Ending a long streak of losses
The SMB Wolfpack — the co-op football team that combines Minnehaha Academy, St.Paul Academy, Blake and Hope Academy — has seen its fair share of hard times the last couple of seasons, losing 20 out of their past 21 games.
But things are starting to look up, so far this season, with the Wolfpack is beating Winona (21-14), DeLaSalle (56-7) and Richfield (28-14), before losing to Benilde-St. Margaret’s 21-16.
Why the turnaround? Coaches and players have attributed their success to multiple factors, including new leadership, focus, work ethic, competitive game play and commitment on and off the field.
“We have more guys at lifts, and then all of our summer mini camps and training we have had a good show out from people,” said Levi Reed, senior captain who plays both offensive and defensive line. “We have been working way harder in practice, and that’s starting to pay off in games.”
As the season progresses and more competitive challenges arise, the team is looking toward the playoffs.
“Section games aren’t going to be easy compared to what we’ve played,” Reed said, “but we’re still looking forward to the better competition.”
Looking forward in the schedule, the team is excited to face teams they have lost to in previous years. Not only is it higher competition but an opportunity to show how the team has evolved.
“I’m most looking forward to playing BSM [Benilde-St. Margaret’s],” Reed said before the Sept. 19 game. “They beat us the past four times we’ve played them, two of those being playoff games.”
The Wolfpack has suffered four frustrating losses to the Red Knights in recent seasons: 17-7 on Sept. 27, 2024, 24-12 on Oct. 24, 2023, 27-14 on Sept. 30, 2023, and 25-7 on Oct. 29, 2022. The team felt confident that they would be more competitive this year.
“I think this year we can finally kind of get our payback,” Reed said.
Jonah Schimelpfenig, a senior captain who plays wide receiver, credits the team’s work ethic for much of its success.
“We haven’t been this competitive in five years” he said. “The team’s work ethic and effort are completely different. Guys are pushing each other in the weight room and holding each other accountable.”
Team morale on the rise
This year players who haven’t played in a winning game are finally getting a new experience, and this has changed the whole morale of the team.
“Most of these guys have been a part of losing seasons,” Schimelpfenig said, adding that now “everybody’s excited to come to practice, everybody’s excited leaving games, and that’s a great feeling for us since we haven’t really felt that before.”
Head coach Hugh Brown entered the season with optimism.
“I think we have a chance to be competitive in every game we play this year,” he said. “If we focus on getting better and playing as a team we have a chance to be really successful.”
Brown isn’t just focused on the wins but on growth and improvement.
“Our team mission this year is develop, compete, build relentlessly together,” he said. “I’m excited to see all of our guys develop and play hard and build the program and the people around them stronger and better than it was before they got there.”
The team’s growth hasn’t just been evident in the scores but in every aspect of the game. The effort and work ethic to obtain this growth hasn’t gone unnoticed, Brown said.
“I think we have some really good leadership this year, and I think our guys have focused on getting better,” he said, “but also being more aware of situational football and what it takes to not just be competitive in football games, but to finish football games and execute in key moments.”
Overall the Wolfpack’s success is already evident, and team leaders say that if the team keeps putting in the work the season will be very competitive. Players and coaches look forward to facing harder competition and hope to pull ahead of teams they lost to in the past.