Hennen: More to do before all-star game

Two football seasons ago there was the infamous "eye-poke," win-one-for-my brother game.

Isaac Hennen rallied his troops against Minneapolis North after his brother and the man who carried them on his back all season, Garrett Hennen went out with a leg injury.

He was poked in the eye by a North player and the video of the went went viral.

A lot has happened since then. Isaac Hennen was a sophomore. Last year, his team lost a disappointing game to Wabasso in the Section 5A semifinals.

It was the Vikings first loss in three seasons and it broke their 36-game winning streak and halted a dream of three-straight state championships that would have matched the run Minneota had in 1986, '87 and '88.

Now, 13-games later the Vikings are back in the state finals following a perfect season and a record that has reached 49-1 in the past four years.

At the core of the whole thing has been Isaac Hennen, who last week was named to the Minnesota North-South All-Star game and was chosen as one of the 11 finalists for Mr. Football in Minneota. He's the only Class A player chosen.

"It means a lot," said Hennen after he rushed for 138 yards and caught six passes for 92 yards in a 54-21 win over Mayer Lutheran.

"It means all my hard work has paid off," Hennen added.

But true to his own integrity, he quickly added, "I couldn't do it without my teammates."

This year alone Hennen has 153 carries for 1,538 yards and he's scored 24 touchdowns rushing and another 10 on passes. He's caught 51 passes for 876 yards.

That's pretty much a, 'WOW", but to Isaac Hennen, it simply means, "That's how great our team is and how hard they've worked."

Hennen has already set Minneota's Career Scoring Record with 86 touchdowns going into the Class A State Championship Game Saturday against Wabasso.

He's currently the third career rushing leader in Minneota history with 3,725 yards. His career receiving yards are 1,608 yards on 90 receptions.

Another BIG "WOW".

Last week, he was told by Coach Chad Johnston he'd been nominated as a candidate for Mr. Football.

"It does feel good because there are a lot of kids from larger schools (up for the award)," Hennen said. One Nine-man player from Cleveland and a Class AA player from Caledonia were the only out-state players nominated for the honor.

The question everyone asks is, "Where is Isaac Hennen going to play football in college?"

So far, there is no answer. He's a kid who values the fact he's still in good physical shape and his grades will probably be good enough to get him as much college money as football can.

Yet, "It's tempting," and most likely the offers to play football will come more seriously after the state championship. His value to teams can only increase every time he takes the field.

But none of that matters right now to Isaac Hennen.

He has a little revenge in mind — and the Vikings have earned the right to reverse the terrible hurt they felt when they lost to Wabasso last year.

His teammate Alex Pohlen added, "After last year we were so disappointed. We knew we had a good team this year." And he's the first to admit, despite all his own remarkable statistics, "That at times Isaac (Hennen) puts us on his big shoulders and carries us."

So is Isaac Hennen thinking about his rushing yards, all the passes he's caught and the touchdowns he's scored.

No! His last thought was, "We had six different guys score touchdowns (against Mayer Lutheran)."

Then he smiled.

He'd just said it all!