A and 4A have done a nice job of competitive balance for scheduling.

Marshall is too big and good for any of the teams or rivals they were still playing so they pushed them north playing all 4A opponents this cycle.

They grouped Albert Lea, Belle Plaine, Fairmont, TCU, Waseca, Worthington, Austin, New Ulm, and St. Peter together. All have been 3A or 4A for quite a few years and traditional Rivals or Opponents.

It’s gotten better in spots but worse in spots


I will never understand why they made districts different things from sections.



Make the sections fair and geographic.
Play your section.
Crossover with other sections or other classes.
They want the districts because they make sense:
They want the sections because they make sense. How are they not the same thing?

 

[Random Guy 12]

Because they don’t control their schedule

Ya. Explained above. Teams in that section are split up between different districts. Its too bad.

 

[MaxyJR1]

It’s gotten better in spots but worse in spots


I will never understand why they made districts different things from sections.



Make the sections fair and geographic.
Play your section.
Crossover with other sections or other classes.
They want the districts because they make sense:
They want the sections because they make sense. How are they not the same thing?

I think the districts are simply a way to have control over what used to be conferences, so no one is left hanging.

At this point they probably could just go to section play and pair a couple sections up, from the same region, for cross over games.

For the most part the schedules make sense. It is interesting that Central (NYA) is in a district with Randolph, Kenyon-W. Goodhue, and Cannon Falls (AA) and they play St. Peter 4A in a cross over game.

Randolph is AA and was 9Man not long ago. Less than 15 years ago.

 

[disco]

I think the districts are simply a way to have control over what used to be conferences, so no one is left hanging.

At this point they probably could just go to section play and pair a couple sections up, from the same region, for cross over games.

For the most part the schedules make sense. It is interesting that Central (NYA) is in a district with Randolph, Kenyon-W. Goodhue, and Cannon Falls (AA) and they play St. Peter 4A in a cross over game.

Randolph is AA and was 9Man not long ago. Less than 15 years ago.

Agree. Section play makes so much more sense. Why add a level of bureaucracy.

Randolph was 9 man? I'm honestly shocked there was a 9 man program in the 7 county metro area that recently, if ever.

 

[mcrow47]

I think the districts are simply a way to have control over what used to be conferences, so no one is left hanging.

At this point they probably could just go to section play and pair a couple sections up, from the same region, for cross over games.

Yeah, that would be best. Just looking at AAAA not sure how you make it work pairing sections. Section 1, 7, & 8 are all pretty isolated within the class. 3 & 6 make sense and 4 & 5 makes sense.

 

[MaxyJR1]

Yeah, that would be best. Just looking at AAAA not sure how you make it work pairing sections. Section 1, 7, & 8 are all pretty isolated within the class. 3 & 6 make sense and 4 & 5 makes sense.

Probably with a 5A or 3A section.

 

[Ranger692]

If you really heard them say that that’s one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard.

Oh, I heard them say it... so can everyone else right here


That's how you get teams like Breckenridge, OTC, Pelican Rapids, Underwood and several others traveling to Roseau

 

[MaxyJR1]

Mike Sherels fighting the MN Youth status quo of Youth Football and evenly distributing talent. MN Youth programs evenly distribute talent. He argues that it should be A, B, C level like other sports. The top programs disagree with him. Good article with some good quotes.

Some say Minnesota’s youth football philosophy is holding back top players | Strib Varsity

Minnesota youth football programs distribute talent evenly, instead of forming A, B and C teams, and some leaders say that’s a mistake.

varsity.startribune.com

 

[mcrow47]

Ok big matchups for this week:

9-man:

Mabel-Canton(6-0) vs Kingsland (5-1)
Kingsland's only loss was a close one to Spring Grove and M-C narrowly defeated Spring Grove. This is likely a winner takes #1 seed in the section.

Red Rock Central (6-0) vs Wabasso (6-0)
Section 2 showdown for the likely top seed.

Littlefork-Big Falls (5-1) VS Cook County (6-0)
Another game to likely determine the #1 seed going into the playoffs.

Class A:

Minneota (6-0) vs Dawson-Boyd (5-1)
Minneota is the favorite without a doubt here but this will decide who's top dog in the section going into the playoffs.

Upsala-Swanville (5-1) vs Ashby/Brandon-Evansville(4-2)
U-S is the favorite but top seed is on the line.


Class AA:

Staples-Motley (6-0) vs Pillager (6-0)
Might be the game of the week. Two undefeated section foes. Performed similarly vs common opponents. Tough that only 1 will go to state and there are three undefeated teams in the section with Holdingford there as well, but that's how it goes some years.

Class AAA:

Waseca (6-0) vs Albert Lea (5-1)

Section 3 showdown. Both played a tough St. Peter team, Waseca narrowly won and Albert Lea lost a close one to St. Peter. Common opponents show this could be a very good game that determines the #1 seed.

Pequot Lakes (6-0) vs Two Harbors (5-1)

Two teams looking to stay alive for the #1 seed in section 7 with Pierz also being undefeated. Similar performance vs common opponents leads me to believe this could be a very good game. Two Harbor's only loss is to North Branch who might be a top 10 class AAAA team.

Class AAAA:

Byron (6-0) vs Stewartville (5-1)
Stewartville lost to Kasson-Mantorville and Bryron beat K-M solidly so Byron is the clear favorite here but this is a very important game for Section 1. Should Stewartville win it would really muck up seeding.

Class AAAAA

Cretin-Derham Hall Raiders (5-1) vs Mahtomedi (6-0)​

Another potential game of the week here. Similar performance vs common opponents. Winner takes the #1 seed.

Spring Lake Park (6-0) vs Buffalo (4-2)

SLP may be a slight favorite here but Buffalo has played the tougher schedule. Similar vs common opponents. Should be a good game and very important for the section.

5A: Not really any huge games this week, it seems.

 

[FireDaveLee]

Mike Sherels fighting the MN Youth status quo of Youth Football and evenly distributing talent. MN Youth programs evenly distribute talent. He argues that it should be A, B, C level like other sports. The top programs disagree with him. Good article with some good quotes.

Some say Minnesota’s youth football philosophy is holding back top players | Strib Varsity

Minnesota youth football programs distribute talent evenly, instead of forming A, B and C teams, and some leaders say that’s a mistake.

varsity.startribune.com

Interesting article.

SWML (EP, Chaska, Chan, Prior Lake, Orono, New Prague, Waconia) is supposed to do balance teams (always rumors whether a team or two is stacked), but does keep score & has small level of tiered playoffs, so perhaps a hybrid of the LMAA & full competitive football.

I can tell you that there are some in the SWML that are advocates of A & B levels, at least at the 8th grade level.

 

[MaxyJR1]

Ok big matchups for this week:

9-man:

Mabel-Canton(6-0) vs Kingsland (5-1)
Kingsland's only loss was a close one to Spring Grove and M-C narrowly defeated Spring Grove. This is likely a winner takes #1 seed in the section.

Red Rock Central (6-0) vs Wabasso (6-0)
Section 2 showdown for the likely top seed.

Littlefork-Big Falls (5-1) VS Cook County (6-0)
Another game to likely determine the #1 seed going into the playoffs.

Class A:

Minneota (6-0) vs Dawson-Boyd (5-1)
Minneota is the favorite without a doubt here but this will decide who's top dog in the section going into the playoffs.

Upsala-Swanville (5-1) vs Ashby/Brandon-Evansville(4-2)
U-S is the favorite but top seed is on the line.


Class AA:

Staples-Motley (6-0) vs Pillager (6-0)
Might be the game of the week. Two undefeated section foes. Performed similarly vs common opponents. Tough that only 1 will go to state and there are three undefeated teams in the section with Holdingford there as well, but that's how it goes some years.

Class AAA:

Waseca (6-0) vs Albert Lea (5-1)

Section 3 showdown. Both played a tough St. Peter team, Waseca narrowly won and Albert Lea lost a close one to St. Peter. Common opponents show this could be a very good game that determines the #1 seed.

Pequot Lakes (6-0) vs Two Harbors (5-1)

Two teams looking to stay alive for the #1 seed in section 7 with Pierz also being undefeated. Similar performance vs common opponents leads me to believe this could be a very good game. Two Harbor's only loss is to North Branch who might be a top 10 class AAAA team.

Class AAAA:

Byron (6-0) vs Stewartville (5-1)
Stewartville lost to Kasson-Mantorville and Bryron beat K-M solidly so Byron is the clear favorite here but this is a very important game for Section 1. Should Stewartville win it would really muck up seeding.

Class AAAAA

Cretin-Derham Hall Raiders (5-1) vs Mahtomedi (6-0)​

Another potential game of the week here. Similar performance vs common opponents. Winner takes the #1 seed.

Spring Lake Park (6-0) vs Buffalo (4-2)

SLP may be a slight favorite here but Buffalo has played the tougher schedule. Similar vs common opponents. Should be a good game and very important for the section.

5A: Not really any huge games this week, it seems.

Centennial at Blaine is probably the biggest game in 6A. Blaine 4-2 and Centennial is 5-1, tied with Champlin and Andover at 5-1. Blaine plays Andover next week. Blaine lost to Champlin by 4 late and Champlin got beat by 21 by Centennial. (Andover beat Centennial and Champlin beat Andover) Big City Rivalry with the districts over lapping Blaine.

 

[MNVCGUY]

Interesting article.

SWML (EP, Chaska, Chan, Prior Lake, Orono, New Prague, Waconia) is supposed to do balance teams (always rumors whether a team or two is stacked), but does keep score & has small level of tiered playoffs, so perhaps a hybrid of the LMAA & full competitive football.

I can tell you that there are some in the SWML that are advocates of A & B levels, at least at the 8th grade level.

I remember in my oldest son's one season of youth football in Apple Valley the teams were supposed to be balanced....but oddly all the speed and talent seemed to find its way to the one roster with a coach that was mostly in charge of making the teams......

 

[MNVCGUY]

Centennial at Blaine is probably the biggest game in 6A. Blaine 4-2 and Centennial is 5-1, tied with Champlin and Andover at 5-1. Blaine plays Andover next week. Blaine lost to Champlin by 4 late and Champlin got beat by 21 by Centennial. (Andover beat Centennial and Champlin beat Andover) Big City Rivalry with the districts over lapping Blaine.

Prior Lake at South has some implications as well. Prior Lake is sitting at 3-3 but that is not a team I would want to run into in playoffs.

 

[MaxyJR1]

Interesting article.

SWML (EP, Chaska, Chan, Prior Lake, Orono, New Prague, Waconia) is supposed to do balance teams (always rumors whether a team or two is stacked), but does keep score & has small level of tiered playoffs, so perhaps a hybrid of the LMAA & full competitive football.

I can tell you that there are some in the SWML that are advocates of A & B levels, at least at the 8th grade level.

They mention the Wisconsin model. Last year a couple MN teams played a team from Green Bay that has put guys in D1 and NFL. A MN 8th grade got killed by the 8th grade team and a MN 7th grade killed the Green Bay 7th grade team. Green Bay just had a RB that no one could catch and scored every TD for the 8th grade team.

Our community a couple years ago put all the new 6th graders on a team together to not disrupt the established teams. They didn't score a TD the entire season. Many from that team quit. It was a bad experience for everyone.

Unless Sherels plans to become a HC in HS and open enroll his players to that school, his philosophy will fall on deaf ears.

 

[Some guy]

Mike Sherels fighting the MN Youth status quo of Youth Football and evenly distributing talent. MN Youth programs evenly distribute talent. He argues that it should be A, B, C level like other sports. The top programs disagree with him. Good article with some good quotes.

Some say Minnesota’s youth football philosophy is holding back top players | Strib Varsity

Minnesota youth football programs distribute talent evenly, instead of forming A, B and C teams, and some leaders say that’s a mistake.

varsity.startribune.com

The bigger issue is the fact we are playing playoffs in 3rd grade against teams 30 minutes away.
But if you’re going to do that, ABC team is probably a better way to do it to set up kids for success.

If you evenly distribute talent AND give everyone playing time you inevitably make a C kid try to tackle and A kid and it goes poorly

 

[FireDaveLee]

I remember in my oldest son's one season of youth football in Apple Valley the teams were supposed to be balanced....but oddly all the speed and talent seemed to find its way to the one roster with a coach that was mostly in charge of making the teams......

Always some shadiness. The association I'm in has a rule that 1 head coach & 1 official assistant; there are other assistant coaches, but their kids are a part of the draft pool. This at least avoids the 1 head coach & 5 dads that are assistants so those 6 kids are automatically put on the same team.

Maybe the solution is when the draft happens, coaches draft for the other teams?

 

[Gophers7NatTitlesBadgers0]

If you really heard them say that that’s one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard.

It's one of the most Minnesota things ever. We can't have players on terrible teams getting their feelings hurt and developing self-esteem issues because their team is terrible.

 

[Ranger692]

Ok big matchups for this week:

9-man:

Mabel-Canton(6-0) vs Kingsland (5-1)
Kingsland's only loss was a close one to Spring Grove and M-C narrowly defeated Spring Grove. This is likely a winner takes #1 seed in the section.

Red Rock Central (6-0) vs Wabasso (6-0)
Section 2 showdown for the likely top seed.

Littlefork-Big Falls (5-1) VS Cook County (6-0)
Another game to likely determine the #1 seed going into the playoffs.

Class A:

Minneota (6-0) vs Dawson-Boyd (5-1)
Minneota is the favorite without a doubt here but this will decide who's top dog in the section going into the playoffs.

Upsala-Swanville (5-1) vs Ashby/Brandon-Evansville(4-2)
U-S is the favorite but top seed is on the line.


Class AA:

Staples-Motley (6-0) vs Pillager (6-0)
Might be the game of the week. Two undefeated section foes. Performed similarly vs common opponents. Tough that only 1 will go to state and there are three undefeated teams in the section with Holdingford there as well, but that's how it goes some years.

Class AAA:

Waseca (6-0) vs Albert Lea (5-1)

Section 3 showdown. Both played a tough St. Peter team, Waseca narrowly won and Albert Lea lost a close one to St. Peter. Common opponents show this could be a very good game that determines the #1 seed.

Pequot Lakes (6-0) vs Two Harbors (5-1)

Two teams looking to stay alive for the #1 seed in section 7 with Pierz also being undefeated. Similar performance vs common opponents leads me to believe this could be a very good game. Two Harbor's only loss is to North Branch who might be a top 10 class AAAA team.

Class AAAA:

Byron (6-0) vs Stewartville (5-1)
Stewartville lost to Kasson-Mantorville and Bryron beat K-M solidly so Byron is the clear favorite here but this is a very important game for Section 1. Should Stewartville win it would really muck up seeding.

Class AAAAA

Cretin-Derham Hall Raiders (5-1) vs Mahtomedi (6-0)​

Another potential game of the week here. Similar performance vs common opponents. Winner takes the #1 seed.

Spring Lake Park (6-0) vs Buffalo (4-2)

SLP may be a slight favorite here but Buffalo has played the tougher schedule. Similar vs common opponents. Should be a good game and very important for the section.

5A: Not really any huge games this week, it seems.

I live in the central part of the state. Here is my .02 on the class A and AA games listed


Minneota will win by a large margin.

Upsala swanville will win by 3+ scores. A-B-E doesnt have the size, speed, or discipline to play with good teams. Several ineligible players I had heard from grades and drinking through the season

Pillager over S-M In a barn burner. I think Pillager is ready to make the jump this year. Couple highly recruited players and thuer SIZE will be hard for any team to deal with moving forward

 

[swede2]

Ok big matchups for this week:

9-man:

Red Rock Central (6-0) vs Wabasso (6-0)
Section 2 showdown for the likely top seed.

This would be an entertaining matchup. I believe this is Wabasso's first year in 9 man. I believe RRC dropped down 2 years ago. Wabasso stuck with 11 man football even though it could have moved down to 9 man at least 2 years ago but there's a lot of pride in these small schools that have had recent athletic success. Wabasso has struggled the last couple of years and has found its footing in 9 man.

Theses schools share a district boundary, with Lamberton and Wabasso a mere 12 miles apart or so. There are no doubt a lot of family relationships on both sides of the line. Nearly 40 years ago, Sanborn Lamberton Wabasso was a football coop for a cup of coffee and had enough kids to be a Class "B" school. There might be kids playing each other whose fathers were teammates in those days.

Back in my day, Southwest Minnesota was dotted with Class B and Class C teams. The Red Rock Conference, my home conference, was a mixture of the two classes. 9 man football was something exotic that seemed to be isolated in the northwest and a few far flung schools who had horrible bus rides.

Even 5 or 6 years ago, 9 man teams from this part of the state were still making long bus trips. Now, it seems like 9 man will overtake 11 man out here and I wonder how long it will be, with the participation trophy attitude of the MSHSL and participation numbers, until we'll have multiple 9 man classes.

 

[MaxyJR1]

It's one of the most Minnesota things ever. We can't have players on terrible teams getting their feelings hurt and developing self-esteem issues because their team is terrible.

Or they all quit and the A players have no one to practice against or push them to be better. There are multiple stories in our program of kids that were never "A" level players (We have B teams in 9th, 10th, and JV) and were all conference or starters their senior year, having never taken an "A" game snap. There is a reason that other sports do A, B, and C. It's fewer players to field teams and for the most part everyone does it the same way. MN programs choose to balance teams.

It's about being competitive, having numbers, providing a great experience for the kids.

 

[MaxyJR1]

The bigger issue is the fact we are playing playoffs in 3rd grade against teams 30 minutes away.
But if you’re going to do that, ABC team is probably a better way to do it to set up kids for success.

If you evenly distribute talent AND give everyone playing time you inevitably make a C kid try to tackle and A kid and it goes poorly

The new large league no longer has playoffs. They play games and have competitive match-ups for a bowl game tomorrow. Then if teams want to they can play in a 3-game tournament next weekend at the National Sports Center against teams from MN and WI.