Photos by Mitch Dorr Top: Cook County High School’s Miles Drake puts pressure on the “Metro” quarterback. Drake was No. 14 on the “Outstate” team in the Minnesota High School All-Star Football game at St. Cloud University on June 27. Left: Drake and his mother, Rachel, at the formal dinner held to honor the All- Star players on June 26.
This past weekend on June 27, 80 of the best football players in the state competed in the 36th annual Minnesota High School All-Star Football Game. Cook County’s Miles Drake was selected to play in the game for the Outstate team as a strong side defensive back. Despite the Metro team winning 54-13, the game was exciting to watch for everyone.
At the start of the week on June 21, Drake made the long trip to Gustavus Adolphus College in Saint Peter, Minnesota. At Gustavus both the Metro and Outstate teams practiced for a week with their new teammates and coaches. While both teams ate together for meals, the squads practiced on different fields and were housed in different wings of the dormitory.
On the night before the game on June 26, a formal dinner was held to honor all the players participating in this year’s game. It was quite impressive to hear the All-Star coaches talk about each of their players. The dinner was attended by roughly 400 players, family members, coaches, and friends.
The game itself was played the next evening at Saint Cloud State University. The game started in a hard downpour for the first 20 minutes, but then the weather cleared for the remainder of the game. TheMetro team jumped out to an early 13-0 lead and never looked back, winning 54-13.
While the Metro racked up a lot of points through the air, Drake was very good on defense as he made a handful of tackles and wasn’t beat through the air by anyone he defended. It is often tough for a Class A player to get enough recognition to get invited to this game, but Drake fit in well with his big-school counterparts.
Drake is Cook County’s 12th player selected in the game’s 36-year history. Thisis the second year in a row Cook County has had a player in the All- Star game as Tait Sande was selected as a running back last season in 2008. Other notable Vikings that have been selected in the All-Star game are: Colly Norman (2002), Matt Gwash (2001), Erik Anderson (2000), Barry Pederson (1998), Andrew Majeski (1993), Chris LaVigne (1992), Bryan Carpenter (1991), Jeff Sjadak (1982), Jay Anderson (1979), and Robin Ekroot (1978).
Other Cook County representatives in the game have been Lyle Anderson who coached the 1997 All- Star game and Dale Bockovich who coached in the 1998 game.
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