John's Journal

Minneota coach Chad Johnston was talking about winning a state title but he could have been talking about every team in every sport in every community when he said, “We tell the kids never to take this experience for granted.”

•Minneota’s Johnston is not only the Vikings football coach but he’s also the girls’ basketball coach.

That team has been practicing since Nov. 13, Johnston said his assistant coaches have been directing basketball practices but he has managed to pop in on occasion. (Assistant Coach Dale Kockelman said Johnston attended two full practices before the state football finals).

•Hats off to the football team from Russell-Tyler-Ruthton, which played in the Nine-Man state semifinals before losing to Nevis.

The Knights went through a 30-game losing streak, which was broken last season. And this year they moved to Nine-Man and played at US Bank Stadium.

•Think about those words from the first day of the season and then read what Wabasso senior quarterback Nick Altermatt said on the last day of the season: “We’ve been playing together since fourth grade. We’ve always had a dream,” he said.

“This was two good teams going at it and today they were a little better than us.”