On the Bench with Byron Higgin
Nice surprise
Minneota fans, and perhaps even the coaching staff, wasn’t exactly sure what to expect from their new, young Vikings football team.
Everyone said, “I didn’t see that coming,” after Minneota opened the season with a solid 50-7 win over Tracy-Milroy-Balaton.
Coach Chad Johnston wasn’t surprised his team won — but scoring 50 points in their first game did cause him to look twice at the scoreboard. The opportunistic Vikings took advantage of Panther mistakes, but also helped cause some of those miscues.
One of the really nice surprises was the way quarterback Kade Lozinski performed in his first varsity start with 265 passing yards. Lozinski drew praise from the coaching staff.
With junior Jacob Hennen joining the team for practice this week, it will be interesting to see where Coach Johnston will play him.
Hennen, who played quarterback some last year, had a broken wrist and missed most of last season. He won’t be ready to play for at least the next three games so it’s hard to say how he will fit it.
Obviously, if Lozinski continues to play well, there probably won’t be a change made. Hennen could fit in at other positions as well.
While a 50-point effort seems to indicate the young line, with five new members, did a good job, that accolades will have to be held back until a later time.
Minneota didn’t break off any long runs and TMB’s Trevor Eisfeld spent a lot of time in the Minneota backfield. So only time will tell if the line will hold up.
The line did play well on defense and Jacob Citterman and Beau Banish had exceptional games.
Why we’re surprised every time this coaching staff puts together a team beats me. They have a way of putting the pieces together.
And the last time I second-guessed a young, inexperienced line they won the state tournament against Wabasso. Go figure!
Happy for Joel
The announcement that Joel Skillings is taking his abundant experience and wrestling knowledge to the college ranks is extremely great news. He has been named an adjunct Assistant Coach at SMSU in Marshall.
Head Coach Jesse Nelson will likely be able to use the multi-talented Skillings in many ways. Not to mention the fact Skillings has considerable contacts in the field of wrestling.
He formerly worked for/with former Minnesota Gopher Wrestling Coach J Robinson and was a member of Coach Robinson’s staff during summer camps and clinics.
He will also be reunited with a couple of his former players, Brock Buysse and Cole Hennen, both current members of Coach Nelson’s SMSU Mustang wrestling team. The fact SMSU is so close to Minneota makes this great move possible.