Page 22 Fall Football Preview • Thursday, August 27, 2026 sailor. mnsun. com
RICHFIELD SPARTANS
Spartans look toward Collins for production
JASON OLSON jason. olson @ apgecm. com
Richfield comes into the season with high expectations for a skill-position group that includes senior receiver / defensive backs Dre Collins, Damon Brown and Jarell Allen.
The Spartans are figuring out who the quarterback will be after junior Mason Woods transferred to Benilde-St. Margaret’ s within the last three weeks.
Woods passed for 1,201 yards with 13 touchdowns and 10 interceptions, rushing for 185 yards and three more touchdowns. He also caught a touchdown.
Spartans coach Kris Pulford believes the new quarterback will come down to Collins or perhaps Griffin Flanenery, who’ s a more than capable shortstop for the baseball team.
“ It’ s been a bit of a transition,” Pulford said.“ We have a bunch of kids in the school who should play football. They’ re finding out if football is right for them or not.” Pulford estimates that number to be between 30 and 40 kids.“ If we could get those kids to come out we’ ll be fairly good. We still have decent numbers.”
Combine that with all-district senior lineman Jeremiah Lopez anchoring the line along with junior Chase Stonebeck, and the Spartans have a chance to build off a 4-5 season that came to an end in the first round of section play.
Collins enters his third season as a playmaker on both sides of the football, ready to
( SUN PHOTO BY JASON OLSON)
Richfield teammates Dre Collins, left, and Chase Stoneback, middle, celebrate after Collins’ second-quarter touchdown catch on Aug. 29.
build off helping the basketball team to a third-place finish at the state tournament in March.
The two-time all-district receiver sailed well over the high jump bar set at 6 feet in the spring to showcase his athleticism. The key will be to get him the ball where he can make positive plays on offense. Defensively, he’ s a ball hawk who finds himself in a prime spot to either make a play on the ball or make a tackle more often than not.
Collins caught 32 passes for 531 yards and just three touchdowns. Three receivers each caught four touchdowns, including Allen, since-graduated Tyler Morgan, and senior-to-be Waleed Muhammad, who is transferring to Hopkins to focus on basketball. Muhammad transferred to Richfield after helping Breck win a state basketball title in 2024.
Brown had 33 tackles and Collins added 29 tackles in seven games. Collins added an interception return for a touchdown in a 16-14 loss to Roosevelt in the section opener. He also completed two touchdown passes for scores from 38 and 20 yards.
Look for senior Freddie Llanas Muniz to return to the field after missing the final two games of the season with a shoulder injury. A 6-foot, 220-pound two-way lineman, Muniz made an impact before the injury with hopes to pick up where he left off.
NEW COACHES
Pulford added two coaches to the staff, including Carson DeKam and Terell Johnson.
DeKam was a standout linebacker at Gustavus, where he was named the MIAC Defensive Player of the Year and D3football. com First-Team All-Region. He was the first Gusties player to be named All-Region four times. The 2020 Owatonna High School graduate will coach the offensive line and linebackers for the Spartans.
“ He saw we posted for a job and he really missed football,” Pulford said.“ He was looking to get back into it and we fortunately had an opening.”
The Spartans open the campaign at St. Paul Highland Park before the Sept. 10 home opener against South St. Paul with a 6 p. m. kickoff from Spartan Stadium.
Richfield is part of the Skyway Gold Subdistrict alongside Holy Angels, Benilde-St. Margaret’ s, DeLaSalle and SMB.
Seven program alumni found themselves on college rosters, including a trio of players at Southwest Minnesota State in Musa Sanneh, Henry Bandah and Zavier Hayes. At Gustavus, there are Brody Johnson and Michael McKnight. Spencer Lewis is at Minnesota Duluth, Eli Iheanetu is at Northwestern and Eli Randle is at Winona State.
The biggest challenge facing Richfield football comes in recruiting enough players to compete at a high level each week.“ There are a lot of kids at Richfield High School that should, could, would be great at football, but they don’ t play,” he explained.
QUICK HITS
Head Coach
Kris Pulford 10th at Richfield
Last Year’ s Record: 4-5
Key Returning Players
Senior receiver / defensive back Dre Collins( two-year All-District), senior lineman Jeremiah Lopez( All-District), senior receiver / defensive back Damon Brown( All-District Honorable Mention), senior receiver / defensive back Jarell Allen, junior lineman Chase Stonebeck.
Schedule Sept. 3: At St. Paul Highland Park Sept. 10: South St. Paul Sept. 18: At SMB( Blake) 7 p. m. Sept. 25: At Brooklyn Center 5 p. m. Oct. 3: BSM noon Oct. 9: St. Anthony Oct. 14: At Columbia Heights Oct. 20: Holy Angels
Game times 6 p. m. unless otherwise noted