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Lakeville South’s football team had state championship aspirations heading into the 2024 season that never came to fruition. The Cougars lost four games, the last of which came to Anoka in the second round of the Class 6A playoffs. The disappointment led to reflection for players, particularly those from the current senior class. What went wrong, and how could they fix it for their final season? “We realized last year’s team was not as connected,” senior offensive lineman Oscar Anaya. “It felt kind of forced at times.” That showed itself throughout the season, as fingers were occasionally pointed between the offense and defense. “We learned that we can’t do that. We have to be together,” senior defensive lineman Carter Mayer said. “We can’t be making fun of each other, pushing each other down. We’ve got to lift each other up.” April marked the first time Lakeville South coach Ben Burk sat down individually with every senior on the roster. The Cougars coaching staff aims to create a player-led program. Those, Anaya recited, “elevate to championship-level teams.” So the coaches ask questions in pursuit of player-driven answers. In April, Burk asked his seniors what was important to them. “The brotherhood” was the most frequent answer. The why was the recollection of how much it meant to these seniors to be intentionally included as true, valued members of the program back when they were sophomores. The how is what’s separated this group of Cougars, who will meet Moorhead in the Class 6A state semifinals at 7:30 p.m. Friday at U.S. Bank Stadium. Make it fun The Cougars watch film with coaches early in the week, and without them on Wednesday nights, when the offensive players meet at one house to consume tape, and the defensive players gather at another to do the same. Burk and Co. weren’t aware of that weekly staple until a few weeks into the season. But Mayer noted they existed last year, as well. The 2021 team watched film together on weeknights en route to winning a state championship. The 2024 group brought it back in pursuit of the same result. “It didn’t work,” Mayer said. Why not? “We just watched film,” he said. “We didn’t have any fun.” Revisions were made this fall. Sessions still feature roughly an hour of film, followed, for the defense, by more film – the cinematic version. It’s movie night. The offense has engaged in poker nights and other activities. “It’s more of a fun time to hang out,” Anaya said. This group has done plenty of that. Burk recalled nights during the squad’s offseason team camp at St. Olaf in which the coaches couldn’t get the players to go to bed. They wanted to all be together in common spaces. Summer activities scheduled and organized by players included a voyage to Marion Lake, where the guys hosted a volleyball tournament and cooked out and a trip to a teammate’s house for pool time and a basketball tournament. “Those were all about being together and building this group we have now,” Mayer said. One where every single player is valued. Freshmen and sophomores participate on the scout team during the postseason, once their campaigns have concluded. One day after practice, senior lineman Mitchell Kelvie had to speak up: “I just want to shout out the scout team,” he said. They mattered, too. And he made sure they knew it. “Things that you wished kids did, and (these guys are) doing it. I don’t think anybody told him to do it, it was just on his heart that day,” Burk said. “It’s all the freshmen and sophomores getting a shoutout from this guy who’s normally gruff and whatever. It’s like, ‘Dang, dude. OK.’ Some of those things have been really powerful indications of team.” A quote from former Cougars offensive coordinator Jon Bakken has always stuck with Anaya: “My most talented team never won a state championship, but the most connected team has.” “It made me realize talent truly isn’t everything,” Anaya said, “when you have guys who will literally die on the field for you.” Bonds weather storms Burk briefly left the program this fall to take the same job at Cretin-Derham Hall, before reversing course to stay with the Cougars. It was during those uncertain times that the football players formed a book club. They read “Chop Wood, Carry Water,’ a novel by Joshua Medcalf that highlights the idea of enjoying the process required to reach greatness. The team met in a classroom and small groups of players took turns presenting about portions of the book. “We made it so we were together,” Mayer said. “All we cared about was that we were together, and it didn’t matter what was going on outside of us that we couldn’t control.” This was their program, and they were going to take it by the horns. It’s exactly what Burk wants. It’s why he never shoots down player ideas related to team building or bonding. It’s also up to the team to determine uniform combinations ahead of every game. “It’s their team, right?” Burk said. “When you find chances to give them a say, they take it and run with it. … (Our coaches) would rather enable the kids, because it ultimately reflects their performance in a positive way.” As well as their response. Culture isn’t necessarily critical when things are going well. It’s mandatory when they aren’t. Lakeville South dropped its regular season finale to Rosemount, 20-15 last month. Gone was the subdistrict title, along with No. 1 seed in the Class 6A playoffs. In different seasons, you may find others to direct your finger toward. But when it’s truly your program, you point it at yourself. An offensive player came to Burk after the defeat and noted they “need to pay for our mistakes.” Cougars coaches don’t penalize players with sprints. But the defensive players had been penalizing themselves all season. The offense joined the party in the postseason. Guys tracked their own blunders – from mental mistakes such as missed assignments or false starts to effort-based errors like not carrying out a fake. At the conclusion of practice, they run for their sins. The Cougars are averaging 40 points per game in three playoff contests, including 49 points dropped in last week’s state quarterfinal to bounce reigning champ Maple Grove, the state’s top-ranked team. “If you have an ego that you can’t learn something from (a loss), then you won’t,” Burk said. “But if your mindset is of ownership – we talk about extreme ownership all the time – if you can do that and look for what’s the lesson, then you’ll learn it.” They have to – they’re teammates are depending on it. “We’ve got to lift each other up,” Mayer said, “and believe in each other that, when it gets tough, you’re going to believe in the other person to do their job.” A life lesson Creating ideas, coordinating and communicating for additional activities is a lot for kids who already have school and sports on their plates. Yet Anaya has enjoyed every bit of it. “I don’t see it as like homework or a chore,” he said. “I see it as a bonding experience and an experience where I can not only grow as a player, but I can also grow as a leader and a person.” This has been Anaya’s favorite season to date. Mayer concurs, noting the pure enjoyment has relieved much of the pressure that comes with each Friday night. There’s a calm that comes with the genuine belief in and care for the guy next to you. This fall has taught Mayer a life lesson he plans to carry forward into the future. “You have to enjoy who you’re with. How you do that is you set up things to make it fun. You don’t want to have it be where every day is long, it’s grueling, you don’t want to be here, the people next to me aren’t very fun to be with,” he said. “You’ve got to work hard and have determination, but it’s really what you make of it. You have to have it be fun to be with each other.” That may be the 2025 Cougars crowning achievement, regardless of whether this campaign ends in a championship. “When you’ve got such a loving group of guys you’re around, it makes it really easy to commit to them every day,” Anaya said. “I have a deep love for all of them. When you become connected with this many guys, it’s like you have another family to go to.”
