Totino Grace

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MaxyJR1

MaxyJR1

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Announced that they will opt up to the class of 32, 6A.
 


Grace recruits with the best of them, so it fits.
 





alchemy2u said:
In the frozen food section...
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Aaaaaaalways. lol

Totino is in Fridley, MN

I think it's a good move for them. Yea they may have a small student population, but the kids who go there are all kids who grew up in 6A school districts and youth programs. The football players they have are going there to play football.

Personally I think we should have a separate class called 7A for all the private schools. TG, Cretin, BSM, etc.
 

Yes, Fridley. Did you know- if you scratch the decals on their helmets, it smells like party pizza.
 

As a completely biased graduate of Totino-Grace, I've always found it fascinating how well they've done without really ever having top end talent. The only D1A prospect that I can remember was JD Pride and I think we all remember how that went. Gabe Mezzenga is currently a walk-on at the U. A couple FCS players such as John Crockett at NDSU (One of the best high school players I've seen, unfortunate that grades made it impossible for him to end up at the U). Mainly D2 guys if anything though.

Also, I think the recruiting talk is a bit overblown. Does it happen to an extent? Sure, probably, although I've heard more rumors regarding the hockey team. Most of the top players at TG when I was there came from "feeder" schools that generally have high percentages of students go there (Epiphany in Coon Rapids, St. Odilia in Shoreview, and St. John the Baptist in New Brighton are probably the 3 biggest). In a way they have to recruit all their students, because there is no officially designated feeder. When I was in Catholic grade school we had all the local(ish) private schools (STA/Visitation, Hill-Murray, TG, AHA) along with the local public school (Blaine, Irondale, Mounds view etc.) present to us.

And for those who don't know TG is actually named after THAT Totino family. Jim and Rose Totinio were active in the school community and then donated a bunch of money to the school when they sold their frozen pizza recipe to Pillsbury. Their stadium is named Jim Totino Stadium.
 



As a completely biased graduate of one of your former rivals in the North Suburban conference, I wholeheartedly agree that the private schools should be in their own conference. Just look at the results in pretty much any sport. Totino just recruits better athletes. At the very least, the better athletes are attracted to Totino (all of the other private schools).

I am completely pulling these stats out of the sky here, but I don't think they are that far off... Lets say that 5% of high school age kids in MN go to some form of private school (Totino, CDH, Holy Angels, Breck, St. Croix Lutheran, Blake, etc), yet they comprise about half of the entrants to whatever high school tournament you want. I am crappy at math, yet it is pretty easy to see that if you want to play on a "good" team, go play at a private school. If your parents can't (or don't want to) pay for the tuition, I'm sure something can be worked out. Just pay attention to the various HS tournaments and see what schools participate. The ratios are just off.

I will cede the point that Totino hasn't had a D1 football player in awhile, but they are just better at across the board at every other position than other schools. I graduated in the late 90's from high school, so playing you in any sport was an exercise in futility.

As far as other sports you have had a Mr. Basketball, Darius Lane, 1998 (who was 20 when he graduated your esteemed school) and Iker Iturbe who played for the Spanish National team in the 2004 olympics playing on the same team. Your hockey team routinely sends about 2 guys on a scholarship somewhere per year (link below- look at the right side of the page). I really can't answer much on the other sports.

http://www.totinograce.org/athletics/boys-hockey/index.aspx

I feel that it is stacked deck in favor of the private schools. Play with your own kind and stop beating up on the public school kids.
 

Private schools are actually much less dominant in Minnesota than they are in most other states. There's a very serious movement in Ohio to split the leagues because the city parochial schools dominate everything (you may have heard of Akron St. Vincent St. Mary, but schools like Cincinnati Archbishop Moeller, Cleveland St. Ignatius and St. Edwards, and Toledo Central Catholic all dominant their divisions as well).

In Minnesota, the suburban schools seem to operate in the same fashion as Parochial schools do elsewhere (hand-picking select inner-city talents and finding ways to get them into their schools). The dominance of private schools here is nothing compared to elsewhere around the country.
 

Sure they recruit

But, I give the football program a ton of credit for accepting more difficult challenges and opting up. I can not think of a high school coach I would rather have than Ferguson. Just look at his track record as one of the smaller schools in his conference and how they do at state. Very impressive.
 

The gap between public and private education in MN is much less than other parts of the country. Going to private school in MN, I believe, is a sports, religion, class size, money thing. The education is not much better if t all.

The private schools could be together for basketball, but not in football. Enrollments are all too different.
 



Curious to see who moves down.
I don't know who it is going to be. I'd imagine the lowest enrollment of the 6A schools.

If it is anyone other than Minneapolis south or brainerd they are doing it wrong IMO.
 

I agree MPLS. South, North St. Paul, or Brainerd.
 


I'd like to see Andover, East Ridge, and/or St. Thomas Academy opt up as well.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
I'd like to see Andover, East Ridge, and/or St. Thomas Academy opt up as well.
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St. Thomas should get mocked and ridiculed for not moving up, especially in hockey but even in football.

When I went to Cretin, people sort of considered them our "rival", even though we never played each other in football (they ended that non-conference match up). They have the money, they have the facilities and they have the same approach to athletics. It's laughable that they don't move up.
 

BMEnGopher said:
As a completely biased graduate of Totino-Grace, I've always found it fascinating how well they've done without really ever having top end talent. The only D1A prospect that I can remember was JD Pride and I think we all remember how that went. Gabe Mezzenga is currently a walk-on at the U. A couple FCS players such as John Crockett at NDSU (One of the best high school players I've seen, unfortunate that grades made it impossible for him to end up at the U). Mainly D2 guys if anything though.

Also, I think the recruiting talk is a bit overblown. Does it happen to an extent? Sure, probably, although I've heard more rumors regarding the hockey team. Most of the top players at TG when I was there came from "feeder" schools that generally have high percentages of students go there (Epiphany in Coon Rapids, St. Odilia in Shoreview, and St. John the Baptist in New Brighton are probably the 3 biggest). In a way they have to recruit all their students, because there is no officially designated feeder. When I was in Catholic grade school we had all the local(ish) private schools (STA/Visitation, Hill-Murray, TG, AHA) along with the local public school (Blaine, Irondale, Mounds view etc.) present to us.

And for those who don't know TG is actually named after THAT Totino family. Jim and Rose Totinio were active in the school community and then donated a bunch of money to the school when they sold their frozen pizza recipe to Pillsbury. Their stadium is named Jim Totino Stadium.
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Your history is correct. The school was originally named Fridley Grace until the Totino family anted tons of money, and in appreciation, all changed to Totino name.
 

Anyone remember when the public and private schools were separate in MN? I believe Austin Pacelli was a powerhouse in basketball.
 

station19 said:
Anyone remember when the public and private schools were separate in MN? I believe Austin Pacelli was a powerhouse in basketball.
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Yes, and Rochester Lourdes along with Winona Cotter.
 

Dr.Don said:
Yes, and Rochester Lourdes along with Winona Cotter.
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Yes. It was called the DON BOSCO Conference back in the day. Interestingly enough, the recruiting angle has been going on for decades. Steve Fritz, former University of St. Thomas BB Coach, was a starter for Blooming Prairie's 1966 State Basketball Team. One year later, he is playing for Rochester Lourdes.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
St. Thomas should get mocked and ridiculed for not moving up, especially in hockey but even in football.

When I went to Cretin, people sort of considered them our "rival", even though we never played each other in football (they ended that non-conference match up). They have the money, they have the facilities and they have the same approach to athletics. It's laughable that they don't move up.
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STA finally opted up, starting next winter. Not sure what they're doing for football.
 

There are privates that are truly prep schools academically. Then there are those like TG, CDH, HM that are very average in terms of academics. They cannot compete with the ACT scores, percentage of College acceptance, or National Merit Scholars of the Minnetonkas, Edinas, Mounds Views, and EPs of the metro. They do offer smaller school / class sizes though.
 

Cretin, was still the power than and all the Mauer boys were the stars
 

Official classes are posted on MSHSL site. East Ridge, Totino Grace, and Farmington move up to 6A and North St. Paul, Brainerd, and MPLS. South move down. South moved down two classes. Prior Lake got bumped to section 6 with Classic Lake teams.
 

As a Mounds View alum from the late 90's I can honestly say our big sports teams (football, hockey, basketball, baseball...) have been seriously affected by Totino, Cretin, and Hill-Murray. I'm sure other schools around the metro have been hit hard as well. But I have no doubt that Mounds View, Roseville, White Bear Lake, Stillwater, Woodbury, and smaller North suburb schools have basically provided these private schools an annual North suburban all-star team...........and it sucks!
 

Mvgopher said:
There are privates that are truly prep schools academically. Then there are those like TG, CDH, HM that are very average in terms of academics. They cannot compete with the ACT scores, percentage of College acceptance, or National Merit Scholars of the Minnetonkas, Edinas, Mounds Views, and EPs of the metro. They do offer smaller school / class sizes though.
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It's in line with the price of the schools. SPA and Breck are pulling from a completely different demographic than the CDHs, TGs and Hill Murrays of the state. It's probably more apt to compare Edina with Benilde than with Cretin. Then again, it's certainly not apt to compare Cretin or TG with any city school.
 

JoeDirt said:
As a Mounds View alum from the late 90's I can honestly say our big sports teams (football, hockey, basketball, baseball...) have been seriously affected by Totino, Cretin, and Hill-Murray. I'm sure other schools around the metro have been hit hard as well. But I have no doubt that Mounds View, Roseville, White Bear Lake, Stillwater, Woodbury, and smaller North suburb schools have basically provided these private schools an annual North suburban all-star team...........and it sucks!
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I've never really understood why it was that big of a deal for a school if a kid in the district goes to a private school. If anyone should be complaining it's the schools in the city conferences that have a hard time sporting competiive teams because a large percentage of their best athletes are playing elsewhere.

Could you imagine how good Saint Paul Central, Minneapolis North, Minneapolis South, Highland Park, and Washburn could have been over the years, and unfortunately, they are pretty bad now.
 

Mounds View had to opt up to 6A. Enrollment wise they would have been 5A.
 

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