Vikings Coach of the Week

Mike Ellingson is the 4th head coach in Albany's steep tradition of good football. In just his 3rd season at the helm, his Huskies are 11-0 and have advanced to the state Class 3AAA semi-finals after a thrilling 28-27 win over Fergus Falls in the quarterfinals. Ellingson is 26-7 since being named head coach in 2022. The Huskies have qualified for the state tournament the last two years. They face undefeated Stewartville at U.S. Bank in the class 3AAA semi-finals this Saturday (11/16).

Michael Law is in his 6th year as the Blaine Bengals Head Coach. Prior to his time on the Blaine staff, he served as the Head coach for Oberlin High School in Oberlin, Ohio. Before that, Coach Law spent three seasons at Oberlin College, serving as a recruiting coordinator and coaching the offensive line. He also played at Oberlin College, starting 30 career games at offensive line. His Blaine Bengals (7-3) punched their ticket to the 2024 State Tournament with a last second FG to beat Rosemount 38-36 in the section semi-finals, then beat a very good Forest Lake team 53-21 in the section 5 finals. They begin play in the state tournament against Minnetonka on Nov. 7th at Osseo High School.

Coach Kolling is in his 5th year as head coach of Kingsland. His Knights are 8-2 and headed to the Section 1 Section Final, where they will play LeRoy-Ostrander/Lyle/Pacelli (LO/L/P) on Friday, NOV 1st. The Knights lost to LO/L/P in week 1 of the season, so they have yet another opportunity to avenge a defeat from earlier this season. Coach Kolling was a Kingsland graduate himself - and a standout running back. He rushed for nearly 2,000 yards as a senior on the 1995 team that blew out Triton 35-6 in the state semifinals, snapping the Cobras' 26-game winning streak. The Knights proceeded to beat Breckenridge the next week to capture the Class B state championship of 1995.

Coach Poncelet took over the Goodhue football program in 2011 after serving for a decade as the team's offensive coordinator. He played college football at UMD and signed a free agent contract with the Cleveland Browns (TE), and then returned to UMD as a grad assistant under Jim Malosky. He then coached at Two Harbors, Zumbrota-Mazeppa and New Prague before coming to Goodhue, where he also teaches physical education. Goodhue is a 1A school who is now 8-0 on the season, and one of only five 1A schools to remain unbeaten heading into playoffs (currently ranked 4th in the state). They have outscored opponents 309-82 so far this season. Goodhue begins the first round of playoffs Tuesday (10/22) when they host Bethlehem Academy.

Coach Bill Magnuson is in his 7th season as head coach at Pequot Lakes after 16 years as head football coach at Sauk Rapids and 6 years at Windom Area High School. Coach Magnuson and his Patriots are seeking to return to the Section 7 final for the 3rd year in a row, having lost the last two section finals to Esko. The Patriots did beat Esko 47-6 in week 4 of this season, and are off to a hot 7-0 start as we head into the second half of the season.

Coach Jeff Johnson is in his 19th year as the Chatfield head football coach. He has won a pair of state titles at Chatfield (2013 and 2021) and finished state runner-up in 2023. His cumulative record is 126-65. Coach Johnson and his Chatfield Gophers are 6-0 so far this year in Class 2A. They beat their main rival Caledonia 20-13 in week 3 and are ranked #3 in Class 2AA heading into week 7.

Coach Negen is in his 11th season as the Head Coach at Armstrong High School. This will be his 30th year coaching football at the high school and 2 seasons at Bethel. His Falcons are 5-0 so far this year in Class 5A, and had an impressive victory over St. Thomas Academy Friday night 20-14.

Coach Erik Lofald is a 1997 Duluth Denfeld Alum where he played both football and basketball. In 2012, He came back to his alma mater as an Assistant Coach serving both the JV and Varsity levels. In 2019, Coach Lofald took over as Head Coach. In week 4, Coach Lofald and His Hunters took down cross-town rival Duluth East 48-14. The Hunters are now 4-0 and ranked #6 in Class 4A.

Mark Esch is entering his 6th year of coaching at Minnetonka and his 5th as their Head Coach. Mark is a graduate of Caledonia High School and played one year of college football at UW-La Crosse. He began his coaching career at UW-La Crosse and White Bear Lake High School, before moving up to the collegiate level at the University of South Dakota. He then returned to the HS level to teach and coach at Austin high school, and has since served as the head coach at Mankato West High School from 2006-16. There, he led his team to 9 state appearances in 11 seasons while winning two state championships.

Head Coach Ryan Galindo was an assistant at Washburn from 2004-2009 under then coach Peter Haugen, before following Haugen to Gustavus Adolphus College of the MIAC from 2010-2013. He then returned to coach at Mpls Washburn before becoming the head football coach before the 2015 season. The Millers are off to a hot 2-0 start after beating St Paul Harding 49-0 in week one, and St. Louis Park this past Friday 20-15.

Coach Dwight Lundeen won his 400^th career game on August 29^th, 2024, with a win over Hill-Murray. With the win, his career record is now 400-167-3 (.704 winning percentage). Coach Lundeen is the second Minnesota high school football head coach to achieve 400 career wins. He is a native of Cokato, Minnesota and is starting his 55^th season of coaching at Becker High School.