Nov 21, 2024 | By: Miles Walker
Staples-Motley football will soon be playing in the prep bowl for just the second time in school history. Of their three appearances in the state tournament, the Cardinals only made it to the championship in 1988 – but that all changes this Friday.
It’s been 20 years since Cardinal football last played in the state tournament, and 36 years have passed since their last prep bowl appearance. But after beating Chatfield in the semifinals last week, they are finally back and looking for the school’s first ever prep bowl championship win.
“I think it means something really special,” said senior OL/LB Sawyer Ferdon. “We knew we were going to be good, but I don’t know if many of us knew we were going to be this good. It kind of opens your eyes to what we’ve been doing, what coaches have implemented into their programs here. So it’s a pretty special thing, I think.”
The road to prosperity has not always been kind, but the Cardinals went from being winless just two years ago to now being 12-0 on the precipice of perfection.
“That 0-9 year, we gave all the effort we could and played as hard as we could. It was like it did nothing,” reflected senior WR/LB Peyton Mithun. “Like, I’ll go as hard as I can and I hit a guy as hard as I could, and he still won’t go to the ground. Now, after we put in all the time and effort and all that experience against those big guys, we wanted to be like those big guys so we can play the game they played.”
And the turnaround has been a complete team effort, opportunistic defense, dominating line presence, and a high-flying offense, currently averaging 41 points a game in the state tournament.
“Offensively, no team can stop us and we’ve proved that every game,” stated Mithun. “Defense, we stopped them when it matters.”
“[Head coach Drew] Potter does a great job at halftime,” added senior OL/DL Drake Dukowitz. “Chatfield, for example, threw the ball a lot more than we were expecting and it was working really good in the first half. We were able to make adjustments and give each other kind of ideas on how to stop it and then obviously we shut them out in the second half.”
Friday will bring the red and white their toughest test yet, with fellow undefeated team Jackson County Central standing as the last obstacle from reaching immortality.
“I think it means everything to us,” Dukowitz emphasized. “This is what everyone in high school who plays football dreams about, to have this opportunity and to be the best in the state and in your respective class. So I think we’re hoping to prove that we’re the best football team at Staples-Motley’s ever had.”
The game starts at 4 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 22nd at U.S. Bank Stadium. Both the cities of Staples and Motley are showing their excitement for the Cardinals’ upcoming appearance in the prep bowl.
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