Cook County News Herald

A new opponent on the gridiron

Coac h's Corner



 

 

With the high school football season only three weeks away, it is time for a coach to start preparing for the season. Actually, the coaches have been preparing all summer long, but now is when things start to get busy. Physical forms, supply orders, gear handout, and practice plans all start flooding the priority list at home.

The big news right now, however, is that we have a new opponent on our schedule this season. Nashwauk-Keewatin decided to join in a cooperative agreement with Greenway in football, so Nashwauk football is of no more. Thislate move by Nashwauk created a hole in all of the class A Polar League schools’ football schedules.

With it being so late in the year to change the entire Polar League schedule, each school has been left to try to pick up an opponent during their empty week. The odds of this taking place are rare, especially in football.

As I was casually looking at the Minnesota High School Football Coaches Association website, I noticed that Saint Paul Humboldt was looking for a two year agreement with a class AA opponent.

Just for kicks, I emailed the coach and explained that we were only a class A opponent and that we could only commit to a one-year contract, as we only have a hole in our schedule for just this upcoming season. I wasn’t expecting any great news, but a few days later I got a response stating that they would indeed play us. The athletic directors then talked it over and now it looks that everything is ready to go.

So, on Friday afternoon September 11 at 4:00 p.m., Cook County will be playing Saint Paul Humboldt in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The game time is at 4:00 p.m. because they do not have lights on their field.

Humboldt was a class AAA last season and is now classified as a class AA team by the Minnesota High School League. As a coach, I see this game an incredible opportunity for our young men to experience football in a metro setting. The game will only be our second contest of the season, so we have a lot of work to do between now and then. It will be a great barometer early in the season of how well we have prepared our young men for competition. Mark the game on your calendars football fans! And yes, the Twins are at home that weekend in a three game home stand versus Oakland.

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