Page 8 Stillwater Ponies Football Preview • Friday, August 22, 2025 stillwatergazette. com

( Continued from page 7)

10 with 2,782 all-purpose yards. Graduation took away some of Stillwater’ s strength up front, including alldistrict lineman Christian Yangwakue and honorable mention selections Dom Slaughter, Jeffrey Akwuba and Siwon Youn. The Ponies do return fullback Chase Edstrom, who in addition to strong blocking caught 10 passes for 86 yards and carried 24 times for 131 yards( 3.3 avg.) with three total touchdowns.

Junior AJ De Leon( 5-8, 170) and senior Jaxson Reyes( 5-7, 190) could also see some snaps in the backfield.

Stillwater features valuable experience returning with seniors Nolan Von Behren and Tyler Curnow, who have each started games within the previous two seasons. Von Vehren( 6-foot-0, 265 pounds) joins Gus Gregg and Rosario-Matias in serving as captains and Curnow( 6-3, 265) is the reigning state discus champion in track and field.

“ Both of those guys should be excellent players for us,” Ponies coach Beau LaBore said.“ Nolan for many reasons has been an exceptional captain— all three were there in the weight room all winter and we’ ve gotten great leadership out of all of them. For Curnow, you have to be an elite athlete to win a state championship in the discus and he looks the part.”

There will be less experience at the other spots up front, with seniors Will Ness( 6-4, 270) and Bennett Lacska( 6-0, 240), juniors Smith Boettcher( 5-10, 240) and Nick Anderson( 6-0, 245), and sophomore Cole Drommerhausen( 6-0, 255) competing for playing time.

“ There’ s some solid guys in there with the others we have,” LaBore said.“ They’ re just hard working, have all done the work in the weight room, are smart and all guys that I’ m looking forward to battling with. It’ s a very coach-able offensive line.”

Two contributors and all-district honorees for Stillwater on offense departed after last season. After a family move out of state, quarterback Nick Kinsey will be playing his senior season at Archbishop Hoban High School in Akron, Ohio and receiver Owen Egge has transferred to Edina to play for his third different program in as many years.

Kinsey, an Eastern Michigan recruit and two-year starter for the Ponies who

Khalid Afuye, left, and Evan Uddin are expected to help anchor Stillwater’ s defensive line this season.

was on pace to break nearly every school career passing record, completed 133 of 240 passes( 55.4 percent) for 1,412 yards and 10 touchdowns with just three interceptions as a junior.

Egge, who played for St. Michael- Albertville as a sophomore, caught 29 passes for 386 yards( 13.3 avg.) and two touchdowns last season. Conor McGlynn also graduated after catching 18 passes for 146 yards( 8.1 avg.).

The Ponies are encouraged by junior quarterback Jack Runk( 5-10, 170), who played receiver a year ago and made 15 catches for 172 yards and three touchdowns. He’ s a gifted athlete and competitor who last spring was the only sophomore among the 20 players selected to the MSHSBCA Class AAAA All-State Team.

“ He’ s an elite athlete and even though he hasn’ t played a lot of quarterback since ninth grade, he played great as a ninth-grader and he’ s a super competitive kid,” LaBore said.“ He’ s busy all summer and he’ s chasing a future in baseball— and he’ ll have one— but he’ s off to a really great start with us. He picks things up pretty fast and it will be fun to see him progress.”

Senior Ben Fredericks is expected to start the season as Runk’ s back-up behind center.

Junior Carter Zollar( 6-3, 210) was the team’ s top receiver a year ago after finishing with a team-high 30 receptions for 383 yards( 12.8 avg.) and two touchdowns.

Runk moving to quarterback opens up some additional snaps at receiver and the Ponies also expect contributions from senior Bjorn Naatjes( 5-10, 180), juniors Owen Stangl( 6-4, 185), Griffen Rowan( 6-1. 185), Ruzku Adem( 6-2. 165) and Will Glass( 5-11, 175), and sophomore Jaylen Rosalez( 5-11. 195).

“ There’ s some good competition and it’ s a spot where we have some depth and potential,” LaBore said.“ Zollar is going to garner some attention and he’ s big enough that he might also play some tight end.”

Junior Zach Krusemark( 6-3, 215) is slotted at tight end, along with defensive starters Khalid Afuye( 6-5, 240) and Gus Gregg( 6-0, 210) potentially in the rotation.

Conference Champions

Stillwater conference and sub-district title seasons( 26)— 1929, 1935, 1943, 1953, 1975, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2003, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023.

Defense

The Ponies graduated all-district linebackers John Karkula and Cal Nitti, along with honorable mention selections Joe Fredkove and defensive back Ryan Silbernagel, who was among three Metro East leaders with a league-best four interceptions.

Stillwater returns just one of its top nine leaders in defensive points for a unit that allowed an average of 268 yards and 19 points per game a year ago.

Senior Khalid Afuye( 6-foot-5, 240 pounds) helps anchor a line that is the most experienced group on defense. The Iowa State commit, who didn’ t start playing football until ninth grade, ranked second on the team with 122 defensive points a year ago— significant production for an end in a 3-4 defense.

“ His ceiling is so high,” LaBore said.“ We’ ll never get to see his ceiling because he’ s so new to football, but I think you’ re definitely going to see flashes of what a Division I player looks like. He’ s a defensive lineman who can go wreck some plays by himself.”

Junior Andrew Olson( 6-3, 270) also returns to the interior of the defensive line after a productive sophomore season where he recorded a sack, forced two fumbles and finished with 27 total tackles.

Seniors Evan Uddin( 6-1, 215), who placed seventh in the state shot put last spring, and Alex Woefel( 6-0, 225) are also expected to solidify the defensive line. Senior captain and offensive lineman Nolan Von Behren could also mix into the rotation on the defensive line if needed.

See Team, Page 9