John's Journal: Falcons And Tigers And Memories, Oh My

A fellow who travels Minnesota’s four-lanes and back roads spent two recent days on the road again. The traveler -- in pursuit of memorable scenes, friends old and new, and most of all stories to share – headed south on Thursday and north on Friday.

Thursday’s site was the football field in Harmony, the extremely harmonious home of the Fillmore Central Falcons. They hosted the Falcons of Wabasha-Kellogg in a Week 7 Class A football game. The Friday destination was Princeton, home of the Tigers, who hosted Hutchinson in a Class 4A game of Tiger vs. Tiger.

Both games were on real grass, so the traveler was happily able to chew and spit sunflower seeds to his heart’s content. He picked up a new bag of seeds before Thursday’s game, stopping at a Kwik Trip located a couple blocks from the field in Harmony. He finished a bag during the game and tore into the new acquisition.

The traveler saw a lot, smiled a lot, marveled at times and experienced two days that will be remembered for a long time. It may sound odd, but what he witnessed happens all the time at high school sporting events, in Minnesota and beyond. The people involved – coaches, officials, athletes, parents, fans – almost always do the right thing. On these two evenings, the traveler did not hear anything overly negative from the stands or the sidelines. Positivity (and maybe this is positive thinking) seems to be gaining a foothold on Minnesota high school activities, and this is a good thing.

This autumn marks 50 years since the traveler began jotting things down in a notebook and writing sports stories. He was a sophomore in high school when he learned that his English teacher, Mrs. White, had recommended him as someone who could serve as a sports correspondent for their weekly hometown newspaper. That was in 1974, and the well-traveled traveler has the late, treasured Mrs. White on his mind often these days.

The traveler learned a few things on this two-day swing. He learned that he could jump on Highway 52 in the Twin Cities and take that road all the way to Harmony, and if the lone stoplight in downtown Chatfield is green, there are no stops on the 115-mile drive. He also learned that summer road construction can extend well into October, and his circuitous 73-mile route to Princeton seemingly wound through all the traffic cones in the northern hemisphere. But as we say of road work in these parts, “It’ll sure be nice when it’s done.”

AS THE TEAMS WARMED UP IN HARMONY, I chatted with Fillmore Central ninth-grader Weston Bernau on the field. Weston, who has congenital muscular dystrophy, pilots a power wheelchair and is as important to the football team and community as anyone. I remembered seeing Weston at U.S. Bank Stadium in 2022, when Fillmore Central put on a magnificent rally before falling to Minneota 28-27 in the state semifinals.

As Weston and I chatted, one of the Fillmore players welcomed me to town with a smile and a handshake. “I’m Weston, too,” he said. Weston Collins is a senior wide receiver and defensive back for the Falcons, who improved their record to 6-1 with a 41-14 win over Wabasha-Kellogg. Weston Bernau’s job during games is to use his wheelchair to tow a wheeled water station up and down the sideline. During timeouts, he drives the water out on the field to where the players are gathered.

The traveler was sitting on the home bench during the game in Harmony when another player, junior Brody Niemeyer, walked up and said “Excuse me” as he reached behind the bench to grab a bottle of Gatorade from a backpack. The traveler said he needed to stand up and stretch his legs anyway, to which Brody replied, “Yeah, I get that on weekends when I’m hunting.”

THIS SEASON HAS SEEN A THIRD ROSTBERG name added to Hutchinson’s storied football history. The Tigers quarterback is 14-year-old ninth-grader Graydon Rostberg. His dad is head coach Andy Rostberg and his grandpa is former head coach and current volunteer coach Graydon (Grady) Rostberg, an 80-something gem of a man.

Grady coached for a few years at Brownton before becoming Hutch’s head coach in 1970. He stepped down after 29 years (Andy played quarterback for his dad) and Andy has been the coach since.

During warmups in Princeton on another spectacular night for football, the traveler asked Grady if 2024 has provided the best football weather in history. Based on 70 years of knowledge, Grady wholeheartedly said yes.

The next query to Grady was about the jersey number of his grandson. Graydon wears 7, and the follow-up asked if that was a traditional family number. Grady said, “No. I think Andy wore 11 and I can’t even remember what number I wore.”

Andy clarified. He indeed wore 11 and his dad wore 44. “I remember looking at pictures of him playing,” Andy said. “And I told him, ‘Holy crap dad, you guys didn’t have facemasks.’ ”

The travelers’ dad was 87 years old when he died on Oct. 11, 2014. Tom Millea worked as the PA announcer at the local high school football games, and the traveler sent this text to his mom during the game in Princeton on Oct. 11, 2024: “I’m at a football game, sitting next to the PA announcer and smiling when I think about Dad doing the PA at our games.” Her reply: “Memories!” Mom is 91 and still lives in the big house in which she and Tom raised six kids. And she knows how to text emojis, too.

PRINCETON REMAINED UNDEFEATED WITH A 28-7 win over Hutchinson, and the evening seemed befitting to the Hutch Tigers’ 2024 campaign. They are 3-4 and will end the regular season at Holy Angels (4-3) on Wednesday.

Since Grady Rostberg became coach 54 years ago, Hutchinson has never finished below .500. Coming off a state championship season in 2023 behind a senior-laden team, Hutch is young this fall. Luck has not been on their side, either. In two of their losses they committed five turnovers and their defeats to Totino-Grace, Rocori, Becker and Princeton seem understandable since those four teams have a combined record of 26-2.

The Princeton Tigers will close the regular season at home on Wednesday against Dassel-Cokato, another unbeaten team. Princeton is a run-first, run-hard football team. Senior Noah Wells carried 19 times for 147 yards and two touchdowns against Hutchinson, giving him 762 yards and 11 TDs on the season.

Noah is not the tallest athlete you will find, and in the final minutes of the Hutch game, as the reserves took the field and the starters whooped it up on the sideline, Noah noticed the traveler standing a few feet away. Once the identity of the traveler was established, Noah smiled and made a request: “If you do a write-up, can you write that I’m 5-9 and a half instead of 5-9?” Done.

THE FOOTBALL FIELD IN HARMONY IS ONLY a few years old, complete with a big set of home bleachers and a modern concession/restroom/storage building – the traveler had never seen such a clean, well-lit, large and luxurious men’s restroom (these things matter).

It was Parents Night at Fillmore Central and the moms and dads were lined up across the field before kickoff; their kids walked out from the sideline to stand with them as each player was introduced. The line stretched nearly from end zone to end zone. Wabasha-Kellogg coach Tim Klingbeil watched from the opposite sideline; his Falcons have a roster of 31 kids, with fewer than that in uniform.

“That’s about three years’ worth of teams for us,” he said, looking at all the Fillmore players.

Early in the game, as Fillmore moved into Wabasha-Kellogg territory, the home team attempted a pass play. As the ball fell incomplete, Klingbeil shouted, “Ineligible man downfield! You have to call that! He’s 20 yards downfield!” No flag had been dropped, but the offending ineligible player was slowly jogging back to the line of scrimmage in clear view of everybody in town … and it was not a short trip. Flag. Penalty. Justice.

A day later in Princeton, a long pass by young Rostberg came down in the midst of two Tigers, one from each team. A flag was tossed and a Princeton coach in the press box screamed into his headset, “If it isn’t (on Hutch) it’s the worst call I’ve ever seen in my life … NO WAY!” Way. First down Hutchinson.

Parents night festivities in Harmony included young cheerleaders, from kindergarten to sixth grade, performing with the high school cheerleaders at halftime. The traveler counted 59 little kids out there and twice as many beaming parents.

It was Homecoming in Princeton, and the Tigers have a mighty contingent of cheerleaders. Late in the game the traveler asked one of them, “How many cheerleaders do you have?” She replied with an inquisitive look, “Like 45. Why?” He said that he was a reporter who – you never know -- might decide to write about the cheer squad.

THESE WERE TWO GLORIOUS NIGHTS under a waxing gibbous moon that smiled down from the southern sky. Harmony is four miles from the Iowa border; if you make the drive, you’ll know when you reach the aptly-named State Line Cemetery. The school and football field are five blocks apart, which is not a lengthy walk. But the hometown football team rides a bus from school to field, which seems safer considering that the walk would include crossing Highway 52, where the speed limit isn’t always obeyed. For junior varsity football teams, however, they walk to home games and assuredly look both ways before crossing the road.

John Harvey Field in Princeton is an old-school classic where the game has been played longer than about anyone can remember. The stadium is flanked by the high school on one side and pine trees behind the visitors sideline. It’s not rare to hear the siren of an ambulance entering or exiting Northland Medical Center next door.

The field at Class A Fillmore Central has play clocks, Princeton does not. (They are not required.)

There was a “Split the pot” raffle in Princeton and the big moment came at the start of the fourth quarter. PA announcer Derek Hasselberg told the giant crowd, “The winning ticket number is 574007. The winner gets $412. If you have the winning ticket, come on up to the booth. Oh! we got one!” he said as someone in the bleachers stood up grinning.

Three of the four head coaches involved in these games are hometowners. Andy Rostberg grew up in Hutchinson, Princeton coach Ryan Fay is a local Tiger, Fillmore Central coach Chris Mensink went to Prescott-Fountain back before consolidation brought Fillmore Central to life, and the only outlander is Klingbeil, who grew up in Fridley.

Mensink has been part of football in Harmony for a long time. He was an assistant under former head coach Del Elston for 10 years and took over when Del stepped down in 1992. Del passed away recently and the field has been named in his honor. The team wears stickers on their helmets that say “Del.”

After the handshake line, the Fillmore players formed a large circle, got down on the grass and went through a series of postgame stretching exercises. As they did this, Mensink walked the circumference of the circle, shaking hands with each of them.

“This community is amazing,” Mensink said. “It's just an amazing, amazing experience. And we want it to be a community event every night, with Tackle Cancer, Parents Night, Homecoming. It's something that brings people together. And we're very, very proud of it.”

The Fillmore coaching staff is loaded with experience. One of the assistants is Ty Sloan, who teaches in the district. He played at Grand Meadow for his dad, Gary Sloan, whose teams went to state eight times and won four state championships. Gary stepped down in 2021, and the Superlarks had a record of 230-84 in his 29 seasons as head coach. Gary, now a volunteer coach, makes the 45-minute drive from Grand Meadow for practice a couple days a week, watches film and helps out however he can.

“First off, they’re good human beings,” Mensick said of the Sloans. “We want to put as many good role models in front of our kids as we can. We want to teach the game of football and we want to teach life through the game of football. And those guys are the epitome of that.”

TO SAY THE POSTGAME MOOD was exuberant for the Princeton Tigers would be an understatement. Beating Hutchinson on the football field is a feat for any team, and there was extra sauce for Princeton because assistant coach Scott Walquist is a Hutch grad. In the postgame end zone huddle, Scott laughed and roared as he talked about the texts he had received from friends in Hutch before the game.

“They're so good every year,” Princeton’s Fay said of the other Tiger team. “We know who they are, we played them in the past and we knew this was going to be a battle, a real test for where we are at as a program. They are coached really, really well and those kids will fight all the way to the last second every time. We're just trying to take steps to get to some point like that.”

Hutch, already young and inexperienced, has been double-whammied with injuries this season. The sideline included a couple kids already on crutches and the dominoes continued to fall in Princeton.

Senior captain Manny Pearce left the game in the opening minutes and sat on the bench for the rest of the night, his right leg elevated, his season finished because of an ankle injury. And young quarterback Graydon Rostberg limped off the field and sat on the bench with ice on a knee. He also will miss whatever the rest of the season holds.

Hutchinson has won seven state titles since 1983, including the 2023 Class 4A championship with a team built on a strong senior class. A few feet from where Graydon Rostberg sat on the bench was a backpack on which was stitched, “2021 STATE CHAMPIONS.”

“We’ve been just battered this year with injuries,” Andy Rostberg said.

After the handshake line between Tiger teams, the Princeton Tigers walked to the Hutch Tiger bench to offer good wishes to the injured players. There were hands on shoulders and hugs. And as the Hutch Tigers headed for the bus and the 90-minute ride home, Graydon Rostberg put an arm around the shoulders of two teammates, who helped him cross the field.

ON THE WABASHA-KELLOGG sideline, the traveler was greeted by Falcons junior Landon Baker. Landon looked at the credential hanging from the traveler’s neck and said, “All access? You’re up there.” To which the traveler replied, “I know who you are. You and your brother were named Most Valuable Teammates a few weeks ago.”

Landon and Gavin Baker received the weekly honor from the MSHSL of being named MVTs on Sept. 12. Nominated by their coach, their award read, “Gavin and Landon, who are twin brothers, are the ultimate teammates at their school. They are not the biggest, strongest or fastest on the team but they get the job done with hustle. They go hard and give all they have in the spirit of the team. No one runs on the field faster than these two to help an injured teammate on or off.  They truly are Most Valuable Teammates.”

A little later, the traveler had returned to a seat on the Fillmore Central bench. Niemeyer, the 6-foot, 251-pound lineman/hunter, found his Gatorade bottle once more and said to the visitor, “Enjoying the game?” The answer: I’m really glad I’m here. To which Brody said, “We’re glad you’re here, too.”

AFTER THE YOUNG CHEERLEADERS LEFT the field at halftime in Harmony, the traveler was on the home bench, enjoying all the smiles and all the good feelings in a town – just like everywhere in Minnesota -- where high school events are true community gatherings. Pride? Certainly. Fun? You betcha. Positivity? Oh for sure. Is there anything better? Nope.

As the teams held their halftime meetings away from the field, music played on the PA system: Memory Lane by Old Dominion. The next song was Fast Car by Luke Combs. The song was originally released by Tracy Chapman in 1988 and Tracy and Luke played a memorable duet of the song at the Grammys earlier this year. Watching the performance on TV on that February night, the traveler had posted this message on social media: “Why does hearing/watching Tracy Chapman and Luke Combs sing Fast Car together bring tears to my eyes.”

Among the replies was this message from Tim Gleason, a good friend who is a band director and multi-sport coach at Winona High School: “Because you have a soul.”

Nobody saw the tears in the traveler’s eyes as he sat on the metal bench under the waxing moon on a 63-degree evening. The traveler thought about his dad, about Mrs. White, about his high school teammates in the 1970s, about 50 years of doing this work and all the blessings that came with it.

And never, ever taking it for granted.

--MSHSL senior content creator 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 [email protected] or [email protected]