Katie Berell

Coach Weiland talking to his players during a game.

The Orono varsity football team is having one of the best seasons in recent years and their record stands at 4-2 before the Delano game. Orono has been ranked as high as no. five in the whole state, according to Minnesota Football Hub.

Coming into the season Orono was expected to be strong. Orono didn’t graduate a lot of seniors and had most of the starters coming back. The team was predicted to finish second in the tough Wright County East Division behind perennial powerhouse Hutchinson. Senior captain and center, Chris Lecy was nominated as a player to watch for the conference, according to the Star Tribune.

The first game of the season was at Glencoe Silver Lake on Friday, Aug. 29. Some fans made the trek and weren’t disappointed with the Spartans getting a win.

The game started off slow with Glencoe getting the first touchdown. Then junior quarterback, Hank Seward, found junior wide receiver, Black Leischow, for a 23 yard touchdown. Seward found junior running back David McCuskey for a 28 yard touchdown strike shortly after. Seward was not done however. He found senior captain Ethan Larson for a 10 yard touchdown and then senior Calvin Groenke for a 26 yard touchdown.

The defense did their job by getting an interception returned for a touchdown from Leischow and holding Glencoe to 25 points. The final score was Orono 33 Glencoe 25.

However the game had unusual circumstances. First, there was a power outage and play was delayed for 30 minutes. Shortly after, lighting halted the action. The players and fans had to wait for over an hour for the game to resume.

“It was very odd how the game got stopped for so long but at the same time it was fun seeing the team win and we came home super late,” team manager, Paulina Gabos said.

The next game was Annandale and it was Orono’s home opener. Orono got the first touchdown and never looked back. Seward passed for four touchdowns and ran for one. Orono beat Annandale easily by 31 to 13.

“We played well and having the fans back us up was fun to see,” junior safety Michael Andrew said. Michael has been playing great defense all year and has two interceptions to prove it.

Next up was a road game against arch rival Mound Westonka. The game started slow for the Spartans; the score was tied 13 to 13 midway through the third quarter when Orono flexed its guns. Three touchdowns in a row brought the score to Orono 33 Mound 13. Orono was led by McCuskey who got 4 touchdowns. Beating Mound was great but the players agreed that it was nice to keep the streak alive. A streak of 38 consecutive games Orono has beaten Mound.

“We didn’t play the best game against Mound but we still got the win and kept the streak alive,” senior linebacker Matt Urness said.

Senior captain linebacker Jackson Striggow had nine total tackles during the game according to Football Hub, and has totaled 78 tackles throughout six games, which has him ranked no. 4 in the state.

The next game was against the Hutchinson Tigers. This game was homecoming for Orono and covered by Kare 11. The game started off slow for the Spartans with Hutch getting 35 straight points before halftime. The game ended 35 to 0 but the Spartans showed perseverance by not giving up.

The Spartans traveled to Holy Family on Sept. 26. The Spartans had some uncharacteristic turnovers and sloppy plays that they couldn’t quite overcome. The final score was Holy Family 28 Orono 14.

The Spartans looked to put the two latest games behind them and get back on a winning streak. They did so by beating Waconia at home 28-14. Seward threw for three touchdowns during the game.

The Spartans close out the season against Delano at home and then play their last regular season game away versus New Prague.