Hayden’s Hotshots: Best Players from Mankato East vs Kasson

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>After seeing the West side, I took a trip to Mankato East to watch the Cougars play Kasson-Mantorville, the 4A runner-up from the 2021 season. Both teams came into the matchup 1-1 looking to jumpstart their season after slow starts. Kasson was led by 2023 Gophers commit [player_tooltip player_id='246024' first='Reese' last='Tripp'] and were fresh off a win against Winona. At the same time, Mankato East was fresh off a dominating victory over Red Wing. Both teams showed off great talent that I broke down into Hotshots, Risers, and Under-the-Radar prospects. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"fontSize":"medium"} --> <p class="has-medium-font-size">Hotshots:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='246024' first='Reese' last='Tripp']: KM 2023 OL 6'8" 320 lbs</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Gophers commit SHOWED OUT against the Cougars. The Komets ran behind the big man all night and he could be seen bowling over defensive linemen all 4 quarters. The big man provided massive lanes for runningbacks all night and was instrumental in the run game being as dangerous as it was. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Broc Barwald: KM 2023 RB 6' 200 lbs</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Barwald was a menace and wreaked havoc all night against the Cougar's defense. As nimble as a deer and as strong as an ox, Barwald used his agility to find hit and squeeze into running lanes, and his big frame to smash into defenders. He runs with the speed of someone 30 pounds lighter and hits with the strength of someone 30 pounds bigger. Barwald is a much watch for the rest of the season.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Easton Stangl: ME 2023 Ath 6'1" 150 lbs</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Stangl, who I presumed was the QB coming into this matchup, was the best athlete for Mankato East. Stangl was used extremely well by the Cougars, taking everything from jet sweeps to catching passes. Stangl has good size and phenomenal running ability. He is incredibly elusive and is one of the best athletes in space I've seen all year. He also has fantastic vision and a great sense of the field. Make no mistake Stangl is the real deal. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"fontSize":"medium"} --> <p class="has-medium-font-size">Risers: </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1231847' first='Ganden' last='Gosch']: ME 2025 QB 6'3" 180 lbs</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Gosch didn't start the game for the Cougars, but he played as he should've. He entered in the second quarter due to an injury of the starter and balled out. He looked like an experienced starter in the pocket. Decent pocket awareness but had a great arm and put some good touch on the ball. Calm and sturdy, I expect Gosch to break out. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Kyle Nelson: KM 2024 QB 5'10" 150 lbs</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>I heard mixed reports of the Kasson QB prior to this game. But I was thoroughly impressed. Nelson is a great dual-threat QB. He makes smart reads on RPOs and runs hard. In the pocket, although Nelson is undersized, it doesn't seem to impact his vision of the field. Nelson throws a good ball and hit receivers deep in stride multiple times. He really excelled on the ground game however and made defenders look silly in space. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Evan Snow: KM 2023 RB 6' 185 lbs</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>I don't know how a school like Kasson-Mantorville which has a little over 650 students keeps producing such built runningbacks, but they do. Snow is Barwalds counterpart out of the backfield and he is just as dangerous. Although he is a little smaller, Snow may have slightly edged out Barwald in straight speed. Extremely quick and dangerous when he gets to the edge, Snow also had a great performance on defense.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"fontSize":"medium"} --> <p class="has-medium-font-size">Under-the-Radar:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Emmitt Ricke: KM 2024 RB 6' 165 lbs</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Kasson-Mantorville looks to have a bright future behind Ricke. The back took some reps starting in the second quarter and made his presence felt. He has very similar speed and agility to Barwald, and has the potential to put on a similar post-junior-year bulk. Ricke is a solid back with some receiving upside who could produce big throughout the season. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Conner Ratcliff: ME 2023 WR 6'2" 180 lbs</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Ratcliff was the best true receiver on the Cougar's offense. With a good frame on his body, Ratcliff is also a good route runner who creates most of his separation through technique. He showed that he was rather difficult to bring down and made some very difficult catches. A wideout that could be maximized in the right offense.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Carson Schweim: ME 2024 WR 6'6" 175 lbs</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Although a little light, Schweim has a lot of the intangibles that people look for in wideouts. His height and catch radius are the things of dreams, and like Ratcliff, he made some incredible catches late in the first half when Mankato East first began to mount a comeback. Schweim also showed a lot of grit, playing through several big hits and what looked like a few injuries. Schweim could end up being something very special next year. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->