After a bit of a bumpy road, the 2021 Minnesota High School All-Star Football Game kicked off Saturday at Clemens Stadium in Collegeville.
The annual senior-football-showcase was originally scheduled to take place in December. Because of COVID, organizers postponed the game until June.
However, when the game was officially canceled in April, a group of parents started a grass-roots effort to keep the game alive.
"We had a group of parents that didn't want to see these seniors lose another opportunity," said Bill Magnuson, the All-Star Game Manager. "The parent group took it on, started raising funds, and asking players if they'd still play."
Magnuson, the Pequot Lakes football head coach, said the group raised over $30,000 to get the game rescheduled for Saturday at St. John's University.
"If offered my services of being able to run the all-star game because I've helped for quite a few years," Magnuson said. "We kind of got the ball rolling and St. John's stepped up to the plate to make this an even better experience for the kids."
The game used the traditional North vs South model and featured players from each class of Minnesota high school football.
34 players were on the North roster and the South roster had 26 players.
"Some of the players are the 88 original players who were named of the team and we also build an alternate list if one player can't make it or gets injured," Magnuson said. "We used that alternate list to build this team and got the players that we could get."
Leading up to Saturday's game, players and coaches participated in practices as well as team building events. Magnuson said that at first, players were hesitant around one another, but that quickly changed.
"We have the traditional helmet decal exchange and kids trade decals and helmets get filled with decals," he said. "We went to a movie and had the whole theatre to ourselves. Afterwards, kids were laughing, joking, and connecting."
The game was set to be livestreamed on PrepSpotlight.tv and fans were able to buy tickets to the game.
"We just owe a thank you to the moms who said no, the 13 coaches who volunteered their time to come here, and we thank the 60 football players who agreed to play," he said. "We also thank the sponsors who donated funds."
