MOORHEAD — The Spuds of Moorhead claim two “mythical” high school football state championships, but for very different reasons. Moorhead was declared No. 1 in the state in 1971 by Minneapolis Tribune sports writer Bruce Brothers, who for some reason was given the task of rating teams that season, one year before the Minnesota State High School League began holding playoffs. In 2020, The Associated Press ranked the Spuds No. 1 in Class 5A in a seven-game season shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Moorhead’s single on-the-field title came in 1987 in Class AA, then the state’s highest of five prep football classifications (AA, A, B, C and 9-man). A 13-7 victory over Winona at the dearly departed Metrodome clinched it for head coach Dan Kostich’s club, with the Spuds getting an early 45-yard touchdown pass from Rick Eidsness to Jay Cerise and two second-half field goals from Greg Reinhiller to provide the margin.

“Moorhead was one of the smallest schools in the largest class 38 years ago and we were the last outstate school that won a state championship in that class,” Kostich said Tuesday from his home in south Florida, where the retired 74-year-old and his wife split time with their longtime house in Moorhead. “Now, of course, they’ve gone to six classes and a 9-man class so things are a little different. I did a little video for those guys the other day as they are preparing to get together in Minneapolis before Moorhead’s game this week. I told them they won 14 games that year, which I believe was the record for football at Moorhead, and that they played 14 games and didn’t lose a fumble. That very rarely happens, so I told them they need to be very proud of that.”

Moorhead has another chance at a state title Friday night, when the Spuds will play Edina for the Class 6A championship at U.S. Bank Stadium, the Minnesota Vikings’ palace that replaced the Metrodome in 2016.

That contest will allow about 20-30 of the ‘87 state champion Spuds to gather and reminisce about their unbeaten season before trekking to the Bank for the scheduled 7 p.m. kickoff to cheer on their alma mater.

The stories will flow.

Eidsness, Cerise, Reinhiller, Lance Larson, Chris Bennes, Chris Wanner, Joe Nelson, Scott Videen, Mike Hageman, Scott Gauthier, Chris Olson. Those are just a few of the names from the ‘87 championship roster. Many ex-players are supporting the current Spuds with “87425” posts on social media. (Read it as “‘87 for ‘25.”)

“The memories come flooding back in a heartbeat,” said Dan Altenbernd, a receiver on the Spuds who’s now the CEO of the H2M Brand Haus advertising firm in Fargo. “I had two guys call me this morning and we just talked on the phone and laughed. So much of it comes back to ‘Stich’ and how formidable of a leader he was and how much we admired him. As young people, you don’t really have an appreciation of how old people are. We thought of Kostich as kind of a wily old coach … he was like 36 or 37 years old at the time. Just a young guy. We’re all like 55 now.

“He’d start off his speeches by saying, ‘Fellas ….’ That was his key statement when he was building us up or telling us to do better. ‘Fellas ….’ There was a game at St. Cloud Tech, I think, where we got potatoes thrown at us. Kostich tells us, ‘Fellas, put on your helmets because there might be projectiles.’”

Those Spuds went through the regular season 9-0 — with lengthy road trips to St. Cloud, Hibbing, Grand Rapids and Superior, Wis. — before walloping Bemidji at Minnesota State University’s Alex Nemzek Stadium in the first round of the section playoffs and edging highly ranked Grand Rapids 6-0 at Concordia’s Jake Christiansen Stadium the next week for the section championship.

It was back to Nemzek in the state quarterfinals against Osseo for another 6-0 victory.

“We didn’t have a home field in those days,” Kostich said. “We never played a game at Moorhead High. We either played at Moorhead State or Concordia, whoever was more gracious to us. That four-block walk from Moorhead State to Moorhead High after winning that state tournament game against Osseo was probably the best walk I’ve ever had in all my years coaching.”

Contributed photo

The semifinals in those days were played at long-gone Parade Stadium, 16,000-seat venue in downtown Minneapolis. The Spuds faced a talented Richfield team, ranked No. 1 in the state most of the season, in the semis.

“Richfield was No. 1 and they had a bunch of Division I guys. It was a suburban school so they had a whole bunch of cheerleaders and a whole bunch of fans in the stands. When we rolled up to the stadium in our bus, I remember Kostich saying, ‘We’re going to do something a little different,’” said Eidsness, who retired earlier this year from a long teaching career in Moorhead. “He leaned over and said something to the bus driver and the next thing we know the bus is driving into the stadium. We just rolled around the stadium on the track that went around the field. I think we did it a couple of times.

“I don’t know what his goal was, whether he was trying to intimidate them or what. I just remember riding around the whole stadium, getting a good look and then we hopped out on our sideline and we were ready to roll. We played a great first half.”

The Spuds scored a touchdown on a long drive in the second quarter to take a 14-0 lead, then recovered a squib kick and scored another quick TD before the half to make it 21-0. Game over. The final was 28-0.

Moorhead’s first trip to the Metrodome was a nail-biter against Winona. Eidsness hit Cerise for the long touchdown pass in the first quarter before Winona made it 7-7 at halftime. Moorhead’s defense limited Winona to 15 offensive plays in the second half and Reinhiller’s field goals of 35 and 32 yards provided the final margin.

“What a phenomenal memory for him,” Altenbernd said. “And you can look back and remember the players who stepped up at certain points to make plays. Dan Pink had a great punt return in that game at the dome. Eidsness wasn’t the fastest guy — we’d always tell him to unhook the plow — but his arm accuracy was crazy. To feed Cerise and Jamie Hagness as often as he did in big moments was amazing.

“Chad Mattson made a key tackle on a kick return. If he hadn’t stopped him we’d have been in trouble. There was a pass completion where Jared Nelson, who was a cornerback, jumped on a guy’s back and just rode him until he went down. If Jared hadn’t stopped that guy, that would’ve changed the course of the game.”

Instead, Moorhead brought home the state championship trophy, a feat the current Spuds hope to repeat.