Brier Ziemer moved to Carver in the middle of her sixth grade school year from Hutchinson. Already a tough transition from elementary to middle school, Nicole Ziemer knew her daughter needed a way to meet friends.
Gabe Porthan was hunched over, crouched low to the ground, helmet in his hands. One-by-one, teammates approached, some patting him on the back. Senior Ryan Maschka placed his hand on his right shoulder and stood there.
For 24 minutes, Chaska was repeating the recipe that led them to section championships over Mankato West in 2018 and 2019. Dominating defense, not allowing the Scarlets an inch.
In a normal year, only seven teams across the Minnesota State High School Football League win their final game of the season.
Southwest Christian, short-handed, lost in three games to Belle Plaine in the season opener on Oct. 8. The Stars lost just four more games, winning 10 consecutive matches to clinch a share of the Minnesota River Conference title.
Youth and high school sports are shutting down again across the state for the second time in eight months.
Chanhassen, down two games, found themselves facing match point at least four times versus St. Louis Park on Nov. 10. Each time the Storm fought to win the next point, staying alive in the match.
Coming off back-to-back in-season losses for the first time since 2011, the question was, how Chaska would respond in its final two football games?
Volleyball and girls basketball teams at Chaska High School each saw two of their own sign National Letters of Intent Nov. 11.
After a trying 2020 amateur baseball season, excitement for the 2021 season is already ramping up.
Minnetonka entered week five with 24 total points scored. Edina had yet to score a touchdown in four weeks. A low-scoring game, coming down to the final minutes was expected, and that's exactly what happened Nov. 6.
Already a shortened season, losing three games to a pre-season knee injury, Hunter Brackee was obviously disappointed.
It was a big night in the home gym for the Chaska volleyball team. Mallory Heyer was recognized for 1,000 careers in her junior year. On the court the Hawks improved to 8-0 in the Metro West Conference with a 3-game sweep of Robbinsdale Cooper Nov. 5.
Coming off a physical game with Chaska, bodies were sore, emotions were running high after returning the Jug traveling trophy back to Chanhassen for the first time since 2016.
Coming off the first loss of the season, Minnetonka was slow to get it going Nov. 2 in a second meeting this season with Chanhassen.
It was a booming business in the 1980s and into the mid-1990s, before slowly falling off.
Jacob Kirsch didn't have a chance to lead his team down the field for a game-winning touchdown drive as a junior in 2019.
The catch was made, the hit was delivered, the ball flew through the air. Twenty-two players on the field, the ball landed in the hands of Charlie Coenen near the line of scrimmage.
Chaska was one game away from a state tournament appearance in 2019. Returning five hitters and two defensive specialists from that squad, high hopes were in place for 2020.
Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska attracts fans and professional athletes from around the globe.
Beaten in game one, Minnetonka rebounded for a 3-1 win on Oct. 27, remaining unbeaten on the season, and 5-0 in the Lake Conference.
Chaska's Brad Hand is the winner of the Dick Siebert Award (former University of Minnesota Baseball Coach) given to the Upper Midwest Player of the Year by the Minnesota Twins and annual Diamond Awards.
Jessy Jones Tow-Arnett started playing volleyball when she was 4 years old, hitting the ball against a wall while her older sister was at practice.
Lost sometimes behind masks are facial expressions. Maybe there's a smile. Maybe there's an excited look.
Abby Kapeller was committed to the University of Virginia long before the 2020 Minnetonka swim season abruptly began. There were options. Swim for the Skippers, or train with her Riptides club team?
Only twice this season did Minnetonka allow more than two goals. Both times that distinction went to third-ranked Edina. And junior attack Maddie Dahlien was a large part of that.
Tenth-ranked Chaska improved to 4-0 in the Metro West Conference, defeating Chanhassen in a rescheduled match Oct. 23 by a 25-15, 25-21, 25-15 score.
To reach the Section 2A girls soccer championship match, Southwest Christian needed to defeat undefeated St. Peter. A last-minute goal did just that.
Holy Family Catholic entered the Section 6A semifinals with a nine-game unbeaten streak.
Scoring 49 points in a season-opening win, Chanhassen was anxious to play rival Chaska in week two. Then before the first practice of the week, Oct. 12, the Storm found out that wasn't going to happen.
Minnetonka was 7-0 this season when senior Dylan Olson scored, including a 1-0 decision over Edina on Sept. 14. The Skippers were 1-4-1 when he didn't.
Four goals in 40 minutes, it felt for much of the second half that it was only going to take one more goal, either way, to win the Section 2AA semifinal Oct. 22 at Braemar Dome.
Parents, how many times have you told your children about the Halloween snowstorm of 1991?
When a team surrenders its first goal in a span of 50 days, or in soccer terms 872 minutes and 52 seconds -- nearly 22 halves of play -- it's only natural to wonder how they respond.
With section swimming and diving meets likely the culminating event this fall, state champions won't be crowned.
Playing a high-powered Shakopee team in the Section 2AA quarterfinals, Chanhassen boys soccer drew on its experience against No. 1-ranked Edina from the 2019 post-season.
Two down, two more to go.
Defeating Southwest Christian girls soccer has proved to be a tough task this season. If you can't score on them, you can't beat them.
Chanhassen and Minnetonka have met three times in the last five years in Section 2AA Girls Soccer Tournament. The two semifinal meetings went to overtime, the Storm winning in penalty kicks in 2015, the Skippers victorious 1-0 in 2017.
Cross country runners hear all the time, "Every place counts. Every runner matters." On Oct. 14, the Edina girls cross country found out it's not just talk, winning the Section 6AA title at Gale Woods Farm in Minnetrista.
Nate Foss hopes the 2020 cross country season is one runners don't have to go through again. At the same time, what was learned, what was gained, by athletes, the last two months, was maybe more important than any other fall season.
Minnetonka led Eastview in the final minute in the 2019 season opener. The Lightning won a desperation throw into the end zone.
The 2019 Chaska Volleyball season will be remembered most for section upsets over Shakopee and Eden Prairie, a five-game section final with Minnetonka.
When Cole Zwiefel and Yousif Hamza run into the offensive huddle, adding some more beef to the front line, adrenaline starts to ramp up inside Chaska captain Spencer Goetz.
The Chaska-Chanhassen varsity football game, set for Friday, Oct. 16, has been rescheduled due to a COVID-19-related quarantine impacting the Chanhassen program, according to an Eastern Carver County Schools announcement.
The National Football League's Los Angeles Raiders had "thunder" in Bo Jackson, and "lightning" in Marcus Allen in the 1980s.
Any questions on how Chaska would replace nine starters on defense and nine on offense were quickly put to rest as the Hawks went right down the field, scoring on the opening drive of the 2020 season opener Oct. 9.
It's hard to fault father Mike Steding for rushing into his daughter's bedroom Oct. 8.
Holy Family Catholic football opens the 2020 season on Oct. 9 against Dassel-Cokato. The Fire are coming off a 1-8 record last season.
