Players prep for icy weather

"Cloudy. A chance of rain and snow in the evening ... then a chance of snow after midnight. Lows around 35. East winds 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation 40 percent."

And that, football fans, is tonight's forecast as we reach Week 7 of the regular season. Oh goody. The only thing stranger than December in October -- fact: today's average high temp in the Twin Cities is 60 degrees -- would be cloudy with a chance of meat raffles.

Fans, you know the drill: Tape down a blanket, bring the mega-jug of hot chocolate and the deer-stand hand warmers, dress in 17 layers, snuggle together, sprint to the car and crank the heater at halftime, stomp your feet when you lose feeling in your toes, howl at the moon. But what's a football team to do?

Turns out there are several keys to playing successful high school football when the conditions turn Yukon. You need to prepare, have a sackful of dry footballs on the sidelines, players who are trained to keep the ball off the ground and officials who keep the dry balls coming.

When Andover played at Champlin Park on a rainy night earlier this month, the Huskies had five game balls ready for their offense at all times.

"When the officials do a good job of rotating balls, it's actually not too bad," said Andover coach Rick Wilkie, whose team plays at Blaine tonight. "And our players know to hand the ball to the ref and not let it get wetter."

Slipping on a wet field is not so easily solvable. Wilkie said watching players try to move their feet at the snap was "like Fred Flintstone trying to get going."

Five balls is good, but how about 20? That's how many unbeaten DeLaSalle will have for tonight's home game against Breck. DeLaSalle leads the state with a scoring average of 54.6 and the Islanders' Evan Williams is the state's top rusher with an average of 246 yards. He also ranks 13th in passing yards with 185 per game.

It's hard to put up those kinds of numbers with a slippery pigskin in your hands, so DeLaSalle will keep shuffling 20 footballs in and out of a bag on the sidelines.

"You plan for the worst," coach Sean McMenomy said. "We prepare for the weather. We soak balls and we throw wet balls around all the time."

Way up in northwest Minnesota, Ada-Borup ranks No. 4 in the state with a scoring average of 51.3 points. During a 52-12 Nine-Man victory last Friday at Ulen-Hitterdal, snow flew and the Cougars -- who run every offense from the wishbone to the I-formation to a shotgun spread with five receivers -- didn't throw the ball as much as normal.

"It was almost blizzard conditions," Ada-Borup coach Nathan Brager said. "It was snowing pretty good and it was pretty windy. We didn't completely shell up, but it limited us."

Ada-Borup plays host to Win-E-Mac tonight, and Brager said, "It looks like it might be cold, and we're hoping it won't be wet. We keep checking the weather. We can handle below-freezing temps, but when it gets slippery, that's when it can throw you off."

Hopkins is one of many teams that run a spread offense. Tonight the Royals (5-1) play host to unbeaten Eden Prairie, which is famous for methodical, physical, old-school football. Hopkins is the highest-scoring Class 5A team with an average of 37 points per game, and Eden Prairie's defensive average is 8.0. That ranks second behind Wayzata's 7.0.

Advantage Eden Prairie? Not so fast.

"They're a big, strong, physical team used to pounding it out," Hopkins coach John DenHartog said about Eden Prairie. "I guess it's possible it could give them a little bit of an advantage, but we're going in thinking we'll be all right. If it's snowy, we think our receivers might have an advantage in knowing where to cut."

Pass the hot chocolate.

John Millea • jmillea@startribune.com