Obituary And Service Information For Our Friend Bozo Wincek

Darrell "Bozo" Wincek, age 82, of Crystal, lost his battle with cancer on September 28, 2021. He is survived by his wife of 58 years, Karen, children Jacqueline Wincek, Michelle Schneider and Michael Wincek. Grandchildren Nicole and Jessica Schneider, brother: Eugene Wincek, Sister Sharron (Charles) Kujawa, brother-in-law: Richard (Donna) Nelson and aunt: Julie Partyka and a host of other loving relatives and friends.

Bozo was one of six original members of Gopher State Officials Association, which was founded in 1963 and has a current roster of 481 officials. Gopher State is one of the largest associations in the upper Midwest. He dedicated his life to service. He was fully invested in serving schools, coaches, officials, Activity Directors and the MSHSL for 59 years.

Bozo was also active in his church, Holy Cross. He also organized and maintained a group of northeast Minneapolis athletes and officials, called the “East Side Old-Timers.” Bozo was also very passionate in managing the FMC Men’s Industrial Softball team, taking them to many state championships as well as qualifying for their first of many National Softball Tournaments, starting in 1977 in Birmingham, AL. Several honors and awards were rightly bestowed upon this great man: USSSA Softball Hall of Fame, East Side Old-Timers Hall of Fame, Minnesota State Football and Basketball Coaches Association Halls of Fame, Minnesota State High School Coaches Association-Distinguished Service Award, and his greatest accomplishment was being inducted into the MSHSL Hall of Fame in 2015.

Visitation at Kozlak-Radulovich Chapel 1918 University Ave. N.E., Monday, Oct. 4 from 4-8 p.m. Mass of Christian Burial at the Church of the Holy Cross, 1621 University Ave. N.E., Tuesday, Oct. 5 at 11 a.m., with visitation one hour prior. Interment at Gethsemane Cemetery.

 

John’s Journal: The Storm Is Rising

Since about fourth grade, Phillip Klaphake knew he wanted to be a coach. He comes from a family of coaches, and as the head football coach at Sauk Rapids-Rice put it, “I don’t know if I’m good at anything else. Coaching is in our blood, for sure.”

Klaphake’s grandfather, Wayne Hasz, coached boys basketball at Lester Prairie from 1968 to 1996 and is a member of the Minnesota Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame. His father, Glenn, was a longtime coach and athletic director. Glen was the athletic director at Princeton High School when his son was first a ball boy at football games and then a four-sport athlete himself.

Phillip was on the football, basketball, baseball and track and field teams in high school before becoming a record-setting quarterback at St. Cloud State. He remained at St. Cloud State for a year as a graduate assistant coach, then worked as an assistant coach at Gustavus Adolphus College for one year before becoming head coach at Sauk Rapids-Rice in 2016.

The Storm is having an outstanding 2021 season, with four wins in as many games going into Friday’s home game against Bemidji. It’s the program’s first 4-0 start since 1994.

Like their coach, many of the current Storm football players are well-versed in other sports. The Sauk Rapids-Rice basketball team played for a section championship last winter and the baseball team went to state in the spring.

“We have a lot of winners on our team, some seniors who have played a lot of football and are really confident,” said Klaphake, 31. “I’ve watched them play a lot of other sports. They just kind of know how to win.”

Success in other sports is not the only reason for the football team’s strong showing at the halfway point of the regular season. The Storm players, including 21 seniors, are a close group of friends.

“I think it's really special,” said senior wide receiver/defensive end Carter Loesch, who has committed to play football at Minnesota Duluth. “The biggest thing is that we're all really close friends, that's why I think we're so successful. We all hang out. It's not just during football, it’s all the time.”

Klaphake said, “It’s a special group of kids and they genuinely like each other. It’s a movie with how these kids like each other. They hold each other accountable.”

A growing enrollment over the years has elevated Sauk Rapids-Rice to where it is now, a Class 5A football team. The Storm, once in the Rum River Conference, are now a member of the Central Lakes Conference

“It got tough,” Klaphake said. “We’ve had some growing pains but we’ve always had talent. We started playing schools that were bigger than us. I’m not going to take any credit. We’re growing into a 5A school and learning what takes to be successful against the Bemidjis and Brainerds and Moorheads of the world.

“We knew this group could be a very solid 5A team, and we were curious to see how good our opponents would be. We’re pretty confident that we’ve got some players. We’re not so confident that we think we’re going to just walk in and beat anybody, but we’re confident that we have a chance.”

This year’s football success has hinged on a fast, multi-faceted offense and an equally quick-footed, swarming defense. In last Friday’s 33-7 win at Cambridge-Isanti, quarterback Dominic Mathies completed 13 of 20 passes for 253 yards and three touchdowns while also running for a pair of scores. Andrew Harren caught six passes for 115 yards, including a 58-yard touchdown toss from Mathies.

After Cambridge-Isanti drove 76 yards to score on its opening drive (a 27-yard pass from Ari Sullivan to Colton Skoglund), the Bluejackets were held out of the end zone the rest of the night.

The Storm plays with plenty of energy, and much of that begins with the coach.

“He definitely has the most energy on the team, even though it should be one of us,” said senior Cole Ackerman, the team’s leading tackler. “But he makes practice a lot of fun, he knows what he's doing, he has a really good mind for football. He knows both sides of the ball, he's a really good coach.”

If everything goes right, the Storm could reach the state football playoffs for the first time since 2010 … a year after their coach graduated from high school.

“A lot of my defensive coaches have been on staff for a long time and it’s fun to listen to their stories,” Klaphake said. “We’re starting to get this thing rolling and be a competitive program.”

--MSHSL media specialist John Millea has been the leading voice of Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Twitter @MSHSLjohn and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get podcasts. Contact John at jmillea@mshsl.org 

John’s Journal: #MasonStrong In New Prague

 

The following was written by Eric Brever of New Prague.

John-

Wanted to make you aware of a pretty cool experience as part of New Prague’s homecoming football game this past Friday against Northfield.

About two weeks ago, Mason Decker, an eighth-grade student at New Prague Middle School and the child of two beloved faculty members in the New Prague school district, was diagnosed with a form of non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Mason was involved in track, basketball and football for the Trojan middle school programs. 

Since Mason is a member of the football family, the New Prague football program early last week decided to coordinate a fundraiser to benefit the Deckers. Partnering with a number of ISD 721 staff members who volunteered their time, and working with the basketball, track and hockey programs at the high school, the football program put out word about the intention to benefit at Friday’s homecoming game by selling surplus athletic t-shirts from football, basketball and hockey programs, with all proceeds—along with free-will donations—to go to Mason and his family.

New Prague High School students were motivated, making small donations in their own right and dedicating their spirit garb for the evening to be green instead of school colors cardinal and black, as lime green is the color of support for lymphoma cancers. As the Trojan football took the field on Friday, it was amazing to see the student half of the New Prague bleachers be entirely green. 

But what was particularly impressive was the Northfield bleachers, as their student section also came dressed in green, and rolled out a giant sign across their bleachers: “No one fights alone- #MasonStrong.” The Raiders coaching staff walked over to Trojan head coach Jake Norby and handed a donation and a card for the Mason benefit. They stood right with us in the initiative.

It shows that two neighboring communities who have played countless rivalry games against one another come together when it counts. It transcended the game. It brought tears to the eyes of the staff who worked hard to organize the event on short notice.

That night alone we raised more than $8,500 for Mason’s benefit. 

The Trojans had more points on the scoreboard that night, but the real winners were Mason and the Decker family and the two communities that came together to support the cause.

John’s Journal: After A Lost 2020 Season, ‘This Feels Normal’

Between Friday afternoon and Saturday afternoon I witnessed a cross-country meet in Falcons Heights, a football game in Cambridge and a volleyball tournament in Apple Valley. Had I been able to squeeze in girls tennis, girls swimming, boys and girls soccer and adapted soccer, I could have covered the full slate of MSHSL fall sports from stem to stern.

I had a blast for several reasons. The weather for outdoor activities has been splendid in recent days, with leaves beginning to turn and the bright September sun providing a natural spotlight. The biggest reason, however, was the utter normalcy of it all … fans in the stands, hot dogs on the grills, coaches coaching, officials officiating and kids competing. There is nothing better.

A year ago, the situation was much different. There were limits on spectators, masks were part of everything and concessions were limited or nonexistent in most places. Things were especially off-kilter for indoor sports; many swimming and diving dual meets (the only kind of competition allowed in 2020) were held virtually, with each team competing in their own pools and then comparing times and scores.

The 2020 volleyball season was also unlike anything anyone had experienced. Most schools had a limited number of spectators purchase tickets online and provide phone numbers in case contact tracing was needed later. Masks were required, there were no handshakes between teams, the teams didn’t switch seats for every game during a match.

Some of those things remain in the autumn of 2021, but volleyball is largely back to normal. The biggest example of that return was the Eagle Invitational tournament on Friday and Saturday in Apple Valley. The field of 16 teams included nine of the top 10 teams in the Class 4A coaches poll, along with Marshall, which is top-ranked in 3A.

All 16 teams played two matches Friday and two more Saturday. With four courts in use and no limits on spectators, it was spectacular. Due to district policy, everyone but the athletes were required to wear masks, and that seemed like a small price to pay in order to watch and cheer. Last fall, there were no volleyball tournaments during the regular season, nor were there any section or state tournaments. The 2020 season ended with a solemn thud.

“We've talked about that with our staff, that we've got so many players on our team who hadn't played in a tournament,” said Marshall coach Dan Westby, whose team placed fifth in Apple Valley. “Last year, most of our players were sophomores on the varsity but they didn't get this tournament experience. So there were some deer-in-the-headlight looks from some of our kids because they just haven't been in that. And I kind of take it for granted as a head coach because obviously I've had the opportunity to come here for years, but our players aren't used to it. That's why these things are so valuable. It’s not just the great competition but the experience of being put in this kind of environment.”

The Apple Valley tournament, along with other events such as the recent Southwest Minnesota Challenge in Marshall, are the first such events for volleyball teams in two years.

“It felt like the whole season last year was a scrimmage, because there was no end,” said Eagan coach Kathy Gillen, whose team defeated Shakopee in the Eagle Invitational third-place match. “As you walked away from a game, whether you won or lost, you just waved at the other team and then moved on to the next game. So now there's some stake in play and they’re playing better.”

The big weekend tournaments give people involved in the sport -- whether they’re players, coaches, officials or fans – a chance to catch up with each other. Scott Jackson, whose Wayzata team is ranked No. 1 in Class 4A and defeated Eden Prairie in the championship match Saturday, said he was happy to see talented players that he was unaware of.

“This feels normal,” he said at Apple Valley. “The only thing that's a little different is I take pride in knowing our volleyball community really well, and it's a little harder right now between Covid and a shortened season last year where you're only playing in your own conference.

“I watched a kid from Lakeville North last night, and I've learned her name is Kaitlynn Peterson and I had never seen the kid play before as far as I know, and she's amazing. She's a very good player and I really enjoyed watching her play last night, she's amazing. She's going to Bradley. A kid out of Minnesota that's going to Bradley for volleyball, and I didn't know who she was. That's where we are right now, a little bit.”

Some Covid-induced changes remain in volleyball. In many matches, teams stay on the same side of the net and on the same bench throughout. When they gather  together, however, they are free to huddle tightly and not follow the social-distancing guidelines of a season ago.

“It's fantastic, just to even have kind of a normal bench back,” said Eden Prairie coach Chad Becker. “You’d call a timeout and you kind of walk into an abyss of your players and your coaching staff, you didn’t know who could hear you, and you couldn't be too loud because you didn't want to say anything the opponent could hear. So just the normalcy of your bench is great.

“And being in a tournament like this, the first time obviously for all of us in two years now, it's just nice to feel like we're just doing things like we did. … The resiliency of the kids has been fantastic to see. I mean, it's terrible what they've had to go through, getting robbed of a year and change.”

One benefit of the 2020 experience seen now is that the players couldn’t rely on cheering crowds for motivation; they had to motivate themselves and each other. Shakopee coach Matt Busch said, “Last year girls had to learn to play completely within themselves and within the team and not rely on anybody else. And that has continued into this year, and anything added to that is just a bonus.

“You don't see them looking for or needing that extra crazy support, whether it's at our home gum or wherever. They just don't need that this year, and that's a big positive.”

Along with tournaments, also returning this season are team gatherings, providing opportunities to get together for pasta feeds, movie nights or whatever.

“Oh, for sure. They love being together,” Gillen said. “So it's just a lot more normal and more fun.”

“The kids just want to be together and they want to pursue a sport that they love,” said Jackson. “They don’t know it, but they're growing as individuals. And whether it was a shortened season or this season, I think that's the same.”

--MSHSL media specialist John Millea has been the leading voice of Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Twitter @MSHSLjohn and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get podcasts. Contact John at jmillea@mshsl.org 

John’s Journal: Michael Floyd Is Back Home On The Football Field

During Friday night’s football game between Cretin-Derham Hall and St. Thomas Academy at Twin Cities Orthopedics Performance Center, a receiver caught a pass in the left flat and had one tackler to beat in order to gain big yards.

As the receiver was brought down quickly by the lone defender, a man watching from the press box said, “You’ve gotta beat that guy.”

Michael Floyd knew what he was talking about, because he made a living by catching passes and beating tacklers. Floyd was a star at Cretin-Derham Hall, where he graduated in 2008, set Notre Dame records in several categories during his four years there, was a first-round NFL draft pick and played with Arizona, New England (earning a Super Bowl ring), Minnesota, New Orleans, Washington and Baltimore from 2012 to 2019.

Floyd, who teamed with 1994 Cretin-Derham Hall grad and former NFL player Matt Birk as honorary captains for the Raiders in Friday’s game, is back in his hometown filling a new football role: coach. Floyd is a first-year assistant wide receivers coach at NCAA Division II Concordia University in St. Paul. (Birk, left, and Floyd are pictured below.)

“It’s going well,” he said. “I like it a lot, being around the kids, helping them get better at their craft.”

Floyd, 31, is one of the top high school players in Minnesota history.  He was named Minnesota Player of the Year as a junior and senior by the Associated Press, as well as Gatorade Player of the Year for Minnesota in both years and a first-team All-American by USA Today after his 2007 senior season. As a senior, when he was named Mr. Football, he caught 59 passes for 1,247 yards and 17 touchdowns, along with 497 rushing yards on 43 carries.

Cretin-Derham Hall played in the Class 5A Prep Bowl when Floyd was a sophomore and senior, losing to Wayzata and Eden Prairie.

“Eden Prairie beat us pretty badly (50-21), but we played their team in basketball the following week,” he said with a laugh. “I think I missed about two shots and scored 38 points.”

Floyd, who also was on the Raiders track team, is a big fan of multi-sport athletes.

“I think it kept me in shape all the time, I was always active,” he said. “I wanted to compete and do great things for my school and my teammates.”

When his playing career ended, Floyd was reunited with Concordia strength and conditioning coach Eric Overland (pictured above with Floyd). Overland is a Waseca, Minnesota, native who had been on Notre Dame’s staff when Floyd was there. Floyd’s wife, Sydney, is a Concordia graduate.

“We sat down and caught up,” Overland said. “We hadn’t seen each other in a few years. He was contemplating his future, and as time went on I started encouraging him to consider the coaching route. He was a smart player.

“We chatted about it. I thought it could be a great opportunity to see if coaching would be for him.”

Overland talked to Concordia head coach Shannon Currier about the possibility of bringing Floyd on. They met Floyd and Sydney at The Nook, a famous burger joint across the street from Cretin-Derham Hall in St. Paul.

The Nook’s menu includes a Michael Floyd burger (topped with pastrami, cream cheese, pickle planks and mustard). Sandwiches also carry the names of fellow Cretin-Derham Hall graduates Birk, Joe Mauer and Paul Molitor. Sydney jokingly asked the staff about who this Michael Floyd is.

Floyd, who is three games into his coaching career, initially majored in business at Notre Dame but finished with a degree in sociology. “I could never see myself in a cubicle,” he said. “I have to be around people.”

Now he’s around young football players all the time.

“What’s cool about it is, you talk about things in a classroom and then you see it happen on the field. That tells me they’re listening,” he said. “It’s a big difference from high school to these kids, who are a little more mature. You can see you’re doing something positive.”

He and Sydney have two children, eight-year-old Cienna and 18-month-old Michael Jr. Floyd stays busy with family, coaching and works in commercial and resident real estate.

“I sit down and watch film at 5:30 a.m. before my wife and kids get up,” he said. “I come to meetings and express my thoughts. Everyone has to be on the same page, just like at any other level.”

The Concordia players don’t always have a firm grasp of Floyd’s high school career, but they know all about his NFL years.

“They ask who I played with, how such and such was as a teammate,” he said. “Mostly they ask about the Tom Bradys, the Fitzes (fellow Twin Cities native Larry Fitzgerald Jr.). I say they’re different in many ways but there’s a reason why they stuck around so long. They take care of their body, they do the right things each and every day.”

Currier, a native of Cosmos, Minnesota, was the head coach at Truman State in Missouri when Floyd was in high school. He’s heard the stories of Floyd’s high school accomplishments and he’s happy to have him on the coaching staff.

“He came to some workouts with our freshmen, and Coach O helped set the stage for him to become a coach,” Currier said. “Mike has a good heart and he wants to give back to kids. Coach O said we should reach out to Mike and I said I’d love to get him involved.

“Michael comes to all our practices and games and obviously brings a lot of credibility. He’s very humble despite all the success he’s had.”

The Concordia Bears will take a 1-2 record into a game at noon Saturday against Southwest State at Concordia’s Sea Foam Stadium. (There is one Cretin-Derham Hall grad on the Concordia roster, freshman offensive lineman Ethan Sigler.)

“For me, being able to play Division I and professional football, I think I see some things differently,” Floyd said. “I can contribute that to the players and also give some advice to the coaches side. They have been doing it for a while but they still look at me and ask for my thoughts on things, too.”

Floyd’s best friends remain his high school teammates. He and several others converse every day via group texts.

He wants today’s high school athletes to forge similar relationships and create memories with their friends.  

“I would definitely say do as much as you can and don’t try to specialize in one sport,” he said. “Every single season, try to get into something and stay active. You don’t get these years back and it’s a fun four years. You could say the same thing about college. After high school and college you have to grow up a lot more. It’s welcome to the real world.”

--Two photos provided by Concordia University.

--MSHSL media specialist John Millea has been the leading voice of Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Twitter @MSHSLjohn and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get podcasts. Contact John at jmillea@mshsl.org 

John’s Journal: Every Day Is A Good Day For Waseca’s Westland

Brad Westland wants you to do something, no matter who you are, where you live or where you work or go to school. Westland, the head football coach at Waseca High School, knows he is lucky to be alive and he wants others to have the second chance he’s getting.

His heart stopped beating during a game two weeks ago. Westland collapsed on the sideline and athletic trainers from Waseca and St. Peter (the visiting team), joined by a nurse who was in the stands and others, absolutely saved his life. They maintained his airway, they did chest compressions, they used an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) to shock his heart.  

Westland was fortunate. When he was struck by sudden cardiac arrest, he was surrounded by people who were trained in life-saving skills, at a school that had implemented plans to handle such a crisis.

“You’d better put in (this story) the importance of CPR training and having AEDs available,” Brad told me as we talked this week. “If one person hears it and does it, or one person in the crowd that night gets a checkup or asks at work, ‘Where’s our AED,’ or gets trained in CPR, it will be worth it.”

Westland, 48, is a Blue Earth native who teaches U.S. history and psychology in Waseca. He has been the Bluejays head football coach for 16 years. He was hospitalized in Mankato from Friday night until going home on Wednesday. He’s tired, he’s getting lots of rest, reading get-well cards and writing thank you notes, grateful to be with his wife Kim and their three children. (In this photo, Wendland talks to the team after the final game of the 2020 season.)

He felt lightheaded during the final minute of Waseca’s 21-13 Week 1 victory. He was thinking of taking a knee and wait until his head cleared, but he went down in a heap. Troy Hoehn, the athletic trainer at Waseca High School, ran to Westland and started yelling his name. There was no response. St. Peter athletic trainer Leah Rutz sprinted across the field. Krystal Malis, who works as an emergency room nurse at Mayo Clinic Health System Hospital in Waseca and has two sons who play football, ran down from the stands and leaped over the fence that surrounds the field. Waseca activities director Joe Hedervare, who was in the press box, rushed to the field while dialing 911.  

“He wasn’t responding to me,” Hoehn said. “I’m checking on him, trying to see what’s going on to get an assessment. Leah had grabbed the AED, the nurse was doing chest compressions and it seemed like it all happened at once.”

Rutz and Malis switched positions between compressions and the AED. In the midst of stunned silence at the football field, they heard the siren of the approaching ambulance.

After the AED shock, Rutz resumed chest compressions. “I could feel his heart beating again,” she said. “ ‘Oh, there’s a pulse! I can feel it!’ We knew he was beating on his own again. He started moving a little. Then he was awake. He said, ‘I want to get up, my chest hurts, can I get up?’

“That’s when it really started to kick in, what we were doing. This is not a mannequin, this is a real human.”

Malis didn’t realize the person they were treating was Westland until he woke up.

“Somebody said, ‘Brad, you’re going to be all right.’ He was the last person I would have imagined,” she said. “He’s been instrumental with my kids. He’s talked to them about making good choices and things like that, and I know he’s done that with all the kids. He’s a blessing.”

None of the three medical professionals had ever done this before. They had trained, of course, in all manner of live-saving skills. And the training paid off.

Hoehn and Rutz both work for Mayo Clinic Health System. Hoehn, who is Rutz’s supervisor, has been an athletic trainer for 23 years.

“I’ve seen a lot but I haven’t seen this,” he said. “You carry that AED with you all the time, and crutches and other things you may need. It’s better to be prepared.”

Indeed, preparation was key to saving the coach’s life. The MSHSL encourages schools to have AEDs readily available, along with Emergency Action Plans for all teams and activities.

Five years ago, Waseca didn’t have athletic trainers at most events.

“Mayo started ramping up athletic training services in our area, and that shouldn’t be overlooked,” Hedervare said. “Five years ago this story could have been completely different.

“I communicate what comes from the League,” he said. “We have to have emergency plans in place, we have to practice them, everybody has to be aware of what’s going on, especially at a practice situation. If it would have happened anywhere else, I’m not sure our response would have been good.

“We have Emergency Action Plans for all our teams. I have heard from people (at other schools), saying they’re going to take these things a lot more seriously. This drove the point home, that we were able to implement this at a home event and it went as well as it did. It’s humbling, it’s crazy. We’re so glad we have the plan in place and everything worked out as it did.”

As Westland woke up, he wondered where Kim was. She was waiting for him at the ambulance. As the ambulance began pulling away, Westland heard a noise he recognized: The crowd was cheering. For him.

“That’s one of the things that’s been so overwhelming about this whole thing,” he said. “This happened in front of a thousand people, most of whom I know. To put that big of a scare into people that are that important to me, it was really hard to wrap my head around.”

The Bluejays played without their head coach at Marshall last week, coming home with a 19-7 win. The evening before, the team maintained tradition and held a pasta feed at school. Kim drove Brad to the gathering, which was emotional.

“I got to talk to them, I got to hug them,” Westland said. “It was good therapy for me and I think it was good for them. The last time they saw me it wasn’t good.”

Before and after the game in Marshall, the players wore blue t-shirts with the word “Coach” on the front and “Waseca Strong” on the back. Westland watched the game online, stayed in contact with Hedervare via text and talked on the phone at halftime with the coaches. Immediately after the game, he and the team reunited via FaceTime.

Westland will have his first post-incident medical appointment on Monday. Right now there is no timetable for returning to teaching or coaching.

“I feel fine, I’m strong mentally, I feel like I have been since I came to,” he said. “I’m groggy, I’m tired, I don’t have the vigor I normally have. I’m trying to sleep as much as I can and hoping that gets a little bit better every day. I don’t like to sit around at home all day, but under the circumstances I’m OK with it.”

Westland has learned how lucky he is to have collapsed where and when he did. According to the Mayo Clinic, sudden cardiac arrest is the third-leading cause of death in the U.S, and nine out of 10 people who suffer sudden cardiac arrest away from a hospital do not survive. Had Westland collapsed while walking to his car later in the evening, for example, the outcome could have been much different.

“I feel blessed,” he said. “I’m in bonus time. That’s the term I’ve been using. I really like my life. Every day is a good day.”

--MSHSL media specialist John Millea has been the leading voice of Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Twitter @MSHSLjohn and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get podcasts. Contact John at jmillea@mshsl.org  

John’s Journal: Speed Thrills For Edina Girls Soccer

During a close game against Stillwater last week, the Edina High School girls soccer team leaned on its speed to overcome an early deficit.

The Ponies had scored on a goal by Luka Johnson early in the opening half. Ten minutes later, Hornets senior Maddie Dahlien sprinted down the left sideline with the ball. She raced past a couple of defenders, took a quick right turn and centered to senior Ellen Norman for the tying goal. The Hornets went on to win the game 2-1, with the tie-breaking goal scored in the second half by senior Wesley MacMiller on an assist by Dahlien.

Dahlien, as track and field fans know, is a star in that sport. She swept big-school state titles at 100, 200 and 400 meters at last spring’s state meet. She is not the only speed merchant on the Edina soccer team; MacMiller and sophomore Izzy Engle were members of the Hornets’ state-championship 4x400-meter relay team, along with Skyler Kiefer and Emma Hudson.

“When you get a long ball and you see that girl coming up next to you, it's kind of like track,” Dahlien said. “You just want to get the edge over her and beat her to the ball.” (pictured, left to right, are Engle, MacMiller and Dahlien.)

All three say they prefer soccer over track, because of the team aspect and the fact that they have been playing soccer longer than they have been track athletes. But they also know that training as sprinters gives them an edge on the pitch.

“The meets themselves are really short races but the workouts really help build our endurance,” Engle said after the Stillwater game. “Most of us played at least three quarters of the game tonight, and we were still fine to keep going for another 10 or 20 minutes.”

The Hornets are the top-ranked team in Class 2A girls soccer and will take a 5-0 record into a Tuesday night game Minnetonka. Dahlien leads the team with six goals (she had three Saturday in a 5-1 win at St. Michael-Albertville), Engle has five and each has recorded four assists. MacMillen has two goals and one assist.

“It's definitely a huge benefit on the soccer field to have the speed that they do, and all three of them have breakaway speed,” said Edina coach Katie Aafedt. “They're fast, all three of them are extremely quick, and they all have long-range speed. It's tough to defend because it's exhausting to chase all three of them.”

The Edina girls soccer team has had plenty of two-sport athletes in past years, many of them also playing hockey. Aafedt is always happy to welcome multi-sport kids.

“We love and very much promote the multi-sport athletes,” she said. “We frequently have a soccer/hockey combo, a soccer/basketball combo, a soccer/track combo. They're not as injury-prone, they're not sick of the sport, they're excited.”

The trio of state track champions say they enjoy the creativity and strategy of soccer as opposed to the simple, raw speed of track and field.

“You can be more creative and it's an 80-minute game instead of a one-minute run or whatever,” said Engle.

MacMiller added, “Track is also a team sport, but in soccer your team does everything together and you get super close during the season. It's just a really fun environment.”

Dahlien (pictured) will play college soccer at North Carolina, which has won 22 NCAA championships. She also has heard from the Tar Heels’ track and field coaching staff, which is interested in having her join their team, as well. She said she’s considering her options.

“I haven't made a decision but my parents have really been pushing me to obviously put school first,” she said.

Edina has qualified for the girls state soccer tournament 11 times, winning a title in 1986 and finishing as state runner-up in 2000 and 2007. This fall, the Hornets are hoping to get to state for the first time since 2017.

“I feel like everything's going right,” said Engle. “We obviously have things to work on, but I think if we just keep our momentum going, we're a really good team.”

MacMiller added, “I think our team chemistry is very, very high this year and it's a super fun environment to be around. Practices and games are so fun but they're also super competitive, which I think pushes us to be better.”

--MSHSL media specialist John Millea has been the leading voice of Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Twitter @MSHSLjohn and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get podcasts. Contact John at jmillea@mshsl.org

ohn’s Journal: Thinking Back To 19 Years Ago This Week

I’ll always remember where I was on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. I had an appointment to speak to a class at Bloomington Jefferson High School, and I turned on the radio at home as I was getting dressed for the day.

There was talk of something bad happening in New York City. I turned on the TV in the kitchen and saw a big black smoldering hole in the side of one of the twin towers of the World Trade Center. A plane had apparently struck the building, but nobody knew anything more than that. Before long another aircraft blasted into the other twin tower.

I drove to Bloomington Jefferson, arriving a few minutes early. I listened to the radio in the car for as long as I could and then walked into the school and was escorted to the room where the Sports Literature class was meeting. There were televisions in the classrooms, but because of construction work in the school none of the TVs were working. I told the class everything I had learned from listening to the radio, and then we were all in blackout mode.

After the class period ended, I drove to the Star Tribune building in downtown Minneapolis. Like everyone else in the newsroom, I watched the scenes on television. The Pentagon was on fire … a plane had apparently gone down in Pennsylvania.

Fast-forward a few years and I was back at Jefferson, writing about a memorial stone that had been installed at the school in honor of former Jaguars quarterback Tom Burnett, who died when Flight 93 crashed in Pennsylvania. I also wrote about former Blake linebacker Gordy Aamoth, who died in one of the twin towers on Sept. 11. The stadium at Blake now bears his name and a twisted beam from the World Trade Center is on display at the stadium.

In the Sept. 14, 2001, edition of the Star Tribune, I wrote a column under the headline “High school sports can help the healing.” I had spoken with people at Colorado’s Columbine High School as well as Osceolo High School in Wisconsin, where a traffic accident had claimed twin brothers a few weeks before Sept. 11. That column seemed to resonate with readers at the time, and to this day people occasionally will mention it to me. I have heard from a few people who say they saved that column, and they read it every day as Sept. 11 comes around. That is equally touching and humbling.

Here is that column as it appeared in the Minneapolis Star Tribune on Sept. 14, 2001…

High School Sports Can Help The Healing

In the horrible wake of terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, all after-school activities were canceled Tuesday in the Jefferson County (Colo.) School District. This didn't surprise Ed Woytek, the athletic director at Columbine High School.

The day's events hit Columbine hard, especially the senior class. They were freshmen on April 20, 1999, when two students shot and killed 12 students and a teacher before taking their own lives.

"Our coaches and all of us are on kind of a fine line, especially with what happened here previously," Woytek said.

Columbine still is recovering from that day. Recovery also is an ongoing process in Osceola, Wis., where twin brothers Eric and Aaron Kipp, 18, died in a car accident on the way to football practice 30 days ago.

With thousands of innocent people presumed to have perished this week, what do you say? How do you heal? Maybe it's best to listen to the kids. That's among the lessons learned at Columbine and Osceola.

"Pretty much all of them are saying to us, 'We need to be a family,'" Woytek said. "Because that's what happened a few years ago; they got with family. And that's where we need to be, that's where our American people need to be, is with family."

After the Kipp brothers died, football practices were stopped for a short period. But soon, everyone wanted to return -- or try to return -- to some sense of normalcy.

"Very soon, the kids were ready to go back," said Osceola coach/principal Mike McMartin. "They said, 'Coach, I need to keep busy.' And they were right. When we jumped back into it, although they weren't the best practices in the world, there was almost a big sigh of relief that they could start moving forward and take with us all the good things that the boys had shared with us for so many years, instead of thinking about the bad."

Activities went on as scheduled Tuesday in Osceola, the day of the attacks.

"We just really felt during that time it was massively important that we show to the kids, 'Hey, we're going on. We're not going to let these people defeat us or take us off our feet here. We're going to move forward and be proud,'" McMartin said.

At Columbine and Osceola, tragedy struck a specific community of people. This week, tragedy struck us all.

The Columbine Rebels take a 1-1 record into tonight's game at Dakota Ridge. Osceola is 3-0 and the homecoming opponent for rival St. Croix Falls. The games go on, as do our lives.

"Everybody keeps saying we'll never get back to normal, just like our nation will never get back to normal," Woytek said. "But hopefully we're going to get as close to normal as we can."

So if sporting events are part of your normal routine, stick with it. If you haven't been to a high school game in years, tonight would be a wonderful time to go. Get away from the television, escape the headlines. Find a seat in the bleachers and take a break, however temporary, from all that's gone so wretchedly wrong in this world.

Watch the team captains shake hands before the coin flip. Hold your hand over your heart during the national anthem as the flag flutters at half-staff. Bow your head during the moment of silence to honor this week's victims. Get on your feet for the opening kickoff. Watch our young people -- players, cheerleaders, fans -- as they smile, holler and laugh together during this evening that is tradition both athletic and social. Buy popcorn, listen to the band, cheer first downs, simply celebrate.

Maybe administrators at every school can find a recording of God Bless America, and across our states -- Minnesota, Wisconsin, Colorado and beyond -- we'll sing together when the game ends. Just like a family.

John’s Journal: Wabasha-Kellogg Returns To The Field

 

WABASHA – The night had not gone well. The boys on the Wabasha-Kellogg football team – all 19 in uniform -- had hoped to win their season opener against Cleveland High School on a lovely Friday night at their home field, nestled on a piece of ground surrounded by southeastern Minnesota bluffs, a short distance from the Mississippi River.

In the final gathering before kickoff, in an equipment shed near the field, Wabasha-Kellogg coach Tim Klingbeil reinforced how special nights like this are: “It's an exciting thing that we get to do as young men. When high school football is over, it's done, it’s over. It ain’t golf. You get to create as many memories as you can on that field right now, tonight, because it just doesn't last very long. It disappears really quickly.”

Yes, the Falcons know all too well that the game can disappear. But the most important things are getting on the field, playing football and making memories. At the end of the night, the score was definitive; a 41-zero, running-time win for the Cleveland Clippers. But that wasn’t the most important result. The key outcome was that the Falcons had played a football game for the first time in two seasons. The 2019 season ended with a loss at Lewiston-Altura on Oct. 16, and there was no 2020 season for Wabasha-Kellogg.

The Falcons’ first two opponents last fall couldn’t play because of Covid-19 numbers in their communities, and before the Week 3 game could be played all activities at Wabasha-Kellogg were shut down for the same reason. The Falcons were the only high school football team in Minnesota that did not play in 2020.

“When I think about my favorite thing in the whole wide world outside my wife and kids, it’s football,” said Klingbeil, who is the school’s activities director and is in his ninth year as football coach. “Last year was heartbreaking. It was my first time without a season since fifth grade.”

Wabasha has a population of 2,475 people and the school enrollment has been falling. A large percentage of residents are 65 or older, and Rochester and the Twin Cities are too far away for people to work there and live in Wabasha. Despite that, “It’s a wonderful place to grow up and raise a family,” Klingbeil said.

The 2021 football roster consists of seven seniors, three juniors, two sophomores and seven ninth-graders. Two of the boys played varsity games in 2019.

“I’ve known these kids since fifth grade and watched them grow up,” Klingbeil said. “We’re really excited. We’re just so happy and excited to have a chance to play football on Friday nights. That’s our most prevalent emotion.”

As Friday’s game began, Wabasha-Kellogg quarterback Adam Dunagan ran for 15 yards on the first play from scrimmage. Then a pick six by Jackson Meyer, Cleveland’s quarterback/linebacker, got the Clippers going. Meyer threw to Carter Dylla for touchdowns of six and 58 yards, a safety followed and another Meyer-Dylla connection made it 29-0 at halftime for Cleveland, which brought 30 players on the two-hour drive to Wabasha.

“We weren’t going to go undefeated, we weren’t going to win a state championship, but there are some things we have to do better. That’s what this is all about,” Klingbeil told the team at halftime. “We got off to a bad start, we dug ourselves a hole, and all we can do is dig ourselves out of it. I expect you to play hard. You can control how hard you play. Let’s make sure we focus on that the rest of the way. We waited two years for this game, and win, lose or draw we’re going to play hard the rest of the way.”

The Falcons never caved. They clawed and worked and gave it everything they had. Their best offensive play was a 20-yard, third-quarter burst by Terrik Miller, followed by a 30-yard Miller run … followed a couple plays later by a lost fumble.

With almost everyone seeing action on both sides of the ball, it’s impossible to do much teaching during games. At big schools, the entire offense can sit together on the sideline and listen to the coaches while the defense is on the field (and vice versa). That’s just part of the challenge the Falcons face.

“I've got about 15 kids I can use in a varsity game,” Klingbeil said. “It builds character. If you can go through a football game like this, waking up for work ain’t hard, getting out of bed ain’t hard, paying taxes in April ain't hard. We're proud of our guys.”

The game-day experience itself was special, he said.

“You’re back to normal stuff, coaching stuff. It’s a good feeling. You wake up in the morning, you think about it, you think about it all day, and when you go to sleep you dream about it.

“We’ll wake up tomorrow with a purpose. We'll evaluate off our film, we'll learn from it and we'll correct, we’ll improve it, try not to repeat our mistakes, and we'll put it to bed and move on to our next game.”

Six days earlier, the Falcons had participated in a six-team morning scrimmage a few miles up Highway 61 in Lake City. It was a good learning experience. Afterwards, senior lineman Bradey Walters called last season “quite a bit of disappointment. I wanted to be a four-year starter but it didn't happen last year. This year we're just looking to have fun and try to win, play our hardest.”

Senior fullback/linebacker Jack Rodeghier said after the scrimmage, “We have really low numbers; half our team are freshmen and half are seniors. So it's kind of tough. But we make it work. We're one tight family.”

After the Week 1 game, Klingbeil talked to the Falcons in an end zone. He was as positive as any winning coach.

“It is Week 1. We get to play more football games this season,” he said. “There are things we have to correct, areas we have to improve. At the end of the day we have to look in the mirror, we have to be the best version of ourselves that we can be. I can’t make you 6-5, 220. You just have to the best version of yourself.

“It hurts to lose, it’s OK to feel bad about the loss, but we’re going to recover, we’re going to rebound, we’re going to improve, we’re going to keep moving forward. Your parents still love you, there are still pretty girls out there, there’s going to be good food at the Millers (for a postgame gathering). Take solace at what you have in life. No matter what, win, lose or draw, I love you guys.”

Rodeghier, who is as hard-nosed as any player in the state, was distraught after Friday’s game, saying, “I didn't expect this. I expected it to be a little different, but that's kind of really not how football games go. You plan for what they've done in years past, and they show something similar but we don't have the age, we’ve got a lot of young guys. But we worked as a team, we made it through.”

When the topic of appreciation was mentioned, Jack smiled. “Oh yeah, 100 percent,” he said. “I’m more than blessed to be out here.”

Welcome back, Falcons.

--MSHSL media specialist John Millea has been the leading voice of Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Twitter @MSHSLjohn and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get podcasts. Contact John at jmillea@mshsl.org