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December 2, 2021

Prep Bowl 3A : Dassel-Cokato 28, Plainview-Elgin-Millville 21

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After a heartbreaking 28-27 loss in the 2019 Prep Bowl to Pierz, Dassel-Cokato players were able to call themselves No. 1 after defeating Plainview-Elgin-Millville 28-21 at U.S. Bank Stadium.

Two years later, Dassel-Cokato gets it done

by BRYAN ZOLLMAN Two years ago Dassel-Cokato came as close as you can to winning a state championship. They battled perennial power Pierz in the title game, but unfortunately fell short 28-27 to the Pioneers.

Last season they were poised to return to the Prep Bowl when a pesky virus cut the season short.

That meant 2021 was their year. Eli Gillman, one of the top players in the state, was now a senior. He had said second place just wasn’t going to cut it this time around…and he was right.

The Chargers were not going to settle for anything less, and they didn’t, defeating Plainview-Elgin-Millville 28-21 to claim the Class AAA championship. After the game, head Coach Ryan Weinandt had one thing to say to his team: “Thank you.”

“We just told them this was something they worked hard for and earned,” he said. “We told them they will forever have this bond now, and us coaches are excited for them and just happy to be a part of it.”

Located about 60 miles west of Minneapolis and 40 miles south of St. Cloud, Dassel-Cokato High Senior High School has about 625 students. The communi-

ty rallied around their football team after their close call in 2019 and the unfortunate circumstances of last season.

“We had people lining the streets on the way to every one of our state tournament games,” said Weinandt. “Our fans show up big time, whether its home or away.”

After they won the Prep Bowl the streets were packed as the team bus returned to town. The school filled up welcoming back the team that had worked tirelessly to accomplish their goal.

“It was surreal,” said Weinandt. “We have always had such great support here, which I am grateful for.”

Nobody thought about their 2019 defeat to Pierz more than Coach Weinandt.

“There probably hasn’t been a day, or at least a week that has gone by since then that I haven’t thought about it,” he said. “I think that really drove us to get there again and finish this time around.”

Just five years ago the Chargers were 2-7. This year they finished 14-0. Wienandt said playing in such a tough conference has made it tough in years past. But this year’s team emerged, defeating conference rivals Annandale, Glencoe-Silver Lake, Watertown-Mayer and Litchfield.

They had to get past a very good Fair-

mont team in the state quarterfinals and then edged out an undefeated Esko squad 21-14 to get to the Prep Bowl.

“We have been in four section final games previously so we have had some really good teams, just never able to get to this level,” said Weinandt.

A big reason they got to the level they did was because of their running game.

Gillman, who is committed to play Division 1 football at Montana, rushed for 2,211 yards and 42 touchdowns. But he wasn’t the only back who helped lead the charge. His younger brother Monte carried the ball 103 times and averaged 7.3 yards per carry. Keyton Johnson, who had a huge TD in the title game, also averaged more than seven yards a carry and was handed off to 130 times.

“Eli is a special player, there is no question about that,” said Weinandt. “His impact is great. But he will be the first to tell you he has a great team around him that has pushed him, made holes for him and played at a high level.”

Johnson scored 14 touchdowns for the Chargers. Having three-plus backs able to run the ball effectively was a huge advantage for the Chargers, as evidenced by their time of possession in the championship game where they doubled up on

P-E-M. “Keyton is an outstanding running back and so is Monte Gillman,” Weinandt said. “He is also very dangerous. We know if teams overload to stop Eli, the other two are great weapons.”

Of course those backs can’t do their thing without a strong line up front. In the championship game there was only one play form scrimmage that went for negative yardage, and that was on a mishandle.

“The crazy thing is six of our front seven were new starters this year,” he said.

“They worked extremely hard at their craft every week. You could just see them getting better and better. They played disciplined and sound ball.”

The defense can’t go unmentioned either.

“Our D coordinator, Pat Schuette, really really did a fantastic job,” said Weinandt. We were the bend but don’t break defense.”

The defense also had a slew of new starters — nine to be exact.

The loss of Gillman and Johnson in the backfield will hurt, but Monte Gillman returns with an experienced offensive line and an experienced defense.

So chances are these Chargers aren’t done putting a charge into their opponents.

Timing was right for Chargers’ run to title

by BRYAN ZOLLMAN When a team has possession of the ball twice as much as the other it usually results in victory.

This was the case in Dassel-Cokato’s 28-21 win over Plainview-Elgin-Millville.

The Chargers had the ball for 32 minutes while the Bulldogs were half that.

But Dassel-Cokato Head Coach Ryan Weinandt said the reason for the disparity wasn’t so much a plan as it was how good P-E-M’s defense was.

“The time of possession thing was more because we had to run a lot of plays,” said Weinandt. “We didn’t break big ones.

We just had the mindset that we are going to try to score on every drive, because that might be what it takes, which was true.”

The teams traded possessions early until D-C’s Eli Gillman scored and with an extra point put the Chargers up 7-0 with just under two minutes to play in the first quarter.

But P-E-M’s Connor McGuire capped off an impressive drive with a TD run and with an extra point tied ther game 7-7.

Before the quarter closed out, Gillman scored his second TD of the game with 57 seconds left and a 14-7 lead.

But McGuire utilized the few seconds

Dassel-Cokato’s Eli Gillman makes a tackle on P-E-M’s Kyler Lamb in D-C’s 28-21 Prep Bowl win. he had to make something happen by conand play recognition. After that we knew necting on a 46-yard toss to Jason Feils to we couldn’t give up big plays. They had a tie the game 14-14 with just eight seconds lot of long touchdowns over the year and left. we wanted to try to make them line up and “We couldn’t really key on one playearn it. Which was very hard because they er. Maybe the biggest thing was adjusting are extremely well coached, have great to their formations, motions, etcetera,” schemes and have speed and talent all over said Weinandt. “With correct alignment the place.”

Gillman ran for his third touchdown fo the game and 42nd of the season to cap off a nother marathon drive that ultimately proved the deciding factor.

“Our Offense was very disciplined with no penalties, very few missed assignments and our guys ran hard,” said Coach Weinandt. “Greg also had two key completions on third and longs. I know he only threw two passes, but both were instrumental in our win.”

Keyton Johnson willed his way into the end zone on a 10-yard run and with an extra point gave the Chargers a 28-14 lead. That was all they needed. P-E-M scored with just over five minutes to play, but first downs became a necessity for the Chargers as they ate up the clock for much of the game, leading to victory.

Gillman led the Chargers with 150 yards on 32 carries and three touchdowns.

Johnson rushed 20 times for 90 yards and a touchdown. In all the Chargers rushed for 311 yards.

Greg Clark’s two passes both were completions for 43 yards to Gillman and as Coach Weinandt stated, extended drives that led to scores.

P-E-M’s McGuire was 20-for-31 for 264 yards and tow touchdowns. Feils ans Hunter Tentis caught both TD strikes.