Gophers athletic director Joel Maturi met yesterday with leaders of the Minnesota High School Football Coaches Association to update them on the search and ask for input about the profile of a new coach. He also spoke to the Gophers players to update them.
With 316,030 fans at five Big Ten stadiums last weekend, the conference surpassed the four-million mark in football attendance for the 18th consecutive year and 21st season overall.
In the closing minute of last Sunday’s first half at New England the Vikings opted for a touchdown from the one-yard line, rather than kick a field goal. The Patriots stopped Adrian Peterson for a two-yard loss. The play is indicative of an offense that despite its talents has underachieved this season. Even before the New England game tackle Steve Hutchinson was talking about the offense not being quite on track.
“I think we’ve got as talented a skill position players as anybody,” Hutchinson told Sports Headliners. “Just seems like we’re always just a split second or something from having one of those guys break something great. So we just gotta do our job as offensive linemen. …”
Last year the Gophers were recruiting Ames, Iowa native Harrison Barnes who starts his freshman season at North Carolina this fall. NBAdraft.net’s 2011 mock draft has Barnes, a forward, going No. 1 to New Jersey. The website predicts the Timberwolves will pick at No. 2 and choose forward Perry Jones from Baylor. Gophers forward Rodney Williams, who despite his athleticism wasn’t a starter last season as a freshman, will be chosen at No. 11 in the first round by New Orleans, according to the website. https://www.nbadraft.net/2011mock_draft
Decades ago the World Series captivated this area and other cities around the country. Now the series seems of minimal interest to many local sports fans. Baseball, the argument goes, has become more of a regional sport where unless your team is playing the interest is tepid. The opinion of many in the media is baseball gave up its national pastime label years ago to the National Football League.
The Hamline men’s hockey team, the favorite among league coaches to win the MIAC, has a marquee player in senior defenseman and captain Chris Berenguer, a two-time first-team All-American and son of former Twins reliever Juan Berenguer. Last season Berenguer led the MIAC’s defensemen in scoring with 22 assists and six goals for 28 points. He is the first Hamline men’s hockey player ever to earn first-team All-American honors twice.
Jessica Aney’s name will long be remembered by high school tennis fans after what she accomplished last week. The diminutive 12-year-old seventh grader finished second to Rochester Century teammate Kelsey Frechette in the Class AA singles championship. Frechette, a junior, was runner-up last year, according to the Minnesota State High School League. https://www.mshsl.org/mshsl/index.asp