There is a football field in Silver Lake with a sign that reads Rumrill-Tschimperle Field. There is also a homemade sign that points out that the Silver Lake Lakeites were the state Nine-man champions in 1983 and 1987, and the runners-up in 1984 and 1986.

Buz Rumrill was the coach of this Nine-Man powerhouse. Silver Lake merged school districts with Glencoe, its neighbor 10 miles to the south, for the fall of 1994.

"I was the Glencoe football coach," Dave Dose said. "The athletic director suggested that we could be co-head coaches. I told him, 'Anyone proposing that doesn't know Buz.'" Rumrill became the head coach and Dose was the defensive coordinator.

Another issue in the merger was to select a nickname.

"We had been the Glencoe Eagles," Dose said. "Some Glencoe people thought Silver Eagles would be a good nickname.

"Buz took care of that, too. He said, 'The Eagles are dead.' We became the Glencoe-Silver Lake Panthers."

Star Tribune file, Star Tribune
Gophers defensive end Willie VanDeSteeg has become a force in the Big Ten, but he got his start in Glencoe-Silver Lake. “He showed up before his junior season and our eyes popped out over the muscle he had added,” former Glencoe-Silver Lake coach Dave Dose said.

Rumrill served five seasons as head coach and retired. Dose took over for the next nine seasons, and the Panthers won four Class 3A state championships -- 2000, 2003, 2006 and 2007.

Dose took the two-title winning streak into retirement and was replaced this fall by Scott Tschimperle, his long-time assistant. Tschimperle's father, Dan, was a longtime athletic director at Silver Lake and shares the billing at the town's football field with Rumrill.

Some current trivia involves that field, since it was where the reigning national defensive player of the week -- Gophers lineman Willie VanDeSteeg -- played his first organized football as a fifth- and sixth-grader.

"The first time we took a real look at him was as a sophomore," Dose said. "We thought about moving him to the varsity, but decided against it.

"After his sophomore season, Willie's uncle, Keith Stifter, set up his garage for weightlifting and worked Willie out every day. He showed up before his junior season and our eyes popped out over the muscle he had added."

The Panthers played conference rival Delano early in the 2002 season.

VanDeSteeg had a handful of sacks, stuffed the run and blocked a punt. Delano coach Merrill Pavlovich was impressed.

"Pav ran over to me at the end of the game and said, 'OK, Dose, where did you dig up this kid?'" Dose said.

This was a question Illinois coach Ron Zook could have asked Gophers coach Tim Brewster, after seeing VanDeSteeg go from an injured, ineffective junior in 2007 to a monstrous, game-changing pass rusher in Saturday's upset.

The fans of Panthers football had a chance to congratulate VanDeSteeg in person Wednesday night. He was in attendance for Waconia's visit to Glencoe for the regular-season finale.

This is the fourth season for the Panthers' $1.2 million facility -- Stevens Seminary Field -- and they had not lost here.

Matt Muenchow was the quarterback leading the Panthers' option offense to the consecutive state titles. He graduated and this season's quarterback is sophomore Kyler Anderson.

Waconia and Glencoe- Silver Lake were 6-1, each with losses to Orono in the Wright County Conference. The first half was scoreless, with a combined eight first downs and six turnovers (three apiece).

And then the spirit of Lakeites, Eagles and Panthers (including VanDeSteeg) surfaced under a full moon and Glencoe-Silver Lake pulled off an astounding victory.

Waconia was leading 13-12 with under two minutes remaining. The Wildcats were reeling off first downs and killing the clock against a Glencoe-Silver Lake team with no timeouts remaining.

They had reached the Panthers 19 when Dose, a volunteer assistant with the defense, was heard shouting into a headset: "Let them score, let them score." The Panthers followed orders, allowing Waconia fullback Derik Noeldner to streak up the middle and into the end zone with 1:36 remaining. The extra point was blocked and it was 19-12.

Twenty-three seconds later, Glencoe-Silver Lake was in the end zone -- moving first with a 45-yard pass from Anderson to Aaron Lueders, then a 13-yard touchdown run by Lueders.

The junior had one more big play: a halfback pass to Mitch Nowak for a winning two-point conversion.

Final: Glencoe-Silver Lake, 20-19, and the Panthers still haven't lost in 26 games (including playoffs) on their new field.

Patrick Reusse can be heard weekdays on AM-1500 KSTP at 6:45 and 7:45 a.m. and 4:40 p.m. preusse@startribune.com