stillwatergazette. com Stillwater Ponies Football Preview • Friday, August 22, 2025 Page 3

BY STUART GROSKREUTZ THE GAZETTE

2024 Metro East standings

Stillwater results Lakeville North 27, Stillwater 7 Stillwater 34, Woodbury 15 Stillwater 24, East Ridge 6 Stillwater 33, Mounds View 14 Forest Lake 27, Stillwater 17( OT) White Bear Lake 24, Stillwater 17 Edina 19, Stillwater 16 Stillwater 45, Park 17

Section playoffs STMA 21, Stillwater 14

After having its four-year reign atop the Metro East Sub- District halted a year ago, the Stillwater football team is hoping it was an aberration and not the start of a trend.

There are plenty of returning players to provide optimism, but also some significant departures in key spots. The Ponies are also looking at two daunting nonconference opponents that have been added to the schedule.

Stillwater already clinched at least a share of the sub-district title in Week 5 of the 2023 season and it was a similar scenario last fall when Mounds View and Forest Lake locked up their cochampionships with two regular season games remaining.

Metro East teams will still play three non-league games this year, but they have each been moved up to the first three weeks of the schedule. For the previous few years, the season opener and the final two contests were reserved for the subdistrict cross-over games.

“ The way Class 6A is set up, because it’ s a state-wide seeded tournament from beginning to end, the seed has become more critical than ever before,” Ponies coach Beau LaBore said.“ The seed is the direct result of performance in the five Metro East games.”

And those games with higher stakes that factor most heavily into seeding, not to mention the sub-district standings, will now be decided later in the season.

“ Weeks 4 through 8 are where you are playing for position and seed and that will decide what route you have in the playoffs,” LaBore said.“ Hopefully we’ re playing our best football in those weeks.”

After dropping its season opener at Lakeville North to open last season, Stillwater bounced back with three straight sub-district victories and was in position to secure another league title before falling to Forest Lake 27-21 in overtime in Week 5. That loss ended a 21-game sub-district winning streak for the Ponies dating back to the 2020 season.

With a victory over Mounds View already in hand, the Ponies were still in position to share the league title with the Rangers and Mustangs until suffering an 18-14 home loss to White Bear Lake a week later.

The Ponies lost four of their last five games to finish 4-5 after getting eliminated by St. Michael-Albertville 21-14 in the first round of the playoffs.

This is the first of a two-year cycle with two new cross-over opponents and the Ponies will face two of last season’ s state semifinal teams.

After participating in a scrimmage on Aug. 23 where the Ponies will tussle with Wayzata, Minnetonka, and Centennial, Stillwater will host defending state champion Maple Grove in

SEASON OUTLOOK

Beau LaBore enters his 15th season as head coach for the Stillwater football team.

the season opener on Aug. 28. After traveling to Park in Week 2, the Ponies will host highly regarded Shakopee for homecoming on Sept. 12.

The Sabers finished 10-2 a year ago and their only losses came against state runner-up Minnetonka and then Maple Grove in the state semifinals.

The Ponies will be battle-tested before starting Metro East play in Week 4.

Stillwater has only faced Maple Grove twice, outscoring the Crimson by a combined 57-6 in victories during the 1998 and 1999 seasons— in what was just the school’ s third and fourth years of existence.

The Crimson have qualified for state 8 of the past 12 seasons and captured state championships in 2022 and 2024. Maple Grove defeated Minnetonka 28-

21 to complete a 13-0 season last fall while outscoring opponents by a combined 536-144. The Crimson are loaded again this season under second-year head coach Adam Spurrell.

Maple Grove returns quarterback Kaden Harney and at least six players who have committed to Division I programs, including running back Chuck Langama( North Dakota), tight end / defensive end Nathan Hromadka( North Dakota), offensive tackle Michael Wagner( North Dakota), wide receiver Dylan Vokal( North Dakota State), and linebackers Jacob Wrbanek( North Dakota State) and Bo Draheim( Cornell).

This game will also serve as VAA Night and Tackle Cancer night at SAHS.

See Outlook, Page 4

Stillwater Ponies 2025 Football Preview

Contents Season outlook..................... 3 Roster.................................. 4 Metro East schedule............. 5 2024 statistics..................... 6 Team................................... 7 Notebook........................... 10 JV / 10th schedules............. 10 Ponies records.................... 12

Cover design by: Lisa Smith Photos by: Stuart Groskreutz Stories by: Stuart Groskreutz