Coach Chatter out of the Missota

As Minnesota prepares for the 2008 football season and the Minnesota Preps/Breakdown Preview's continue we take a new angle in preparation with some coach chatter out of the Missota Conference. The early conference favorite was voted to be Farmington but in the Missota any school can beat another at any time.

The eight team Missota Conference was won last year by Hutchinson who went undefeated in conference play. Hutch also extended their school streak of finishing above .500 for the 37th consecutive season.

While the Tigers are expected to come back with another solid year it was Farmington that was voted preseason conference favorite. Of the eight teams in the conference only Red Wing did not complete a preseason team submission to the Breakdown and amongst the seven that did (thank you for your efforts coaches!), five schools predicted the Tigers on top. Another vote went to Northfield and Hutch was always second or third amongst the pretty much meaningless (expect for fun discussion) rankings.

As far as the competition level goes New Prague coach Tony Buthe said it best. "Year in and year out the Missota is one of the toughest football conferences in the state of Minnesota. Any team can beat any other on any given night."

Farmington will have an advantage in the experience they are returning. "We will have several returning players at a variety of positions," said coach Mark Froehling. "We return our quarterback (Brent Beenken), leading rusher (Derek Waldbillig), and leading receiver (Josh Zitzmann). Josh is a very talented versatile player as a wide receiver, defensive back, and punt returner. Our sophomore team was undefeated last season so we will count on several of them to fill in at needed positions, especially on the offensive and defensive lines."

The Tiger rivals from Northfield will try to win back the Tractor Trophy behind a pair of stellar seniors. "We have some top talent back including our 1,000 yard rusher from last year Cody Schmidt and division one prospect and last years sack leader Cole Jirik (led the state with 16 sacks as a junior)," said coach Bubba Sullivan.

While not being a favorite coming out of the shoot the Academy of Holy Angles always has talent, they will play hard, and they have big expectations for themselves.

"I expect our team to be very solid, especially on the defensive side of the ball," said coach Mike Smalley. "We have several play makers capable of scoring from anywhere on the field. This team should put us back in the Metro Dome in November!"

The Stars have another star in their defensive backfield. "J.J. Swain will be one of our best players," said coach Smalley. "He is the son of ex-Viking John Swain. John is also our secondary coach at Holy Angels."

Shakopee was winless last year but coach Stone is excited about the future. "Sophomores Willie Dellwo, Dylan Ulferts, Ethan Petrill, and Jason Perkins are the top players of a very good class of 2011 for us."

Hutch has the tradition, experience, and a fan base that shows up early in the morning on home gamedays. The fans place their seat cushion, blanket, or what have you to mark their territory for the night's contest.

After an 8-2 campaign, a conference title, and 37 straight years of winning season there is always something to cheer about. And it could be a junior star gathering the most applause. Jacob Brusehaver is a junior being recruited by many division one schools," said coach Andy Rostberg. "He is fast and big at 6-foot-5 playing fullback and linebacker."

And what about New Prague?

"We have tradition with three straight state tournaments (which gives extra practice time for underclassman)," said coach Buthe. "We return a quality linebacker and safety from last year's squad. We will be a young and inexperienced team as we lost a number of quality players that played in two and/or three state tournaments."