(From Minnetonka Football - The First Half Century by Miles Jon Cohen)
| 1990 |
The Minnetonka varsity football team, made up of 56 players evenly divided between seniors and juniors, had another tremendous season this fall. The team was rated the 9th best high school football Defense in the state. They finished with a record of 7-3.
It was definitely one of our best teams in the history on a par with the 1958, 1975, 1980 and 1986 teams before it. The Homecoming game was lost on the last play against Wayzata (14-15) before the largest crowd ever to gather at Einar Anderson field. The entire bowl was filled bumper-to-bumper, at least 5,000 people showed up although not nearly that many got in. The main reason was we went into the game undefeated (6-0) for the first time in our history.
The team finished third in a strong conference and beat St. Cloud Apollo 26-6 in the first round of the 6AA playoffs before falling to St Cloud Tech by one point 12-13. This team was closely knit and formed lifelong friendships.
| 1991 |
After a super prior season, this year's seniors struggled to a 4-5 won/loss season. The team got off to a slow start losing to Eagan but settled down during the mid-season. The team was comprised of 55 players (33 juniors) and through bad times and good, the boys worked well together making lifelong friendships.
This squad had a lot of firsts. It set a school record with the furthest out-of-state road trip, traveling over six hours to Peoria, IL to take on powerhouse Peoria Notre Dame only to lose 12-23. It witnessed perhaps its greatest rout ever over cross-lake rival Wayzata administering a 27-6 thumping of the then 4th rated team in the state. It saw one of the hardest legal hits ever in senior Strong Safety Jeff Simmon's knock-out and kick block.
| 1992 |
The 1992 Minnetonka Varsity Football season started full of promise. The young men worked very hard in the summer months lifting weights, running, and conditioning themselves for the upcoming season. The summer passing league team was consolation champions in the Burnsville Invitational Passing Tournament. The Varsity team was ranked 15th in the pre-season Star Tribune metro football poll.
The season began with high expectations for a senior team that had gone 15-1 in their freshman and sophomore years. Eleven seniors returned as starters and many juniors stepped in to fill other rolls. As the season began, the expectations were not fulfilled. The team, plagued by injuries and bad breaks, fell to a 3-5 regular season record.
Our dreams of the Lake Blue Conference Championship were dashed, but there was no time to worry about the past when the playoffs were in the future. Tonka played their heart out in the playoffs defeating excellent Buffalo and St. Cloud Tech teams to advance to the section semi-finals. No other team at MHS had got this far under the play-off format established in 1972. We went to Augsburg stadium and lost toe Elk River in a close game 21-28 that decided who would go on to State.
| 1993 |
The 1993 edition, a small but courageous crew, got off to a shaky start losing their first three games to Apple Valley, Hopkins, and Wayzata. "But don't lose faith in Tonka's ability to turn it around", said fullback and team member Jason Spencer. The team finished the season with a 4-5 record. The team was comprised of 38 seniors and 35 juniors. (One of the larger squads by number but not size). As far as team togetherness is concerned, it didn't start off that great but improved as the season wore on.
The Seniors put it best in that year's yearbook, "We take exciting memories of our years in football and we wish the best of luck for the younger team members coming up"!
| 1994 |
A first for this team was the first Freshman to ever make the Tonka varsity is QB Ryan Keating.
| 1995 |
Highlights of this year included an opening game rout over St. Francis 23-0; a convincing 23-7 defeat of rival Hopkins who had defeated us the last few years and a 33-2 trouncing of Richfield (our largest margin of victory ever and only our second win over a foe who had owned us in the past). We finished the year 5-5 in the won/loss column.
| 1996 |
Everything finally came together for Tonka this year. After winning six straight games by impressive margins against Edina, Richfield, St. Cloud Apollo and our first ever victory in the first round of Section 8 playoffs over Elk River. The win over Elk River was the first time ever we reached the regional finals pushing our record to 9-1. Our playoffs ended with a loss against Alexandria.
Coach Ginther stated "In the 13 years that I have been coaching, this is the most talented team we have ever had. They are a real close group and were a pleasure to coach".
This year represented an amazing comeback as the team recovered from the previous 5-5 season and went 9-2, one of our best records in history.
| 1997 |
The Minnetonka squad this year improved on last year's record going 9-2 losing to Eden Prairie in the section finals. This tied last year's best record in the history of MHS for number of wins in a season and the best two year string ever of 18 wins and only 4 losses.
Everyone played a role and played very hard and very well. Finally, based on past traditions and successes, Tonka had learned how to win through great teamwork, skill and passion. Enthusiastic crowds both home and away provided great support.
| 1998 |
All the boys persevered and played hard the entire season with no quit in them! They were really "in" every game except Armstrong and the season finale Eden Prairie.
In regards to the fans, Senior Peter Newberry was quoted, "The fan support was great, especially the Tailgate Crew. They really helped by cheering us on, despite our record".
| 1999 |
The team's 3-6 won/loss record did not reflect their season-long hard play. They lost several close games but never lost heart or laid down.
"No matter what happened this season, no one can take away what we learned from each other. We've sweat together, we've cried together. That's my definition of a successful team. Thank you Tonka, for the memories. You guys are amazing". - Adam Laybourn, 1999 Co-Captain.
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