8 local storylines to watch in the 2026 high school football season

Aug. 15—ROCHESTER — The 2026 high school football season starts in fewer than 48 hours. Teams can begin practicing on Monday, Aug. 17, a later start to the season than usual, but one that players and coaches across the state have been awaiting since last November. The first full Friday night of games is Sept. 4. The Post Bulletin's annual Pigskin Preview section will be inserted in the print edition of the PB the following day; the Pigskin's content will be available at PostBulletin.com in the week leading up to the season openers. As practice is set to begin, here are 8 local storylines to watch this fall: The Addington Jug was pulled out of the trophy case at Mayo High School last fall, as the Spartans returned to Class 5A after two years of playing — and competing well — at the state's highest level, Class 6A. Mayo's return to 5A meant a return to games against intra-city rivals Century and John Marshall. And when those Rochester public-school rivals meet, the Addington Jug is on the line. The Spartans maintained their grip on the jug by winning at Century in Week 5, then escaping with a narrow 33-26 win against John Marshall a week later. The Jug will be on the line for the first time this fall in Week 5, when Mayo hosts Century on Friday, Oct. 2. If Mayo wins that game, it will carry the Jug into JM's turf the following week, when the Spartans meet the Rockets at John Drews Field on Oct. 9. If Century beats Mayo on Oct. 2, JM will not have a chance to play for the Jug this fall, as it faces Century on Sept. 25. All of the Jug games will start at 5:30 p.m. this year. Kasson-Mantorville, Byron and Stewartville made Section 1, Class 4A one of the most entertaining to watch in the state last fall. They were unquestionably the three best teams in the section — and three of the best in the state — but the only question was, 'who'll survive the three-team battle to get to state?' The answer to that question ended up being Kasson-Mantorville, but the KoMets knew they'd survived a gauntlet to win a section championship before advancing to the state title game. K-M, Byron and Stewartville met five times during the 2025 season, and four of those games were decided by three points or fewer, including two high-stakes postseason games, as K-M edged Stewartville 10-7 in the section semifinals and Byron 31-28 in the section final. Byron beat the Tigers by just one point, 27-26, in their regular-season matchup Stewartville was the odd team out of the Section 1-4A championship game, but only after the nail-biting defeat at K-M in the section semifinals. In fact, Stewartville finished the 2025 season with a 7-3 record, falling twice to K-M and once to Byron. Those three losses came by a combined seven points. So, even though the Tigers weren't in the section final last fall, don't sleep on them. Going into last season, the Tigers bumped back up to Class 4A after winning two consecutive Class 3A state championships and 28 consecutive games. They extended that streak to 30 before falling to K-M, 21-18, in Week 3 ( a game decided by a defensive stop on the final play ). K-M and Byron are powerhouse programs. Stewartville is one, too. Section 1-4A could provide plenty of hold-your-breath finishes again this fall. Participation numbers were dropping in Hayfield and Blooming Prairie a year ago. It didn't look like they'd be better this year, and possibly in the near future. So, in late June, the two school districts announced they've formed a co-op for football for at least the 2026 and 2027 seasons. Blooming Prairie finished an uncharacteristic 2-7 a year ago; Hayfield finished 1-8. The new co-op will play as Blooming Prairie/Hayfield, and it will play two home games at Blooming Prairie — Sept. 4 against Lewiston-Altura and Oct. 2 against St. Clair — and two at Hayfield — Sept. 11 vs. Blue Earth and Oct. 9 vs. Waterville-E-M. Both schools will also be used for practices, and both schools will celebrate Homecomings. BP/Hayfield will play in Section 2, Class 2A. "Both school districts have also agreed that if participation numbers increase to a point where both Hayfield and Blooming Prairie can safely and successfully support their own independent football programs, we are committed to returning to separate teams," a statement from Hayfield Superintendent Gregg Slaathaug read at the time the announcement was made in June. The two schools also co-op in wrestling, under the Westfield Razorbacks name. Goodhue is always, well, good on the gridiron. Some years, the Wildcats are great, as they were in 2025 when they went 12-1, won the Section 4, Class 2A championship and pushed powerhouse Jackson County Central to the wire in a 20-15 loss in the Class 2A Prep Bowl. There's every reason to believe the Wildcats could run it back this fall. They were dominant on both sides of the ball last season, including a defense that was at times overlooked because the offense produced 36.2 points per game, the seventh-best mark in the state among Class 2A teams. Goodhue's defense was equally tough — it allowed a total of 13 points in six games against section opponents and won its two section playoff games by a total of 57-0. This group of Wildcats only knows how to win. This year's seniors are 30-5 since their freshman season, with three straight trips to the section championship game, two state tournament appearances and one trip to the Prep Bowl. Though Goodhue was loaded with talented seniors last fall, it has some experienced players to lead the way this year, including 6-3, 230-pound lineman Ethan O'Reilly (90 total tackles, 5 sacks) and star defensive back Owen Roschen (40 total tackles, 4 interceptions, 11 pass breakups). This group of Wildcats has had success in multiple sports. They know how to play under pressure. It's an evergreen statement to say the Caledonia Warriors' young stars have grown into veteran leaders. The Caledonia coaching staff is among the best in the state at getting its young players experience and developing them into college-ready players by the time they're upperclassmen. This fall is no different. Standout receiver/linebacker Coby Hammell (21 rec., 415 yards, 5 TDs; 28 tackles, 2 sacks) committed to Division I North Dakota in May. He's a senior this fall. There might be at least two more Division I players on the field with Hammell this season, and they're both just juniors: LB/DL Cooper Allen and DT Max Schmitz. Allen is all over the field defensively; he led the Warriors with 114 total tackles last fall, and had two QB sacks. And Schmitz is a disruptive force in the middle of the line; he had 57 total tackles and a team-best 8 QB sacks. Junior QB/safety Grant King is back, too, after playing behind then-senior QB Will Allen last fall. The Warriors went 9-3 a year ago and allowed a section-best 11.3 points per game en route to a state tournament berth. With the heart and soul of their defense back, Caledonia will be a tough task again for its opponents. In recent years, Southeastern Minnesota has been an area that recruiters have watched for quarterbacks, running backs, receivers, linebackers — players who offer great position flexibility at the next level. There is still plenty of talent at those positions, but it's impossible to ignore the surplus of outstanding linemen, on both sides of the ball, in this part of the state. From Mayo's Caleb Loomis — an almost unheard-of four-year starter along the offensive line for a Class 5A program — to 9-Player standouts, including Spring Grove center/defensive end Travis Fisch (an agile 6-2, 220-pound senior) and Wabasha-Kellogg 6-5, 240-pound DE Bryar Ender (6 sacks in 2025), college scouts looking for linemen will have no shortage of players to scout in this part of the state. Offensive and defensive line positions on the Post Bulletin's All-Area team are annually dominated by seniors, but Loomis, Ender, Fisch and more found their way onto the First, Second or Honorable Mention teams last fall as underclassmen. Among the other 2025 underclassmen who made the All-Area Team along a line are Goodhue's Ethan O'Reilly (90 tackles, 5 sacks); Chatfield's Corbin Horsman; Byron's Mason Edwards ( Northern Michigan commit ) and DE Jaymeson Smith ( Minnesota Duluth commit ); Century DE Austin Omwamba; Fillmore Central's Joseph Otto (6-3, 270) and Ryan Schroeder (45 tackles); Caledonia's Max Schmitz; Stewartville's Tommy Lofgren; and La Crescent-Hokah's Andrew Theede. Four new head coaches will be on the sidelines this fall, taking programs in new directions after previous long-time coaches stepped down. At St. Charles, Riley Stejskal takes over for Matt Reinhardt, who guided the Saints to a 40.2% win percentage over 11 seasons. The Saints went 2-7 last year against one of the toughest schedules in Class 2A, facing five opponents who won seven or more games and four opponents who reached a section championship game. Former standout running back/linebacker Cole Mundt returns to his alma mater as the new head coach at Lewiston-Altura. He takes over for Brent Olson, who was the Cardinals' head coach for the past 20 seasons. He coached L-A to 106 wins and a 55% win percentage. Mundt, a 2020 L-A grad, was an All-Conference linebacker for the Cardinals and went on to earn his degree at Winona State. In Houston, Marcus Teachout has taken over for Cody Hungerholt, who guided the Hurricanes to a 50-45 overall mark over the past 10 seasons. And at Winona High, Travis Steine is the new head coach, taking over for John Cassellius, who guided the Winhawks to 102 wins over 21 seasons. The Minnesota State High School League's fall calendar is annually structured so that football season (the first official day of practice) starts on the third Monday prior to Labor Day, which is why this year's start feels almost a full week later than usual. It also means that the schedule gets quirky to close the regular season. Traditionally, the final week of the regular season falls on the weekend of MEA (Minnesota Educators) break, so the final games of the regular season take place on a Wednesday. Games will be played on Wednesday of MEA week again this season, but because of a late Labor Day (Sept. 7) and a late start to practice (Aug. 17), MEA week will only be Week 7 of the high school football season. That means games on the final two weeks of the regular season will be played on Wednesdays, with Week 7 games set for Oct. 14 and regular-season finales set for Oct. 21. A handful of local teams will also play Zero Week games, including Fillmore Central (Aug. 28, at Medford); and Lewiston-Altura (Aug. 28, vs. Southland). Changes for those teams arose when the Blooming Prairie/Hayfield co-op was announced in June, and Hayfield's scheduled opponents then needed to adjust their schedules. In Rochester, one scheduling item to note: John Marshall will play five home games this season, while Century will play three, as Century returns the swap it agreed to a year ago. Due to construction at the stadium at JM last fall, the Rockets moved their scheduled home game against the Panthers to Century, in exchange for Century moving its scheduled home game this fall against JM to John Drews Field. A continued shortage of officials means a handful of regular-season games will be played on Thursdays each week. JM and Century both open their seasons on the road on Thursday, Sept. 3, while Lourdes opens its season at home that night against Chatfield. In fact, Lourdes plays its first two home games on Thursdays (Sept. 17, vs. Dover-Eyota), so half of its regular-season games will be non-Fridays (the Eagles close the regular season with back-to-back Wednesday night games). In other words, double- and triple-check your favorite team's calendar this fall.