Former Blaine football coach Shannon Gerrety keeps a 2008 photo on his office wall of the Bengals standing together, poised to take the Metrodome turf for the state tournament semifinals.
"That's the team that resurrected us," said Gerrety, whose team finished 3-7 the previous season.
Then-senior Nick Rusin, a wide receiver and a team captain, stands front row center. He holds a similar place as a first-year head coach overseeing this season's revival at Coon Rapids.
The Cardinals won a combined 22 games in the past 10 seasons and lost 23 consecutive games from 2014-17, including three 0-9 seasons. This year, with a 7-3 record, they qualified for their first state tournament since 1983, when they won a Prep Bowl championship.
Recent history makes this level of success at Coon Rapids seem improbable. But Gerrety believed in Rusin, who at 29 years old has already coached seven seasons at the high school level. Rusin spent the past six seasons at Blaine.
"Even as a young cat, he dove in head first," Gerrety said. "He's a young, energetic coach who relates to kids.
"And he's one heck of dancer," Gerrety said with a laugh.
For 12 years of his youth Rusin danced at the Stage Door studio in Coon Rapids. He grew up following the path of Digger Anderson, an older dancer at Stage Door who became an all-time great Coon Rapids linebacker.