FARMINGTON, Minn. -- "There's always going to be an easy way out of something. That can be in the weightroom, in the classroom, whatever it is. But on this team, we're always going to choose the hard way. Because the hard way is always going to be the one that's going to benefit you more. So, we're going to be choosing hard all season long."
Words from Farmington senior defensive back Logan Petsinger, verbalizing the mantra for Tigers' football, which opens its season on Thursday, August 28 against Eastview at Tiger Stadium. Kickoff is at 7 pm.
Senior defensive lineman Hank Vonbank says that attitude showed this summer, "We always talk about our weightroom. Doing things the hard way." He says the squad divided up into teams to create competitiveness while lifting.
While the Tigers graduated a number of players that are now on college rosters, Vonbank points out there is still plenty of experience back, "We do have quite a few returning starters on defense, about six or seven. And offensively, the guys that are stepping up, I feel very comfortable. A lot of them played some varsity or they played a lot of JV and they were doing really good."
Of the graduated players, FHS coach Jon Pieper says, "Some of those guys were two, three-year starters for us. So, a lot of experience leaving. A lot of college football players last year. It's really fun to see them go off and launch to that next level."
He is confident in this year's group, "We're returning our leading tackler Chris Rehak with a pretty strong linebacker corps. Max Blandin at outside backer, a Division-II player. He's committed to UMD. He's going to be fairly stout there as well.
"We've got two Division-II safeties, in both Petsinger and Danny Sather. And on our defensive line we've got (Bret) Leitgeb and we've got Vonbank who are both pretty dominant five-technique (players)."
Cole Busse, a senior linebacker, says on defense, "We look really strong and fast. We got a lot faster in the last few months."
New quarterback
Busse will play a bit as a quick guard on offense, "I'm not a crazy, big dude. But being on the line, they have me pulling a little bit. It's fun to be matched up against a linebacker…It's fun to be one-on-one with a guy and see who's better."
He says the team has some "fun, tricky run plays that should confuse the defense."
New starting quarterback Cade Boyles has already been a leader. Busse says, "All my trust is in him. He knows what he's doing. He's been leading the team for a long time even though he's not been a starter."
Vonbank adds, "He got to be mentored by Jonah (Ask) all the way up. And Jonah was a great leader, great guy, great player. So, he has the same quarterback coach, the same everything that Jonah had. And I feel like the training he did this off season too, it's helped his confidence a lot."
Pieper says the offense will have an historic feel, "It's kind of a wing-t based offense, pretty run heavy. It's one in which I believe we are truly committing to the nature of blue-collar Farmington. When I look at the strength of our program, first and foremost, it comes in the weightroom and strength culture that Scott Meier has built there.
"We truly believe that this is going to make a physical football team that likes to run the ball."
Petsinger indicates the best way the defense can support the offense is to "definitely just getting them the ball back. Going and making a play. And when they're on the field, it's always nice to have as much energy as we can. Helping them out. Being loud on the sidelines."
Schedule
The 'choose hard' mantra is reflected in the Tigers' schedule, according to Pieper.
Farmington (5-4 in 2024) opens the season at Tiger Stadium on Thursday, August 28 against Eastview, a team that hasn't been on their schedule since 2020. And that game never got played due to cancellations during the pandemic. FHS beat the Lightning in 2019.
Week two sends the Tigers to Lakeville North for a Friday, September 5 matchup. The Panthers, 9-2 in 2024, were a state tournament quarterfinalist. Next up is a trip to White Bear Lake on Friday, September 12, a team new to the schedule.
FHS is back home on Friday, September 19 to host Lakeville South (6-4 in 2024). The Cougars were mentioned by a couple of FHS players as a top rival. Farmington's last win over South was in 2016.
Rosemount comes to town on Friday, September 26. FHS plays at Eagan on Friday, October 3. Farmington welcomes Shakopee on Friday, October 10. The Sabers played in the state semifinals at US Bank Stadium during a 10-2 campaign in 2024.
The regular season wraps up at Prior Lake on Thursday, October 16. The Lakers ended Farmington's season last year in the first round of the playoffs.
"There are no cupcakes on that schedule and that's just the way we like it," announces Pieper.
"Choose the hard approach. Choose the hard decision. Quite often with this generation of kids coming up, if they're going to see an easy decision or a hard decision, they are going to choose easy more often than not.
"And the second (goal) is that we have to build that of a 'we before me' culture that embraces the idea of team and putting ones' self aside for the betterment of the team at large."
