2025 Minnesota High School Football Thread

I think the winner of Section1 of Byron, KM and Stewartville and Section 2 Marshall are the clear favorites to win it. Byron be Stewartville on the last play of the game Saturday.
It’s crazy that two of the top 4-5 teams in the state are going to play in that section semifinal


I get why bottom 6 classes can’t do what 6a does for playoff. But it would be great if they could make the final 16 a new bracket with two advancing from each section.
Only adds long travel for 8 teams but would make the state tourney better.
 

It’s crazy that two of the top 4-5 teams in the state are going to play in that section semifinal


I get why bottom 6 classes can’t do what 6a does for playoff. But it would be great if they could make the final 16 a new bracket with two advancing from each section.
Only adds long travel for 8 teams but would make the state tourney better.
For decades they always predetermined the brackets for the state playoffs. Now they at least seed the final 8 teams. I agree that a 16 team bracket would be good, but it would likely need to be predetermined a bit for logistics and knowing who is hosting the games more than 5-7 days in advance.

These would be the section final games and the semi-finals are all on Saturday prior. You can't blindly learn your opponent on Sunday for a Friday game.

I'd have it split north and south and have the backet set up based on QRF or some factor of ranking the strength of a section. Rank the sections in south 1-4 and north 1-4 and then cross over.
 

I think Rosemount has some really good backs and is better now than the beginning of the year

Rosemount took a minute. Coming off 1-8 (where they lost like 6 games by 7 or less).
Now they’re playing well and seem the most healthy.

But I agree. lines and linebackers as good as usual. Wideouts and backs not nearly as much talent as most years
I think MNVCGUY has pointed it out before, but Rosemount RB Jeru Bean is the son of former Gopher RB Jim Bean.
 

I think MNVCGUY has pointed it out before, but Rosemount RB Jeru Bean is the son of former Gopher RB Jim Bean.
And QB is Finn Macken son of former Gopher Jerry Macken. Add in DC Parc Williams and if there is a team for Gopher fans to get behind this is probably the one :)

Agree with Some Guys assessment of where Rosemount is at right now.....good health and seem to have figured out how to use their various weapons on offense. Don't have a ton of breakaway speed but they have 4 guys who can all make things happen when running and the QB is pretty good at it as well when he pulls it. Even mixed in some passing last week against Eagan and they do have a solid receiver.

Exciting thing for Rosemount fans is that the QB and one of the top RB are both 10th graders so best is most likely yet to come for both of them.

I'm just hoping the draw works out for them to avoid Maple Grove and Minnetonka for as long as possible in the playoffs.
 

I think MNVCGUY has pointed it out before, but Rosemount RB Jeru Bean is the son of former Gopher RB Jim Bean.
I don’t know who they are but 3 and 5 and 7 are all really good HS backs

I think those are the theee numbers
 


And QB is Finn Macken son of former Gopher Jerry Macken. Add in DC Parc Williams and if there is a team for Gopher fans to get behind this is probably the one :)

Agree with Some Guys assessment of where Rosemount is at right now.....good health and seem to have figured out how to use their various weapons on offense. Don't have a ton of breakaway speed but they have 4 guys who can all make things happen when running and the QB is pretty good at it as well when he pulls it. Even mixed in some passing last week against Eagan and they do have a solid receiver.

Exciting thing for Rosemount fans is that the QB and one of the top RB are both 10th graders so best is most likely yet to come for both of them.

I'm just hoping the draw works out for them to avoid Maple Grove and Minnetonka for as long as possible in the playoffs.
Win or lose Wednesday and they avoid them until at least the State quarterfinal if not longer.
 

For decades they always predetermined the brackets for the state playoffs. Now they at least seed the final 8 teams. I agree that a 16 team bracket would be good, but it would likely need to be predetermined a bit for logistics and knowing who is hosting the games more than 5-7 days in advance.

These would be the section final games and the semi-finals are all on Saturday prior. You can't blindly learn your opponent on Sunday for a Friday game.

I'd have it split north and south and have the backet set up based on QRF or some factor of ranking the strength of a section. Rank the sections in south 1-4 and north 1-4 and then cross over.
I think the real answer is go to a model where 32 per class make playoff.
So no Tuesday, Sat, Friday

Everyone on same schedule as current 6a
 


It’s good for matchups. It’s good for the program short term but I think it actually grows the gap every year you’re in it.
Osseo chose to not join the last 3 years. I think if they had joined they’d have more wins but be in a worse spot
And Osseo has a winning record.
 



And QB is Finn Macken son of former Gopher Jerry Macken. Add in DC Parc Williams and if there is a team for Gopher fans to get behind this is probably the one :)

Agree with Some Guys assessment of where Rosemount is at right now.....good health and seem to have figured out how to use their various weapons on offense. Don't have a ton of breakaway speed but they have 4 guys who can all make things happen when running and the QB is pretty good at it as well when he pulls it. Even mixed in some passing last week against Eagan and they do have a solid receiver.

Exciting thing for Rosemount fans is that the QB and one of the top RB are both 10th graders so best is most likely yet to come for both of them.

I'm just hoping the draw works out for them to avoid Maple Grove and Minnetonka for as long as possible in the playoffs.
Looks like Grandpa Jerry was a Gopher also, on the 1960 National Champs.
 

I don’t know who they are but 3 and 5 and 7 are all really good HS backs

I think those are the theee numbers
Yep, those are the 3 seniors. The one you are missing is #1 who is the 10th grader and has a really bright future if he keeps developing. He and #5 Bean rotate in what would be seen as kind of the traditional RB spot in the offense they run.
 


This is honestly nothing new. There are very few truly impressive football players in this state.

If you have one or two elite players you can dominate in Minnesota high school football because there just aren't many of those players out there.
And how much of that is because of what we often discuss here. When top athletes decided to drop a sport, it's very often football because of the short season. When parents are paying tens of thousands of dollars for their kid to play year-round hockey, hoops or baseball, with different leagues, camps, etc. it's football that is going to be the odd man out.
 



And how much of that is because of what we often discuss here. When top athletes decided to drop a sport, it's very often football because of the short season. When parents are paying tens of thousands of dollars for their kid to play year-round hockey, hoops or baseball, with different leagues, camps, etc. it's football that is going to be the odd man out.
Yeah, happens o all sports though. Like wrestling, for the big kids. Sometimes these really athletic big guys drop out of wrestling because they're in line for a football scholarship and it's just another possible way to get hurt or another thing that costs a bunch of money and you have to do year round to be competitive at the top level. They're always going to have to prioritize now and with concussion issues some kids are just doing other things. But I can tell you soccer has a lot of concussions too and so does wrestling, so leaving football may not be saving you a lot.
 

And how much of that is because of what we often discuss here. When top athletes decided to drop a sport, it's very often football because of the short season. When parents are paying tens of thousands of dollars for their kid to play year-round hockey, hoops or baseball, with different leagues, camps, etc. it's football that is going to be the odd man out.
It’s actually pretty crazy to me.
Football is the only one you can make your main sport, be pretty cheap still, best chance to see field

How many parents spend the equivalent of a college partial scholarship on a sport their kid never even makes varsity
 

It’s actually pretty crazy to me.
Football is the only one you can make your main sport, be pretty cheap still, best chance to see field

How many parents spend the equivalent of a college partial scholarship on a sport their kid never even makes varsity
Especially basketball. Unless you're really good, or play for a really small school, your chances of making the varsity team is so small.
 

Especially basketball. Unless you're really good, or play for a really small school, your chances of making the varsity team is so small.
I think baseball is even more insane considering it eats your entire summer and a baseball scholarship for most scholarship athletes is less than half
 

I think baseball is even more insane considering it eats your entire summer and a baseball scholarship for most scholarship athletes is less than half
Club is basically year-round now. Some don't even play high school baseball. Fall ball has taken a bunch of kids from football.
 

Club is basically year-round now. Some don't even play high school baseball. Fall ball has taken a bunch of kids from football.
I hope they love baseball because their 500 dollar a semester scholarship they’re looking for probably isn’t coming
 

Especially basketball. Unless you're really good, or play for a really small school, your chances of making the varsity team is so small.
Yeah, you have 5 starters and maybe 2-3 kids that rotate in a fair amount. So unless you're one of the top 8 kids on the team you're riding pine or playing JV. And Basketball participation is still pretty high I think so even making JV can be hard. I'm not sure what the number of kids is anymore that can dress for a game but some teams for bigger schools have 22 starters and another 10 or so kids that play a fair amount. So just numbers wise it's probably easier to get on a varsity football team.

I think for soccer it's like 22 that can dress for varsity. Seems to be more than that for football.
 


Minnesota football polls, Week 8​

They still don't realize that St. Peter can't be receiving votes in two classes.


First-place votes in parentheses, followed by record, total points, previous ranking.
CLASS 6A
1. Maple Grove (11), 7-0, 110, 1
2. Centennial, 6-1, 90, T4
3. Lakeville South, 6-1, 84, T4
4. Minnetonka, 6-1, 74, 2
5. Rosemount, 6-1, 62, 5
6. Eden Prairie, 5-2, 46, 8
7. Champlin Park, 6-1, 45, 9
8. Forest Lake, 6-1, 44, 3
9. Andover, 5-2, 17, 7
10. Woodbury, 5-2, 15, NR
Others receiving votes: Edina 14, Mounds View 2, Osseo 1

CLASS 5A
1. St. Thomas Academy (10), 7-0, 109, 1
2. Spring Lake Park (1), 7-0, 93, 2
3. Mahtomedi, 7-0, 79, 5
4. Chanhassen, 6-1, 78, 3
5. Alexandria, 6-1, 76, 4
6. Monticello, 6-1, 59, 8
7. Cretin-Derham Hall, 5-2, 35, 7
8. Chaska, 5-2, 30, NR
9. Elk River, 5-2, 28, 6
10. Mankato East, 5-2, 17, NR
Others receiving votes: Northfield 3

CLASS 4A
1. Byron (11), 7-0, 110, 1
2. Marshall, 7-0, 99, 2
3. Kasson-Mantorville, 6-1, 78, 3
4. Grand Rapids, 6-1, 62, T5
5. Stewartville, 5-2, 53, 4
6. Rocori, 6-1, 50, T5
7. Hill-Murray, 6-1, 41, 9
8. Holy Angels, 6-1, 38, NR
9. Hermantown, 6-1, 28, 10
10. Fergus Falls, 5-2, 15, 8
Others receiving votes: North Branch 14, South St. Paul 7, St. Peter 7, Benilde-St. Margaret’s 3

CLASS 3A
1. Annandale (8), 7-0, 104, 1
2. Pequot Lakes (2), 7-0, 94, 2
3. Pierz, 7-0, 85, 3
4. Waseca (1), 7-0, 79, 4
5. Minneapolis North, 7-0, 69, 5
6. Pine Island, 7-0, 55, 6
7. St. Croix Lutheran, 7-0, 48, 7
8. Albany, 6-1, 34, 8
9. (tie) Spectrum, 6-1, 12, NR
9. (tie) Winona Cotter, 6-1, 12, NR
Others receiving votes: St. Peter 12, Holy Family 3, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 3, Esko 2, Luverne 2, Dassel-Cokato 1

CLASS 2A
1. Jackson County Central (10), 7-0, 109, 1
2. Holdingford, 7-0, 90, 3
3. Pillager, 7-0, 77, 6
4. Goodhue (1), 7-0, 76, 5
5. Waterville-Elysian-Morristown, 7-0, 71, 7
6. Moose Lake-Willow River, 7-0, 65, 8
7. Staples-Motley, 6-1, 42, 4
8. Chatfield, 6-1, 25, 2
9. Redwood Valley, 6-1, 18, 9
10. Aitkin, 6-1, 17, 10
Others receiving votes: Osakis 5, Eden Valley-Watkins 4, Caledonia 3, Triton 3

CLASS 1A
1. Minneota (10), 7-0, 107, 1
2. Springfield, 7-0, 95, 2
3. Fillmore Central (1), 7-0, 83, T3
4. Mahnomen/Waubun, 7-0, 78, T3
5. Cleveland, 7-0, 71, 5
6. Breckenridge, 7-0, 61, 6
7. Barnum, 6-1, 38, 7
8. Red Lake County, 6-1, 31, 8
9. Dawson-Boyd, 6-1, 17, 9
10. Parkers Prairie, 6-1, 11, NR
Others receiving votes: Upsala/Swanville 7, Walker-Hackensack-Akeley 4, Braham 1

NINE-PLAYER
1. Hills-Beaver Creek (9), 7-0, 106, 1
2. Kittson County Central (1), 8-0, 97, 2
3. Mabel-Canton (1), 7-0, 80, 3
4. Red Rock Central, 7-0, 76, 5,
5. Hillcrest Lutheran, 7-0, 73, 6
6. Wabasso, 6-1, 43, 4
7. Edgerton, 6-1, 38, 8
8. Cook County, 6-0, 31, 9
9. Stephen-Argyle, 6-1, 21, 10
10. Bertha-Hewitt, 6-1, 16, NR
Others receiving votes: Cromwell-Wright 11, Mille Lacs 7, Kingsland 4, Littlefork-Big Falls 2

The polls are compiled by Strib Varsity staff writer Jim Paulsen from voting by media members across Minnesota. Voters: Randy Shaver, Strib Varsity; Marcus Fuller, Strib Varsity; Jace Frederick, St. Paul Pioneer Press; Pat Ruff, Rochester Post Bulletin; Joe Brown, West Central Tribune; Jamey Malcomb, Duluth News Tribune; Reagan Hoverman, Duluth News Tribune; Brian Jerzak, formerly of Prep RedZone; Steve Thomson, WCCO Radio; Gary Giombetti, Mesabi Daily News; Andy Rennecke, St. Cloud Live; Jim Paulsen, Strib Varsity
 

Club is basically year-round now. Some don't even play high school baseball. Fall ball has taken a bunch of kids from football.
I come from wrestling as my main sport. Kids literally wrestle the entire year now. Some of these kids are wrestling like 100+ matches a year. Been a real issue with injuries with how physical the sport is.
 

It’s actually pretty crazy to me.
Football is the only one you can make your main sport, be pretty cheap still, best chance to see field

How many parents spend the equivalent of a college partial scholarship on a sport their kid never even makes varsity
Even more crazy when you look t the scholarships per sport. Football has BY FAR the most scholarships. Many kids make fun of mast schools and turn thier nose up at offers from NAIA schools and then enroll at a school like Moorhead State and just attend class at full flprice when they could have gone to a school and played football for less than 1/2 the cost after a getting a scholarship...

Even if you don't like the college game after a year, to me it would be better to go to practice and get half school paid for than and just treat it like a job, than it would be getting an actual job to make less than the scholarship value.

Had a convo with a dad last year hus son was an exceptional class A baseball player and they starting looking at schools and he was floored no scholarship were offered for some programs and that most baseball programs only have 9 full scholarships to start with. So 18 halves if they choose that route
 

Even more crazy when you look t the scholarships per sport. Football has BY FAR the most scholarships. Many kids make fun of mast schools and turn thier nose up at offers from NAIA schools and then enroll at a school like Moorhead State and just attend class at full flprice when they could have gone to a school and played football for less than 1/2 the cost after a getting a scholarship...

Even if you don't like the college game after a year, to me it would be better to go to practice and get half school paid for than and just treat it like a job, than it would be getting an actual job to make less than the scholarship value.

Had a convo with a dad last year hus son was an exceptional class A baseball player and they starting looking at schools and he was floored no scholarship were offered for some programs and that most baseball programs only have 9 full scholarships to start with. So 18 halves if they choose that route
Almost better to go to a MIAC school and just get a grant for playing the sport. You cand go to some of these schools for less than the UofM with grants for participation.
 

Even more crazy when you look t the scholarships per sport. Football has BY FAR the most scholarships. Many kids make fun of mast schools and turn thier nose up at offers from NAIA schools and then enroll at a school like Moorhead State and just attend class at full flprice when they could have gone to a school and played football for less than 1/2 the cost after a getting a scholarship...

Even if you don't like the college game after a year, to me it would be better to go to practice and get half school paid for than and just treat it like a job, than it would be getting an actual job to make less than the scholarship value.

Had a convo with a dad last year hus son was an exceptional class A baseball player and they starting looking at schools and he was floored no scholarship were offered for some programs and that most baseball programs only have 9 full scholarships to start with. So 18 halves if they choose that route
for most schools it's a non or negative revenue sport. Also can't justify very many scholarships due to the fact there would have to be a scholarship offset with women's sports due to Title 9. Maybe the situation has changed somewhat now with NIL and such. If a school has an alumni or baseball fan with some coin they could sweeten the pot.
 

Yeah, you have 5 starters and maybe 2-3 kids that rotate in a fair amount. So unless you're one of the top 8 kids on the team you're riding pine or playing JV. And Basketball participation is still pretty high I think so even making JV can be hard. I'm not sure what the number of kids is anymore that can dress for a game but some teams for bigger schools have 22 starters and another 10 or so kids that play a fair amount. So just numbers wise it's probably easier to get on a varsity football team.

I think for soccer it's like 22 that can dress for varsity. Seems to be more than that for football.
I don't think there's a limit to how many can dress for football.

To give an extreme example for basketball.
Wayzata has about 150 eighth grade boys playing basketball across travel and SW league.
Minnetonka has even more.

5-8 of those kids will make varsity.
 

for most schools it's a non or negative revenue sport. Also can't justify very many scholarships due to the fact there would have to be a scholarship offset with women's sports due to Title 9. Maybe the situation has changed somewhat now with NIL and such. If a school has an alumni or baseball fan with some coin they could sweeten the pot.
If you have a daughter who is a runner, you’re more likely to get a scholarship offer from a school who plays football certainly
 

I don't think there's a limit to how many can dress for football.

To give an extreme example for basketball.
Wayzata has about 150 eighth grade boys playing basketball across travel and SW league.
Minnetonka has even more.

5-8 of those kids will make varsity.
5-8 is generous
Because if the 7th graders have 7 studs and the 5-6 have two guys who make the rotation as 9-10 it’ll only be 2-3 who make it
 

I don't think there's a limit to how many can dress for football.

To give an extreme example for basketball.
Wayzata has about 150 eighth grade boys playing basketball across travel and SW league.
Minnetonka has even more.

5-8 of those kids will make varsity.
Yeah, that is crazy. I'm not involved in HS Basketball so wasn't sure on the number but knew that basketball might have the most kids playing of any HS sport now. At least for sure at the largest schools.

I know for wrestling the biggest programs have maybe 60 kids. If you add in Middle school kids maybe you get to 80 kids. But I would say the average wrestling program probably has about 25-30 kids. Of course, only 13 varsity wrestlers. But sometimes you have a ton of kids within a few pounds of each other so on a 50 wrestler program you migh have 10-12 kids wrestling for 2 spots, while you might only have 1 kid 215 & 285.
 




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