By John Millea
I left the Metrodome on Saturday night at the conclusion of the 28th Prep Bowl, took a couple of days off and have returned today to Star Tribune World Headquarters. We're in the midst of putting together previews of the winter sports season -- see David La Vaque's excellent boys' hockey preview, published today -- but before we fully turn the page let's take one last look at the football season.
Going into the state semifinals, most of us thought that Eden Prairie was the safe bet to win the Class 5A championship and Glencoe-Silver Lake would win its fourth consecutive title in 3A, while the 4A field seemed as balanced as any we had seen in a long time. Boy, we were wrong.
Cretin-Derham Hall knocked off Eden Prairie 16-5 in the 5A title game, New London-Spicer beat Glencoe 28-21 for the 3A crown and Totino-Grace dominated the 4A field, going to running time in its two victories at the Metrodome.
Meanwhile, Stephen-Argyle won the Nine-Man title in somewhat of a surprise, even if the Storm has now won seven championships since 1999. Minneota won the 1A crown, brining back memories of the Vikings' run of state titles in 1986, 1987 and 1988. And Waterville-Elysian-Morristown took home the 2A state title with an impressive run through some high-level teams.
I went 5-1 in my Prep Bowl predictions, hitting them all except 3A. I picked Glencoe to beat New London-Spicer 28-21. The "other" team won but I hit the score right on the head, so I'm making an executive decision and declaring that I got 5.5 of my six picks correct. For the season, my prognostication record was 178-62.
One final football note, this one concerning winning streaks. Stephen-Argyle owns the Minnesota state record with a 76-game streak that ended last season, The national prep record is 151, set by De La Salle of Concord, Calif., from 1992 to 2003. In Kansas on Saturday, what was the nation's longest current winning streak ended when Centralia defeated Smith Center 20-12 in overtime to win the Class 2-1A state championship. Smith Center had won 79 in a row.
One of the finest books about high school football you will ever read is "OUR BOYS," written by New York Times staff writer Joe Drape. He followed the Smith Center Redmen during the 2008 season, moving his family to the small town and weaving himself into the fabric of the community and the football team.
While we were watching Saturday's Prep Bowl games, Drape was in Hays, Kansas, for the Centralia-Smith Center game. I was following the game via Joe's Twitter updates, and having read "Our Boys" I was very interested in the game.
Following Smith Center's loss, Drape WROTE AN ESSAY about the experience for the Times. It includes this wonderful passage: "It has been uttered, written, and put on big and small screens countless times how high school football best evokes the innocence and purity of American sports. Stand on a high school football field this time of year and you know why."
It wa a great season.
John Millea is on Twitter at twitter.com/stribjohn
