As we resume the countdown of my Top
10 favorite John’s Journal stories from the 2022-23 school year, we venture to
southeast Minnesota for a Week 1 Nine-Man football game … a game that took two days
to complete.
On rare occasions I like to get “inside”
a team, being in meetings, riding the bus, really going behind the scenes to
get a sense of what the experience is like for players and coaches. This story
below, originally posted on Sept. 4, is unlike anything I had ever experienced.
The LeRoy-Ostrander football team was coming off a dream season that ended with
a state championship, and I was with the Cardinals for their first game a
season later.
Was there drama? Absolutely. Uncertainty?
Certainly. Courage? Oh yes. From an afternoon team meeting to a silent bus ride
home in the rain – and a return trip the next day to finish the game – my time
with the LeRoy-Ostrander Cardinals was something special.
The night
was dark, the mood was darker and Trevor Carrier’s head was down. He was
sitting in the second row of seats on bus number 45 from the LeRoy-Ostrander
School District when he made a phone call at 9:21 p.m. Friday. On the other
end, a cell phone lit up inside a hospital in Rochester, 38 miles away.
“Hey
buddy, how are you doing?,” the LeRoy-Ostrander head football coach said to
Layne Bird, senior quarterback who had started the first game of his career
that night.
Everyone
on the bus and everyone who was at the 2022 season opener between the visiting
Cardinals and the Southland Rebels in Adams knew how Layne was doing. Terrible.
This
was Week 1 of a season in which the Cardinals are the defending Minnesota state
champions of Nine-Man football. Their season opener was not finished on Friday,
but Bird’s season was.
It
was a crazy, strange, head-spinning day for the Cardinals. Friday’s game was
delayed at halftime because of lightning, then delayed again and again as the
strikes continued. Finally, a decision was made to resume the game on Saturday
morning. The second half began at 11 a.m. – 16 hours after the first-half
kickoff – with Southland leading 12-7. The Cardinals scored on their first
drive of the second half and came away with a 14-12 win that will long be
remembered for many reasons.
“I
don’t know why these things happen,” Carrier said into his phone as rain fell
on the dark bus. “I’m so proud of you; that’s from my heart. I wish I could
take it for you. I wish it was my leg or foot. I love you so damn much.”
*****
The
Cardinals had forced Southland to punt on the game’s first possession. From
their own 29-yard line, the LeRoy-Ostrander offense lined up with the 5-foot-8,
165-pound Bird at quarterback.
As
a receiver last year, Bird caught a 55-yard touchdown pass from then-senior
quarterback Chase Johnson during a 58-8 win over Fertile-Beltrami in the Prep
Bowl at U.S. Bank Stadium. Hours before he was injured on Friday, while the
team was at school waiting to board the bus for Adams, Layne and a teammate
walked down a quiet hallway toward Carrier and a few others.
“That’s
Layne, our quarterback,” Carrier said to a visitor. “He’s going to have a great
year.”
On
the first play at Southland, Bird fumbled the snap. On the second play he
overthrew sophomore receiver Camden Hungerholt. On third-and-10, Bird ran
around the right side on a keeper, took a hard but clean hit, and stayed down
in front of the Cardinals bench.
Carrier
and assistant coach Kyle Stern ran to him. Stern yelled, “trainer!” Southland’s
athletic trainer, Char Yunker, quickly came across the field and kneeled next
to Layne. As players from both teams also kneeled, a utility vehicle – normally
used for carrying water jugs, yard markers and the like – was driven onto the
field by Southland athletic director Randy Smith. It carried Layne to the
trainer’s table behind the Rebels bench.
Yunker
stabilized Layne’s lower left leg and ankle with a splint. Smith tore the
plastic wrap off a pair of new crutches. Bird’s parents, Kim and Brian, pulled
their car up, Layne was loaded in and they got on the road to Rochester. His
injuries were horrific: fractured tibia, fractured fibula, fractured ankle,
tearing of ligaments that connect the leg to the ankle. Everything, wrecked.
When
Bird was injured, all the joy and excitement of Week 1 seemed to evaporate. Up
to that point, everything had been glorious.
*****
3
p.m.
The
Cardinals hold a team meeting, gathering in a room near the school’s indoor
swimming pool. They watch film of last year’s Week 1 home game vs. Southland, a
57-26 win. The coaches discuss offense, defense and special teams. Carrier
writes on a white board, “Let’s Become Great!”
The
meeting ends with these words from the head coach: “We're mentally ready. We're
physically ready. There's nothing else but to play the game. I love you, I'm
proud of you. Let’s be great.”
Carrier,
in his third year as the head coach, is the school’s dean of students and
athletic director. A 2003 graduate of Houston High School, he was hired as a
kindergarten teacher out of Winona State University. During Friday’s team
meeting, he talked to the boys about the strength of Nine-Man football in
Section 1, which covers southeast Minnesota.
Seven
of the past eight Nine-Man state championship teams have come from Section 1.
Grand Meadow won four in a row from 2013 to 2016, Spring Grove took the title
in 2017 and 2018, and the Cardinals continued the tradition in 2021.
LeRoy-Ostrander
went 6-2 in the regular season last year, losing to Lanesboro and Grand Meadow.
They avenged those losses in the section playoffs before three wins at state
gave them a 12-2 record.
The
2021 season began with an eerily similar calamity. Then-junior Peyton Roe
suffered a broken leg in the opener vs. Southland and missed the rest of the
season. When this year’s opener resumed on Saturday morning, it was Roe who
scored the winning touchdown on a 2-yard run. Poetic justice, right?
“Do
we have to play Week 1 next year?,” Carrier said to the other coaches on the
bus ride home Friday night. Gallows humor can be a coping mechanism.
*****
4
p.m.
As
is tradition, the coaching staff gathers at Sweet’s Hotel, Restaurant and
Lounge -- which has stood in downtown LeRoy since 1898 -- for a pregame meal.
Sweet’s owner Lu Overocker greets them with hugs and treats them like royalty.
The coaches order the same thing every time, unless the team is coming off a
loss. Cheeseburgers, fries, baked potatoes, chicken strips, wings, it’s all
available.
“My
chicken wings and salad bar are 10-0,” Carrier announces.
The
six coaches are close friends and verbally jab each other. Carrier, looking at
Aaron Hungerholt’s baked potato and chicken strips, says, “You better hope we
lose so you can order something different next week.”
Hungerholt,
also the school principal and former head football coach, watches the games
from the press box and communicates with Carrier via headset. The other coaches
are Stern, Nick Sweeney, Ryan Evans and Dave Farlinger.
As
they eat, the discussion ranges from the Gophers’ victory over New Mexico State
the previous evening to the Vikings and beyond. Six community-minded men
enjoying the moment. Lu, wearing LeRoy-Ostrander red, hugs them as they leave.
She tells Carrier, “Give ‘em hell.”
*****
4:45
p.m.
Nearly
an hour before the bus will leave, the players wander in and out of the locker
room as Metallica music booms. They pull on their football pants, wearing
sneakers, slides or just socks. They wander around the school a bit, killing
time and mentally preparing. In the gym, the volleyball team is practicing.
The
volleyball athletes depart after practice – someone exclaims, “Oh my gosh, boys
stink!” -- and the football players congregate in the gym. They throw
footballs, they stretch, they banter. More Metallica.
One
of the kids asks Carrier, “What time are we leaving?” About half an hour, he’s
told. Stern collects the players’ cell phones in a box. They will be returned
after the bus arrives back at school following the game. Focus is everything
now.
*****
5:45
p.m.
Carrier
makes the announcement. “OK boys, let’s load up! We’ve got business to take
care of!”
Shoulder
pads and jerseys are packed into the rear end of a school van. A small gang of
younger kids, who are in charge of water bottles and other sideline
necessities, load their gear into another van as the team boards bus No. 45.
Their home field is across the street; above the entrance hangs a sign
proclaiming their recent gridiron glory, including this: “2021 NINE-MAN
FOOTBALL STATE CHAMPIONS.”
Horns
honk as cars drive past. It’s a short trip to Adams, just 12 miles west on
state highway 56. Between LeRoy and Adams is the tiny town of Taopi, where
evidence of an April tornado remains.
The
bus is driven by Rick Roe; Peyton is his grandson, as is ninth-grade team
member Carson Roe.
As
the bus pulls away, Carrier stands in the aisle and says, “Let’s go. Ten
minutes to focus.” Music by Eminem pounds out of a Bluetooth speaker in the
back of the bus.
Outside
the windows, the scenery is familiar. Farms, trees, horses. The official
capacity of the bus is 71; there are 25 football players on board. At the Adams
city limits a sign proclaims it the “Pride of the Prairie.” The bus rolls
through downtown Adams to the west end of town, where an immaculate football
field awaits. In the back of the bus, there is rhythmic clapping as a teenage
voice yells, “Let’s go baby!”
*****
6:45
p.m.
Meat
is being cooked to perfection on two gas grills. The public-address system is
pure old-school: Motley Crue, Def Leppard, Bon Jovi. The football field is
surrounded by a crowd-control system consisting of metal posts and a single
wire cable.
As
veterans from American Legion Post 146 in Adams bring out the colors, the
Cardinals demonstrate that no detail is too small. They line up on their
sideline, evenly and widely spaced, in numerical order. Their names are on the
backs of their jerseys and the family connections are clear as they stand at
attention for the national anthem. Lewison, Lewison. Hungerholt, Hungerholt.
Schaefer, Schaefer. Roe, Roe. Diemer, Diemer.
Seconds
from kickoff, Carrier tells the boys, “We don’t pay taxes here but this is our
field! Dominate!”
*****
After
Layne is injured and the mood crumbles, so does most everything else for the
Cardinals. Camden Hungerholt – son of Aaron, as is eighth-grade player Reid
Hungerholt -- moves from receiver to quarterback. His first pass is a great
one, 85 yards to Carter Sweeney for a touchdown and 7-0 lead. That is the
entirely of the good news for the night.
Talented
Southland junior Jack Bruggeman corrals a bad punt snap and runs for a first
down on fourth and 22. A Cardinals face-masking penalty helps keep the Rebels’
drive alive, and they score late in the first quarter to trail 7-6.
As
the second quarter begins, Carrier says into his headset, “We haven’t shown up
yet.” Camden Hungerholt runs 26 yards for a score, which is nullified by a
holding penalty. During a timeout, the coach tells the kids, “Start playing
football! Stop feeling sorry for yourselves!” The drive ends with an
interception in the end zone. Uff da.
Shortly
before halftime, Southland takes a 12-7 lead on a fourth-down, 13-yard pass
from Noah Bauer to Bruggeman. As the second quarter ends, the Cardinals exit
the field and gather behind bus No. 45. They drink water and Gatorade as one of
the coaches hands out Rice Krispies treats. “We couldn’t have played a worse
half,” Carrier says. “Defensively, we’ve got to stop 26 (Bruggeman). This is
what champions are made of. It’s like last year when Peyton got hurt. Champions
gotta fight.”
The
fighting will have to wait. As the teams return to the field for the second
half, a distant, silent bolt of lightning causes a mandatory 30-minute delay
before the game can be resumed. The bolts keeps blasting as the storm moves
closer. People check the radar on their phones. Referee Grant Klennert from the
Rochester Area Officials Association meets with Carrier and Southland coach
J.J. Galle, and the decision is made to suspend the game until the next
morning.
As
the team boards bus No. 45 again, Carrier tells them, “We could be 0-8 and I’ll
still love you guys. Mentally we can regroup. It’s devastating, we all love
Layne. We have to play for Layne Bird.”
As
Rick Roe drives the Cardinals back home, everyone is broken-heartened and
confused. In a soft voice, Carrier says to the other coaches, “I don’t get it.
It’s not about the game, it’s about the kids.”
*****
8:30
a.m. Saturday
The
Cardinals regathered in the meeting room and talked about Layne and how they
felt about their friend. Carrier drew a large F on the white board and
announced that this was the grade he gave himself for the previous evening.
“I
was very emotional,” he said later. “I love Layne to death. I don’t think I did
a very good job. It took me a bit to get back on track. It was a difficult
situation.”
Shortly
before the contest resumed Saturday morning, some of the elation and joy that
had surrounded the field in Adams before Friday night’s game was rekindled. A
teenage boy got out of a vehicle and moved slowly toward the field, still
learning to navigate the world on crutches. When the swelling goes down, Layne
Bird will have surgery. But on this sunny morning he wanted to be back with his
teammates. There were lots of hugs. And the defending state champions, finally,
ultimately, began the season with an emotional and hard-earned win.
“The
kids really responded,” Carrier said. “We’re playing for Layne.”
--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
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