sunthisweek. com Fall Football Preview, August 28, 2026 Page 15
Photo by Mike Shaughnessy
Burnsville linebacker Dane Classen watches the play develop during practice Aug. 18. Burnsville’ s season opener is at Robbinsdale Armstrong on Sept. 3.
BLAZE, from 14
back is Nuessmeier, who was impressive in limited varsity duty last year. King said Nuessmeier weighs 195 pounds and runs the 40-yard dash in 4.6 seconds.
“ Last year we focused on getting( Kamara) the ball in space and when we were able to do that, fireworks would happen quite often,” King said.“ Brandon gives us more of a physical, downhill back and I think he’ s going to have a tremendous year for us.”
The offensive line has two tackles who are 6-fppt-6 – senior Andrew Turlington( 310 pounds) and junior Lincoln Zilka( 280). Zilka is being switched to offense this year after playing on the defensive line last season. Seniors Jack Mulder and Armando Espinal are the guards and Sam Liebl returns at center. Mulder and Liebl are three-year starters.
Classen anchors the defense at middle linebacker and is expected to be a run-stuffer. Seniors Isaac Sczepanski and Square Ongwenyi return in the secondary, and Subah also could see playing time at defensive back.
The defense is anxious to improve on Burnsville’ s points-against average from last year – a sky-high 42.“ It’ s important for people to realize there’ s a lot of good football in 5A,” King said,“ but I think our guys on defense are going to accept the challenge and show what they’ re made of.”
Mike Shaughnessy is at mike. shaughnessy @ apgecm. com.
LIGHTNING, from 12
a good push. I think our pass game is really strong and our run game should be strong, too.”
Buckley is looking for balance from the Lightning offense. Last year, game situations often forced the Lightning to throw more than they would have liked, leading to shorter possessions and bad field position for the defense.
The defensive pillars include Cohen, who led
WILDCATS, from 5
Hoekenga and Shaurya Rajput are the tight ends. Several sophomores were pressed into service on the offensive line last year because of injuries, and now the Wildcats have plenty of experience up front. Max Kelly, a 280-pound junior, started every game at center in 2025. Jax Dobbs and Michael Matzek, both juniors, saw a lot of varsity time last year. Evan Davis, a senior, also returns. the Lightning in total tackles and tackles for loss last season, and senior defensive back Trey Sanders, who was third on the team in tackles. Sanders also was Eastview’ s top punt returner.
“ We’ ve got a defensive line that’ s junior-class heavy, but we have another guy on the edge,( senior) Mikey Fisher. We want to see him pop as well. So far in training camp, he’ s looked like a guy who can make a difference.”
Senior Joey Will and junior Griffin Page suffered season-ending leg injuries last year, but both are healthy and returning to the offensive line. Both were starting when they were forced out of the lineup.
The Wildcats play the six other teams in the Metro South district – Shakopee, Prior Lake, Lakeville North, Lakeville South, Farmington and Rosemount – plus Eastview and Rogers. That makes a bounceback season more
Eastview will host a scrimmage against Lakeville South – one of the Metro South teams the Lightning is not playing in the regular season – in a scrimmage at 10 a. m. Saturday, Aug. 29.
“ We want to see our guys play aggressive, play confident and lay down some hits,” Buckley said.“ We want to show we belong on the field with a potent opponent that was in the state semifinals last year.”
difficult, but Will said it’ s been done before.
“ I like to say we play in the hardest district. I think we do,” Will said.“ Teams are different every year. A team might have a bad year one year, and then they’ re back.
“ I think that can be us, but it takes 11 guys on offense and 11 on defense. If we stick to our systems, I think we’ re going to be successful.”
Mike Shaughnessy is at mike. shaughnessy @ apgecm. com.
EAGLES, from 13
“ I’ m relatively new to the defensive side of the ball, but I’ ve heard only great things about him,” Cozy said of the returning defensive coordinator.“ He’ s led multiple statecaliber teams and coached a lot of great players. He knows what works and what doesn’ t.”
Smith and senior Torsten Silvernail, both captains, will play on the defensive front.
The Eagles have some youth but also some enthusiasm. About 90 players registered for the summer football program and approximately 100 are registered for the fall season, Hentges said.
“ The challenging part, especially in high school, is to sustain it,” the coach said.“ When you go through peaks and valleys with kids who are 15, 16, 17 years old, we want to remain consistent with what we call our‘ Gold Standards.’ I’ m very proud of how we’ ve handled the ups and downs so far. We’ re headed in the right direction, I think.”
Mike Shaughnessy can be reached at mike. shaughnessy @ apgecm. com.
Photo by Mike Shaughnessy
An Eagan running back turns the corner at practice last week as the Wildcats prepare for their season opener at Shakopee on Sept. 3.