Football notes
It’s always time to talk pigskin in these parts
It’s always football season in the communities of Jackson County Central and there was a lot of attention being paid to the Huskies program statewide this week with Ronan Voss announcing his commitment to play with the Gophers.
So, let’s talk some football in this newsletter.
Hale was first
Voss is not the first athlete to play his home high school football games at Swearingen Field to commit to play for the Maroon and Gold.
Dennis Hale, a 1965 graduate of Jackson High School and the player to score the first touchdown ever at the new field along Springfield Parkway, was a three-time letterman at the ‘U’. In those days, freshmen were not eligible to compete in varsity athletics.
Before that he earned a dozen letters attending JHS.
He lettered three times in football, three in basketball, four in track and field and twice in baseball.
Hale went on to the U of M and played on the Gophers 1967 Big Ten Conference championship team. That’s the last team from the school to win the conference title.
However, Hale and the Gophers did not receive the conference's bid to the Rose Bowl despite their 33-7 win over Indiana.
Minnesota, Indiana and Purdue finished in a three-way tie for first place, and each went 1-1 against the other two. The Boilermakers were ineligible since they played in Pasadena the previous year. This invoked the next tiebreaker, which favored the team which had gone the longest since its most recent Rose Bowl trip. Indiana had never been, while Minnesota last appeared in 1962.
The Gophers were 6-4 overall in Hale’s senior season in 1968 and finished fourth in the conference.
He was selected to play in the Christmas Day Shrine All Star Game at the Orange Bowl in Miami and was on the winning North team, which beat the South 3-0. Head coach for the North team was Ara Parseghian, a two-time national championship coach at Notre Dame and a member of the College Football Hall of Fame.
Hale had three interceptions in the game and was listed as one of three outstanding defensive players in a game story from UPI.
However, he was not the Most Valuable Player.
That honor went to Arkansas State linebacker Bill Bergey, who went on to play 12 seasons in the NFL with the Cincinnati Bengals and Philadelphia Eagles and was named to the Pro Bowl five times.
Another top player listed from the game was Miami end Ted Hendricks, who played linebacker for the first time in his career.
Hendricks, nicknamed "The Mad Stork," played for 15 seasons with the Baltimore Colts, Green Bay Packers, and the Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders in the NFL. He was a member of four Super Bowl-winning teams and was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Hale was drafted by the New Orleans Saints in the fourth round of the 1969 NFL Draft, the 85th overall pick. He was traded to Washington in his rookie season.
The Redskins' coach at the time was Vince Lombardi, who had become a legend in nine seasons with Green Bay, winning three NFL championships and later the first two Super Bowls.
"He came across the locker room while I was getting dressed and said, 'Denny, I'm Coach Lombardi,'" Hale recalled in a 2009 story in The Globe. "Like I wouldn't know."
"I said, 'Coach, you've got to understand that I've been drafted by Uncle Sam.'"
Lombardi turned away, swearing. The Saints hadn't told him.
He was in camp with the Redskins in 1970 when his playing career ended. Hale said that he didn’t want to play football anymore.
"It didn't feel right," Hale said. "There was just something in my mind that said, 'Man, I don't know if I want to get up in the morning and hit some guy that weighs 240 pounds every day to make a living.'"
It was either Vietnam or more schooling for Hale, so he went back to Minnesota to pursue his teaching degree.
His first teaching job was in Kenyon, where he was a volunteer assistant coach for one year and a varsity assistant for two years.
Hale moved to Barnesville, where he taught and was the head coach for three seasons. The Trojans had a 22-7 record in those seasons, won three conference championships and he was the conference Coach of the Year each season.
In 1977 he moved back to southwest Minnesota as he became the head coach at Worthington. His record with those Trojans was 160-152 with eight conference titles, three section championships, and three state tournament appearances.
Hale was named a conference Coach of the Year eight times and Section Coach of the Year in 2005.
And he’s still been coaching in recent years.
His son, Adam, is head coach at Grantsburg, Wis. and Dennis joins him in the fall as an assistant coach. Adam reached the 100-win mark as coach of the Pirates in 2024.
One of the players the Hales have coached in Grantsburg is linebacker Leo Chenal, who played college football at Wisconsin and has played in the last two Super Bowls with the Kansas City Chiefs.
Other Bluejays at the ‘U’
It appears that two other Jackson High School graduates played for the Gophers.
Bruce Berryman lettered three times for the Gophers (1934-36). In high school, he was captain of the 1931 Jackson team that had a 7-0 record and outscored its opponents 186-6.
Berryman played on the 1936 Gopher team that was declared national champions in each of the three rankings that were used at the time, The Associated Press, Toledo Cup and Litkenhous Difference by Score Ratings.
Also, 1940 JHS graduate Bob Kula played two seasons at Minnesota before being drafted into the Army during World War II. He was the Gophers kicker in 1942.
In 1945 he was selected in 17th round (175th overall) by the Green Bay Packers.
If anyone knows of other players, feel free to let me know.
2026 schedule
Back to Roman Voss for a moment.
While not wanting to get too far ahead of ourselves as far as Roman’s career with the Gophers, I couldn’t help but look up Minnesota’s 2026 schedule.
A redshirt year is always a possibility and there’s no guarantee of playing time, but here is what’s known right now for the 2026 schedule:
Nonconference
Thursday, Sept. 3: vs. Eastern Illinois
Saturday, Sept. 12: vs. Mississippi State
Saturday, Sept. 19: vs. Akron
Conference
The exact Big Ten schedule will be announced in the spring of 2026.
The opponents are known:
Home
Iowa
Michigan
Northwestern
UCLA
Away
Indiana
Penn State
Purdue
Washington
Wisconsin
Rowe to SDSU
The first JCC athlete from the Class of 2026 to announce where he was playing college football was offensive tackle Weston Rowe, who committed to South Dakota State in April.
The Jackrabbits were one of four FCS schools and eight overall to make an offer to the 6-foot-7, 270-pounder.
Rowe is ranked sixth among offensive linemen in the state and is ranked 20th overall for the Class of 2026.
Top 20 list
Here are the top 20 players in the state for the Class of 2026 by prepredzone.
Listed are rank, name, height, weight, position, high school and college commitment (if any).
1. Roman Voss, 6-4, 230, ATH, Jackson County Central, Minnesota
2. Andrew Trout, 6-6, 270, OL, Rocori, Minnesota
3. Howie Johnson, 6-3, 260. DL, Forest Lake, Minnesota
4. Pierce Petersohn, 6-5, 195, ATH, Triton, Penn State
5. Owen Linder, 6-5, 275, OL, Chanhassen, Iowa
6. Jayden Moore, 5-10, 170, WR, Hopkins, None
7. Kade Bush, 6-5, 220, TE, Chanhassen, Arkansas
8. Ethan Beckman, 6-5, 330, OL, Prior Lake, Iowa State
9. Sawyer Jezierski, 6-4, 260, DL, Edina, Iowa
10. Mason West, 6-5, 205, QB, Edina, Michigan State (hockey)
11. Caleb Francis, 6-1, 190, RB, Minnetonka, Iowa State
12. Ajibola Afuye, 6-4, 230, DL, Stillwater, Iowa State
13. Micah Fenney, 6-4, 230, Edge, Norwood Young America, Augustana
14. Brayden Dozier, 5-11, 170, DB, Maple Grove, North Dakota State
15. Kayden Oakland, 6-4, 215, Edge/TE, Northfield, South Dakota State
16. Braden Petzel, 6-9, 270, OL, Mankato East, Northern Illinois
17. Daniel Devine, 6-4, 225, DL/TE, Holy Angels, North Dakota State
18. Matthew Perusse, 6-4, 255, OL, Maple Grove, Montana State
19. Gavin Walden, 6-2, 255, DL, Eden Prairie, Montana State
20. Weston Rowe, 6-7, 270, OL, Jackson County Central, South Dakota State
Class of 2027
Two JCC athletes from the Class of 2027 are on the radar of prepredzone.com.
Gage Johnson is listed as No. 14 on the RB/LB list and is No. 79 overall.
Johnson (5-9, 186) has had a full schedule of camps and combines this spring and summer.
On his list of camp visits are FCS schools South Dakota, South Dakota State, North Dakota, North Dakota State, along with FBS Iowa State.
He’s also attended the prepredzone combine in Plymouth and Bauer’s Elite in Sioux Falls.
Also, Carter Buhl (6-3, 190) is on the Watch List for 2027 as an Athlete/wide receiver. Buhl is also attracting attention as a basketball player.
Hudson Clarksean
Mankato West junior Hudson Clarksean attended a couple of football camps last week as he was at events at the University of Minnesota and South Dakota State.
His dad, JCC graduate Dallas, and his grandpa, Jackson High School grad Charlie, both played for the Jackrabbits.
Hudson (6-1, 195) is listed as an Athlete. He’s 39th in Minnesota’s Class of 2027 rankings by prepredzone.com.
Dallas was SDSU’s leader in sacks in 2002.
Charlie is the school’s single season record holder with nine in 1972 and he also has the career mark with 14. He had three interceptions vs. Eastern Montana in the 1972 season opener.
Charlie was inducted into the Jackrabbit Sports Hall of Fame last year, and was named to the all-Coughlin-Alumni Stadium team in 2011 for the 50th anniversary of SDSU’s former home stadium.
Golf tournament
As long as we’re talking JCC football, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention Saturday’s golf tournament to benefit the program.
All of the funds raised at the four-person scramble at Jackson Golf Club help the program with some of the “extras” for the players.
Those include:
Pizzas while watching game tape
Indoor practices in the post season where the weather isn't cooperative
Needed equipment
Practice aides to help players develop
Registration is at 2:30 p.m. Saturday with a shotgun start at 3 p.m. Cost is $50 per golfer which includes golf, cart, meal and a raffle ticket.
A meal ticket for non-golfers is $10.
For information on the golf tournament, contact Nolan Schuller at 507-841-1155. For info on sponsorships or donations, contact Deb at 507-841-1156 or Carrie at 507-840-0218.
2025 schedule
While we’re at it, here’s the 2025 JCC schedule:
Friday, Aug. 29: at Maple River, 7 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 5: Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial, 7 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 12: Sibley East, 7 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 19: at Pipestone, 7 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 26: Minnesota Valley Lutheran, 7 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 3: LeSueur-Henderson, 7 p.m.
Thursday, Oct. 9: at Luverne, 7 p.m.
Wednesday, Oct. 15: at Windom, 7 p.m.