WILLMAR — Under normal circumstances, football teams would be winding down the regular season in early October with an eye on the postseason.
In 2020, everything has been far from normal.
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“It’s weird, definitely,” said Willmar head football coach Jon Konold. “Now, we’re just trying to get cranked up. It’s definitely challenging. Mentally, it’s a whole different mindset.”
The Cardinals open the abbreviated season at 2 p.m. Saturday at Delano, the defending Section 6AAAA champion.
“When we got the message a couple weeks ago, we got rejuvenated and we got purpose now,” said senior wide receiver/defensive back Jacob Rosendahl. “We got a game to get ready for and a season coming ahead. I know a lot of us are excited. For us seniors, it kind of stinks to have a shortened season but we’re super grateful to be able to play.”
Preparation for the first game of any season has its mysteries. But with no scrimmages and altered practices due to COVID-19 conditions, Konold said both he and Delano coach Merrill Pavlovich had to have an honest chat to help each other out.
“We visited and discussed some things so we’re open and honest with each other and give a heads-up if we’ve done anything drastically new,” Konold said. “They’re not doing anything drastically different and neither are we. Then you go off last year’s film, which is tough. We’re a totally different squad than we were last year with the inexperience we had. And they were a veteran crew last year.”
In 2019, the Tigers came to Hodapp Field and knocked off the Cardinals, 28-7.
Delano brings back two of its top playmakers in running back Robbie Knight and tight end Trey Longstreet. Knight had 98 yards rushing and had all four of Delano’s touchdowns on 27 carries. Longstreet had two catches for 45 yards, and is a sizable target to throw to at 6-foot-7.
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“(Knight) and (Longstreet) are two of their better players; they played both offense and defense last year,” Konold said.
The Cardinals’ defense is expecting a busy day along the line of scrimmage.
“They’re just gonna run the ball,” said senior Kaden Streed, who is transitioning to linebacker after being named All-District as a defensive end in 2019. “They’re a powerful team and they’re going to want to run the ball. There’s definitely not any quickness or agility; they’re going to come downhill as hard as possible. We just gotta stop that.”
On offense, Willmar hopes to avoid a rerun of last year’s game where the Tigers tallied five interceptions, including two by Longstreet.
“They run a small box, a five-man box,” Rosendahl said. “What’s going to be crucial is having that good run game. We’re super lucky to have almost all of our offensive linemen returning, which will help us out a ton.”
With junior Alex Schramm and sophomore Jacob Streed both vying for snaps at quarterback, Konold wants to keep his offense in less predictable passing downs to take pressure off the signal callers.
“They’re both gamers,” Konold said of Schramm and Jacob Streed. “They understand what we want to do … We’re going to play to their strengths. The bottom line is that we just don’t know until we put them out there underneath the lights.”
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Konold added, “Delano’s been a good football program for a number of years. They’ve been to the state tournament or section finals a number of years in a row, so they’ll always be a challenge.”
