2020 Team Preview: Minneota Vikings

Minneota has had a lot of success over the recent history, making the State Tournament six times (’09, ’10, ’13, ’14, ’15, &amp; ’17), and winning four Prep Bowls (’09, ’14, ’15, &amp; ’17). They have not posted a losing season under Head Coach Chad Johnston, making the Section Championship game nine times from ’08 to ’19! I grew up not too far away from Minneota, so I always heard about the success they were having, and the thing that surprised me, was when you asked who their best players were, there was no straight answer, it was always a team effort as it will always be under Coach Johnston. Watching them throughout the years, they always had more than one way to beat you, if one kid was getting stopped they had four other weapons to hit you with. The thing that amazes me is that I have seen a lot of underclassmen play in the starting lineup for Minneota each year, for Johnston, if you can play football, you WILL play football, no matter your age. I was supposed to attend a practice of theirs, but work-related reasons kept me from there, so this article will be based on memory from what I saw from them last season. Minneota has always been a family-rich town there are three common names in the lineup every season, Hennen, Buysse, &amp; Esping. Each sibling had something to contribute to the team’s successes every year in some fashion. Playing with that much family around, the team chemistry was unbelievably tight when they all played together on Friday nights. The flexibility of each player willing to learn was the biggest reason for their success in each season. Watching the sidelines, there was not much yelling, just critiquing and perfecting the schemes they are always a well-coached, disciplined team, real nice kids with the coaches. With that much success in a small town, you might think you would see more on a college roster somewhere, and you did, but not for football. Minneota is a wrestling town, most went on to wrestle down the road at Southwest Minnesota State in Marshall. I will also try to mention the college athletes from the Vikings as well. Players to Watch for 2020: QB: There is a battle between three players the way I see the roster, Senior <strong>Jacob Hennen</strong>, Junior <strong>Kade Lozinski</strong>, Sophomore <strong>Isaac Pohlen</strong>. Again each QB has very good attributes to play, it will all come down to who plays better once the delayed season comes around. RB: The ones competing for RB are Juniors <strong>Connor Sik, </strong>who received most the snaps when <strong>Cole Sanow</strong> was hurt, and<strong> AJ Josephson </strong>will fill the RB position. WR: Seniors <strong>Joey Rybinski</strong> and <strong>Cooper VanOverbeke</strong> look to start splitting out wide for the Vikings. Lozinski will get snaps at WR depending on the scheme. WR and WB/RB are interchangeable in this offense. Other fillers in those positions are Senior <strong>Gerardo Guttierez</strong>, &amp; Junior <strong>Cale Sorensen</strong> TE: Senior <strong>AJ Myhre</strong> will get some snaps at TE filling the final skill position for the Vikings, Hennen will get some snaps at TE as well depending on the Scheme. OL: Senior Guard <strong>Beau Bannish</strong> and Tackle <strong>Jacob Citterman</strong> return with Junior Center <strong>Cole Myhre</strong> and Tackle <strong>Jackson Esping</strong> leaving one position on the line open for grabs, <strong>Jayden Gamarak</strong> is the front runner to get that position with a lot of snaps last year, but the line is usually the best part on a Minneota offense. More depth for the line on both sides include Senior <strong>Trey Gronke</strong>, Senior <strong>Kaden Culver</strong>, Junior <strong>Landon DeSmet</strong>, &amp; Sophomore <strong>Hudson Scholten</strong>. Vikings in College: SMSU Wrestling: Brock Buysse Alec Engler Nick Esping Cole Hennen Minnesota Morris: Diego Meza-Palmer Dakota Wesleyan [player_tooltip player_id="1750" first="Alex" last="Pohlen"] [player_tooltip player_id="1956" first="Trent" last="Esping"] &nbsp;