Reusse: Athletes, coaches buying in to Minneapolis North football

The age-group pressure that prospective athletes face in the city can be different than what you find in many suburbs and in rural areas of Minnesota. The "hang in there'' that you get from non-athletes in Rosemount or Pipestone can become a "you're not even playing'' in the city.

Minneapolis North's football team is unbeaten. It has clinched a share of the conference title and would win it outright with a victory over Roosevelt next Wednesday.

On Friday night, the Polars traveled to St. Paul Harding and went to 7-0 with a 43-6 victory. The Polars have four shutouts and have allowed 18 points.

Even in these best of times on the field, attrition has been an issue for coach Charles Adams Jr. The turnout for football of freshmen through seniors was 60 when practice started in August. The number of players (including freshmen) is closer to 40 now.

Attrition was not a lament offered by Adams during a conversation in his office at North this week. Forty is still a good number for a school with a total enrollment of 320 in four grades.

It's simply that North's turnout for football was so impressive at the start, and to see it decline by 30 percent in an unbeaten season ... it tells you that life is never predictable and smooth for a coach in this urban environment.

Adams knows this as well as anyone. He is a Minneapolis cop. His full-time assignment is as the "school resource officer'' at North. He spends the school day in full uniform, changes into civilian clothes and runs football practice.

The Polars went 3-6 in 2010 and 0-8 in 2011 in football. When a decision to keep open North was made, a new administration at the school told Adams that he had to re-apply to be coach. He declined. Another coach was hired, and didn't last long.

Adams was lobbied and agreed to come back early in the 2012 season. He saw a group of talented freshmen: quarterback Tyler Johnson, lineman Isiah Matthews and a number of others.

"The freshmen as a group were our best athletes,'' Adams said. "We went with them, knowing it was going to be a rough season as they gained experience.''

North finished 2-7 and allowed 39 points per game. And guess what happened? This group of North athletes decided to hang in there, to build something from the ground up.

"That first year, we didn't have much of a defense, and we didn't really have a line to block for the run,'' Johnson said. "The other team would score, and then we would go out and throw on almost every play.''

The linemen got bigger and better. The defense went from porous to competitive. North went 6-2 and entered the 2013 playoffs as the No. 1 seed in Class 1A, Section 4 and won the opener.

Then, Lester Prairie came to North's home field for a second-round game. The Bulldogs were bigger, stronger. The final was 54-26 for the lads from the Prairie.

"That was a humbling experience,'' Adams said.

It did not crush Johnson, Mathews and that core of talented Polars. It strengthened the resolve for their two remaining seasons. Lately, the players have been getting up for 6:45 a.m. weightlifting at the first-class workout facility provided at North by the E.J. Henderson Youth Foundation.

"E.J. has been phenomenal for us,'' Adams said. "So has Tyrone Carter. E.J. and Tyrone are there regularly to work with our students and to inspire them.''

It doesn't hurt the self-esteem of young athletes to have former NFLers involved in the fate of the football team.

The 6-2 Johnson is a terrific athlete, fast and strong-armed. He also plays safety, and Friday the work of that defense was more overwhelming than that of the offense.

"We all go to the ball,'' Johnson said. "Even if it's behind the line of scrimmage, 11 of us might be there. We're a hungry defense.''

Eighteen points in seven games, after allowing 347 points two seasons earlier? We used to have a college coach around here who would call that a starvin' defense.