Minnesota

Good matchups abound in Minnesota high school football playoffs

Published

2 hours ago

November 7, 2024

Good matchups abound in Minnesota high school football playoffs

For decades, the centerpiece on a football team has been the quarterback. The field for the state’s largest schools boasts one of the strongest fields of signal-callers in recent memory. Thursday’s quarterfinal between No. 1-ranked Maple Grove (10-0) and No. 3 Edina (8-2) boasts a pair of strong-armed, highly touted junior throwers in Edina’s Mason West and Maple Grove’s Kaden Harney. A similar matchup pits Lakeville North’s Riley Grossman and Anoka’s Peyton Podany. Two QBs who depend more on their legs than their arms square off when Minnetonka’s Caleb Francois takes on Blaine’s Sam Shaughnessy. And don’t overlook Shakopee and Mounds View. Shakopee wouldn’t have gotten this far without the skills of veer option QB Judah Forsberg, a smooth distributor, and Mounds View quarterback Jacob Sampson was the Offensive Player of the Year in the Metro East district.

Class 5A: Elk River’s vaunted Power-T vs. Monticello’s discipline

By now, everyone knows about Elk River’s power-T attack, a version of an old-school running game that relies on precision, technique and deft quarterbacking. The Elks have been up to their old tricks, putting up big rushing numbers and high scores thanks to a steady diet of explosive plays. Monticello is riding an eight-game win streak, a run including five shutouts by a stubborn defense. Keys for the Magic are discipline and attention to detail. Lose one or the other, even momentarily, and it can spell disaster against a team such as Elk River. And make no mistake, the Elks are not a gimmick. It’s not sleight-of-hand football. They run, block and tackle like other teams, but they do it in a manner that pressures defenses to play sound assignment football and react quickly. Monticello’s defense has risen to the occasion all season. Can the Magic do it again when it counts most?

Elk River’s Brecken Keoraj checks for pursuers on a touchdown run against Alexandria earlier this season. (Renée Jones Schneider/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Class 4A: Holy Angels’ opportunism vs. Becker’s scoring defense.

Any chance Holy Angels has to beat No. 1-ranked Becker will involve the Stars throwing a wrinkle or two into their attack. Becker’s defense has been in shutdown mode all season. The Bulldogs have shut out three opponents (including Holy Angels 14-0 in Week 3), have held five other foes to single digits and have given up only 21 total points in the first three quarters. The most Becker has allowed in any game is 14, twice. Holy Angels will need to find a way to spring RB Emmitt Anderson and QB Damian Devine or let Devine, a Villanova recruit, take to the air to put up early points and pressure the Becker offense to respond. The Bulldogs haven’t been seriously tested since a 13-9 come-from-behind victory over Providence Academy in Week 2.

Class 3A: Pequot Lakes’ offensive line vs. Annandale’s front seven

The Patriots’ high-powered offensive attack is spearheaded by their moving company up front, highlighted by three-year senior starters Jacob Lane, a 6-5, 290-pound tackle, and Dane Mudgett, a 5-10, 200-pound guard. The No. 5-ranked Patriots (10-0) are the second-highest-scoring team in the class, averaging 46.1 points per game, and haven’t been held under 35 points in a game since the season opener. Their top six rushers all average at least 9.5 yards per carry. Annandale’s defense yields 11.5 points per game and has allowed only two opponents to reach double figures in the past eight games. Senior Gavin Wang, a 6-7, 2750-pound defensive end who has committed to North Dakota State, isn’t easy to move, allowing the Cardinals’ outstanding linebacking corps to fly to the ball.

Class 2A: Jackson County Central’s defense vs. Norwood Young America’s defense

Don’t expect many points in this heavyweight battle of unbeatens. These are the two stingiest defenses in this classification. No. 3-ranked Jackson County Central (10-0) gives up 6.3 points per game while No. 4 Norwood Young America (11-0) allows 8.5 points per game. The play of rotating quarterbacks senior Jack Strickfaden and junior Kyson Evenski for Norwood Young America could determine the outcome.

Class 1A: Minneota vs. Lester Prairie

The unbeaten and top-ranked Vikings (10-0) are the two-time defending state champions. Minneota needed to score on its last four possessions to overcome a 14-point deficit and edge BOLD 34-28 for the Section 5 championship. Senior running back Ryan Meagher capped the comeback with a tiebreaking 4-yard touchdown run, his fourth touchdown of the game, with 59 seconds remaining. The senior running back is the Vikings’ workhorse, rushing for 1,418 yards on 145 carries and 30 touchdowns this season. It will be a daunting task to three-peat because four other unbeaten teams are in the field: No. 2 Springfield (10-0), No. 3 Mahnomen/Waubun (10-0), No. 4 Goodhue (11-0) and No. 5 Upsala/Swanville (10-0). Minneota faces Lester Prairie (7-3) on Friday.

Nine-Player: LeRoy-Ostrander/Lyle-Pacelli defense vs. Camden Hungerholt

The Cardinals’ defensive unit has the daunting task of trying to contain the Renville County West senior quarterback. The 6-1, 190-pound Hungerholt has rushed for 2,391 yards on 173 carries with 31 touchdowns while completing 102 of 187 passes for 2,015 yards and 28 more scores. It’s easy to see why the fifth-ranked Jaguars (11-0) average 51.3 points per game.

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Minnesota

A majority of Minnesota school referendums that would increase taxes fail on Election Day

Published

10 hours ago

November 6, 2024

Press Room

A majority of Minnesota school referendums that would increase taxes fail on Election Day

MINNEAPOLIS — Many Minnesotans had to decide whether to send more tax money to their local schools.

Sixty-four questions related to schools showed up on Minnesota ballots across the state this election. Twenty-nine of them passed. Thirty-five of them failed.

For Minneapolis Public Schools, a $20 million technology levy passed by about 66% on Tuesday.

“We are super grateful for the people of Minneapolis for approving this,” said MPS School Board Chair Collin Beachy.

Beachy says this fully funds the technology budget freeing up more dollars in the general fund. Adding that the community support comes at a time after a budget shortfall of at least $110 million last year.

“We had some painful cuts we had to make last year without this levy it would be $20 million more cuts we would have to make,” Beachy said. “There would have been impacts to the classroom.”

The impacts to Minneapolis homeowners is about $8 per year for someone with a $350,000 house.

A much different story for Rockford Area Schools, just northwest of the Twin Cities. That district’s funding request failed yesterday.

Superintendent Jeff Ridlehoover said they were asking for safety, security, and technology upgrades.

“This money is going to have to come from somewhere and conversations will start tomorrow on what might have to be on the cutting board,” Ridlehoover said.

The price tag of $9 million over a 10 year period. For the average homeowner there it would’ve cost about $13/month.

Ridlehoover said tough conversations will begin Thursday about where the budget cuts need to happen because the children in the district need these tools to be successful. He said he’s hopeful it doesn’t come down to staff cuts.

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Minnesota

Ramstad: Trump’s economic plans may slow an already sluggish Minnesota

Published

18 hours ago

November 6, 2024

Press Room

Ramstad: Trump’s economic plans may slow an already sluggish Minnesota

Donald Trump promised to remake the American economy if voters returned him to the White House. Now that they have, his plans are likely to hit Minnesota more painfully than other parts of the nation.

The economy and immigration were top issues for Minnesota voters on Tuesday, according to Associated Press exit polls. Yet our state’s economic pressures are not the same as those that dominated the presidential campaign rhetoric.

The influx of undocumented immigrants from the nation’s southern border has been far smaller in Minnesota, which is so distant from it. Estimates vary but one that seems consistent is that around 30,000 people arrived over the past couple years, a figure that amounts to about 1% of the state’s workforce.

Not all are working but, even so, Minnesota’s workforce hasn’t been damaged by their presence. In fact, the workforce is actually smaller than it was before the pandemic shutdowns in spring 2020.

If Trump follows through on plans to reduce the number of illegal immigrants in the country, that shrinking of the nation’s labor force will add to the pressure Minnesota’s employers feel. Vice President-elect J.D. Vance, as an Ohio senator and on the campaign trail with Trump, has repeatedly said millions of Americans have been pushed to the employment sidelines because of competition from immigrants.

It’s a theory that, if tested by a mass deportation of recent immigrants, will be felt more acutely in Minnesota. The state, like many in the northeast and Midwest with older populations, has a greater proportion of people out of the workforce because they are retired, not because they are discouraged from seeking jobs.

In the last four years, Minnesota at times had the lowest rate of unemployment in the country and the highest rate of labor force participation. Those two things make for tight labor conditions. Today, Minnesota jockeys with a handful of other states for the nation’s tightest labor availability.

During Trump’s first term in office and in the years since, the real question in Minnesota has been: How can we get more workers?

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Minnesota

Ramstad: The Minnesota doctor’s offices where you don’t need insurance

Published

1 day ago

November 6, 2024

Press Room

Ramstad: The Minnesota doctor’s offices where you don’t need insurance

With a client base of 500 to 600, a fraction of the 2,000 to 3,000 they might see in a major health system, a DPC doctor charging an average monthly per person fee of $80 would generate around $500,000 in annual revenue. That would well cover the average salary for a family doctor, which is about $225,000 nationwide, and leave room to pay for other expenses, perhaps an office administrator and part-time nurse.

For patients, the calculation can be more complex. Slings and Vang told me most of their patients maintain insurance to cover emergencies or the prospect of hospitalization. Some turn to health shares, many of which are organized by faith organizations and serve as pools of funds designed to cover catastrophic care for their members.

If the deductible on your medical coverage is high, like mine, then taking on the additional fees of going to a DPC doctor represents a gamble.

It will pay off if you wind up visiting the doctor two or three times in a year on top of a physical. That’s because for most single adults with a high deductible policy, a physical is usually covered but each additional visit can be several hundred dollars, costs paid out of pocket until reaching the deductible of $2,000 or $3,000 or more. Cumulatively, those out of pocket costs could exceed the annual cost of a DPC doctor.

For a couple or family, it seems to me there’s a greater likelihood of needing a doctor multiple times before reaching the deductible, even if that threshold is higher than for a single person.

Of course, even if it costs extra, some people may feel it’s worthwhile to have more time and quicker access with a doctor. If direct primary care proliferates, new types of insurance may form around it.

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