Page 6 Fall Football Preview • Thursday, August 27, 2026 sailor. mnsun. com
ST. LOUIS PARK ORIOLES
Orioles bring back experience along the line
JASON OLSON jason. olson @ apgecm. com
Coming into the season, St. Louis Park head football coach Jason Foster took a new approach when it comes to practice.
“ Focus more on rest and recovery and not to wear our players out at practice so they can perform at 100 percent on game nights,” Foster said in reference to learning a lot from Stewartville, led by head coach Garrett Mueller, who won consecutive Class 4A state titles in 2023 and 2024.
The 2026 Orioles will look different with eight recent grads moving on to college, with a few continuing to play sports in college. That includes last season’ s do-itall running back and linebacker Mason Helfman, who is a freshman at St. Thomas, and Sincere Lee, who is at Gustavus Adolphus College. Dom Barth plans to play baseball at Concordia College in Moorhead.
An ACL tear cut Everett Arnold’ s season short as the established dual-threat quarterback. He plans to return to the team for his senior season as a receiver.
The Orioles will turn to junior Carter Kuehn to take over as signal-caller behind a veteran group up front made up of four seniors, including captain Finn Sheperd, Bennett Johnson, Gavin Tombers and Evan Jacobson.
Leading the group is coach Kayla Ross who brings in a
( SUN PHOTO BY JASON OLSON)
Park captains from left are Jacob Berry, Liam Novak, Everett Arnold and Finn Shepherd.
wealth of experience as the Orioles flag football coach for the last two years and several seasons with the national champion Minnesota Vixens. She is the Tight Ends coach for the Vixens.
The Orioles return junior receiver Jayden Post to join Arnold, who is one of four captains. Sophomore receiver Wyatt Schmale looks to be in line for more attention this season, along with sophomore running back Ayden Hamza.
Defensively, Park will have seniors up the middle of the field, including defensive tackle Imad Salem alongside junior Jeremy Jones, senior linebacker and captain Liam Novak, senior defensive end Jasper Holmberg, and senior captain Finn Brooberg as a free safety.
Newcomers to the unit include linebackers Miles Rickford( sophomore) and junior Anthony Tabor. At defensive back, look for junior Oliver Valesano and senior Dimaya Smith to leave an impact on the program.
New coaches joining Foster’ s staff include flag football head coach Kayla Ross, who also serves on the Minnesota Vixen staff as a former player, along with Park boys’ basketball head coach and one of Park’ s alltime great football players Arsenio Richardson. They will be joined by Austin Meimaridis, Fernando Chavez and Peng Lor.
QUICK HITS
Head Coach Jason Foster Sixth Season
Last Year’ s Record: 2-7
Key Returning Players
Senior receiver Everett Arnold, senior linebacker Liam Novak, Senior kicker Jacob Berry, Senior offensive linemen Finn Shepherd, Bennett Johnson, Gavin Tombers, Evan Jacobson, senior defensive linemen Jasper Holmberg and Imad Salem, junior defensive tackle Jeremy Jones and senior free safety Finn Brooberg.
Schedule
Sept. 4: Minneapolis Southwest Sept. 10: At Bloomington Kennedy
6 p. m. Sept. 18: At Mahtomedi Sept. 25: Cretin-Derham Hall Oct. 2: Park Center Oct. 9: At Bloomington Jefferson
6:30 p. m. Oct. 14: Tartan Oct. 21: At St. Francis 6 p. m.
Game times 7 p. m. unless otherwise noted