HALLOCK — Kittson County Central head football coach Cory Waling was on the road Wednesday afternoon, Nov. 12.
It's about a six-hour drive for the Bearcats from the northwestern corner of Minnesota to U.S. Bank Stadium, where they’ll play Hillcrest Lutheran Academy of Fergus Falls in the 9-Player semifinals Thursday evening.
The Bearcats are one of four Northland teams preparing for tough matchups at the home of the Minnesota Vikings this week. Defending 9-Player champions Fertile-Beltrami play Thursday afternoon, Grand Rapids plays in the 4A semifinals Friday morning and Mahnomen/Waubun will represent the region in 1A Saturday morning.
Travel impacts are a topic of discussion, Waling said, as the team deals with the distractions and focuses on the game.
“In a way, it kind of adds to the excitement to it, because it is different — playing different teams in different atmospheres,” he said.
It’s fun for the coaches, too. They remember playing in the Bank when the team made the semifinals in 2021. But this is a new experience for this group of guys.
Playing Hillcrest will be a unique experience, too.
“There’s not a lot of, in our section, the teams that are going to spread it out like Hillcrest does,” Waling said. “We’ve had to make some adjustments. We do those things in practice, but maybe focusing more on the details of coverage and being in the right spots and identifying change in the formations.”
Focusing on the details is also how the Bearcats are preparing to deal with “the highs and lows” of the game.
With a few exceptions, the team’s wins have come easily this year, including last week when they beat Cook County 49-0. Hillcrest fought hard against Mabel-Canton, eking out a two-point win, 40-38.
At this point in the season, every matchup is, of course, tough. But Mahnomen/Waubun in particular has a tall task, facing the three-time defending 1A champs who haven’t lost a game since 2022.
“We want to make sure that we execute at our highest level and give ourselves a chance,” he said. “One thing, when you play teams as good as Minneota, you can’t beat yourselves. You have to make them make plays.”
This is the Thunderbirds' third semifinal match in as many years, after beating Upsala/Swanville 17-8 last Friday.
Springfield beat them in this game the last two seasons, but they didn’t make the tourney this year. But Mahnomen/Waubun's not thinking about last year at all.
“Each team has its own identity, its own personality, and they still have the goal of a state championship in mind, and that’s what they’re working for right now,” Clark said.
It’s not quite as far as Kittson County Central, but Mahnomen/Waubun still has a four-and-a-half-hour drive. Similarly, the distance makes the whole experience that much more exciting: the send-off from the school, the bus ride down, the team meals and activities.
“The game is the cherry on top,” Clark said. “ ... Playing sports in high school is about making memories, and obviously, this trip, these kids hopefully will have a memory of a lifetime.”
The Grand Rapids Thunderhawks are also feeling good about playing at the Bank, but Head Coach Greg Spahn said for them, this is a lot of hard work paying off. There’s a “marked energy” in the school and the community.
“I think the vast majority of them realize that just getting there is fun, but going back the next week is probably going to be even better,” he said. “And that’s kind of been the mantra and the goal, like ‘Yup, we made it. Awesome. Well, we got a business trip now, and hopefully we can make it one more time.’”
Spahn said the team has a successful template for Friday’s game against Kasson-Mantorville. They’ve got lots of guys playing at a high level, including their offensive line and their defensive core, led by Oliver Spahn, Joe Dick, Mason Johnson, Ethan Morgan, Grady Giffen and Ari Lamppa.
Rapids earned the top seed in the northern half of the 4A bracket and crushed Benilde-St. Margaret’s 54-7 in the quarterfinals.
That might feel like a big turnaround for a program that was 6-4 last year and lost in the section semifinals. But Spahn said they were close to breaking through then, but got bit by the injury bug.
“This year we’ve been able to add a few new players, but really we’ve been able to stay pretty healthy, and that’s been a key piece of what we’re doing,” he said.
“If you dig a little deeper, I think all of the offseason stuff that we ask the kids to do has really paid off, from our leadership council and class that we run to the way that we lift and run and all that stuff.
“I think you combine all those things, and you end up with a pretty special season.”
Schedule
No. 2N Fertile Beltrami v. No. 1S Hills-Beaver Creek, 1 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 13
No. 1N Kittson County Central vs. No. 2S Hillcrest Lutheran Academy, 4 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 13
No. 1N Grand Rapids v. No. 2S Kasson-Mantorville, 11:30 a.m., Friday, Nov. 14
No. 2N Mahnomen/Waubun v. No. 1S Minneota, 9 a.m., Saturday, Nov. 15
