Chanhassen's Maxwell Woods making case for 'best' in Minnesota, in more ways than one

Thank you for reading Football Across Minnesota (FAM), my weekly column that tours football topics in our state from preps to pros. You can find all the previous FAM columns right here. — Chip

Chanhassen High and Mankato West met in a showdown of the top two teams in Class 5A two weeks ago. Both were undefeated. Both are supremely talented and championship-caliber.

There were 149 plays in the game.

Chanhassen senior Maxwell Woods was on the field for 138 of them.

He caught two touchdown passes, including a 53-yard catch-and-run dash, scored a two-point conversion and rushed for 77 yards on 17 carries. On defense, he collected five tackles (one for loss) and two pass breakups while drawing the assignment of covering future Gophers receiver Jalen Smith.

"He was so tired," Wood's mom Andie recalled. "He had a pretty chill weekend."

He deserved some R&R — Chan won, 21-14 — but showstopping performances have become routine for the North Dakota State commit who is one of the most dynamic players in Minnesota this season.

He is a 5-10, 180-pound lightning bolt on the field.

"This is my 22nd year [coaching] and I've never seen a guy as elusive as him," Chanhassen coach Cullen Nelson said.

Woods credits two people for that: his mom and late father.

Andie and her husband Kyhaunn Woods met at Weber State in Utah where both were athletes. She played point guard on the women's basketball team. He was a two-sport athlete in football and track.

They married and settled in the Twin Cities to raise their three kids. Kyhaunn worked as a professional strength and speed trainer, including coaching clients at a facility owned by former Vikings linebacker E.J. Henderson.

"When we were engaged, we played a Monopoly game and he beat me and we didn't speak for four days," Andie recalled laughing. "I was so upset. After those four days, we came together and said, 'OK, yes, we're this competitive but we cannot be this way with one another.' It never happened again."

The family received devastating news in 2011 when Kyhaunn was diagnosed with brain cancer. He died in October 2012.

Maxwell, the oldest of three kids, was 7 years old and in first grade.

How did Andie keep Maxwell moving forward? "My biggest thing was, you're still a kid," she recalled. "You are not the man of the house at 7 years old. There are no expectations of you to be the man of the house. You need to be a kid and have fun."

Maxwell became protective of his mom, though, and always mindful to comfort her. When the family visited friends, Maxwell would run inside every hour to check on his mom.

Maxwell has certain memories of his dad, especially tagging along with him to a training session and watching him work with athletes.

"I probably gained a little bit of knowledge just by watching," he said.

Woods has applied a tireless work effort on top of the good genes from Mom and Dad to become a two-sport star. As a point guard in basketball, he received Division II scholarship offers before deciding last year that football would be his path in college.

"Football is so fun. I was like, 'Man, I don't know if I can give this up,' " he said. "Something clicked sophomore year, but I didn't truly know it until junior year. Just the true love for the game came out of me."

His basketball footwork and ability to shake a defender off the dribble translate to the football field. Woods' shiftiness in the open field has become the defining trait of his running style. In football lingo, he has great feet.

"I could not do most of this stuff without my teammates," he said. "They are putting me in the most successful position possible."

His humility and friendly nature have earned Woods a legion of fans in the Chanhassen community. It's not uncommon for parents of youth players to stop Nelson and tell him that their child wants to be like Woods.

"I'm like, 'Yeah, he's a really good player,' " Nelson said. "They're like, 'No, they want to be like Maxwell because he treats them so well and he works so hard.' "

His mom sees it and hears it too, which is all any parent hopes for their child.

"It's been a joy to watch him thrive and have success on the field and on the court," Andie said. "But the bigger thing is just being a good young man and an example for younger kids. He's humble, he's kind, he listens, he's respectful. Those things are going to take you a whole heck of a lot farther in life than your athletic ability."

When the Star Tribune published a long-form profile of the Red Lake Warriors football team last December, Tom and Meredith Olson were so touched by the positivity displayed by coach Nolan Desjarlait and his players despite their challenges that the Twin Cities couple wanted to do something to show their support.

The Olsons invited me for coffee to discuss ideas. Then they contacted Red Lake school officials with a proposal: The couple and their adult children offered to make a financial donation to help the school purchase a new scoreboard for the football field; the old one didn't work during the 2022 season.

The new scoreboard was installed earlier this season, and the school honored the Olson family this past Thursday during homecoming festivities.

The Olsons toured the school and community, attended a pep rally and volleyball game, had a dinner reception with school administration and spent time with Desjarlait and his players.

"The students and staff were touched not only by the gracious gesture of a monetary donation by the Olson family which made a new scoreboard possible, but also by the generosity of spirit resulting in their visit to Red Lake School District," said district superintendent Tim Lutz. "Generosity takes many forms, and the Olson family showed us several in their gift of financial support and in their time spent with us as they visited our school and learned about us. Our students have learned that the world can become a better place when people display kindness and pay it forward. In the Olson family, our learning community recognized the faces of kindness and giving."

Carleton used a field goal with 23 seconds left Saturday to hold off crosstown rival St. Olaf 33-31. It was a homecoming win for Carleton. And a homecoming loss for St. Olaf.

What? A homecoming for the road team?

"It's certainly a unique situation," St. Olaf athletic director Ryan Bowles said a day before the game.

Here's the explanation: Because of scheduling quirks, St. Olaf plays three consecutive road games. That stretch started after their Sept. 23 home game. School officials felt that date was too early to host homecoming because students had only been on campus for a few weeks.

The next home game after that is Oct. 21. The school worried homecoming that late in the season might encounter weather problems.

"We'll make the best of it," Bowles said.

The AD acknowledged that playing a homecoming game on a road game "sparked a lot of questions" from alumni and fans. Namely: Why?

Concerns were calmed "once we were able to explain the reasons why," he said. "It's not ideal. You want homecoming on your own campus." The school provided fan buses to Carleton while also still hosting traditional homecoming events and activities on its own campus.

Bowles said this is only a one-year situation. It's unusual for a football team to play three consecutive road games but the MIAC's scheduling model necessitated it.

"Somebody was going to be stuck with this," Bowles said, "and it happened to be us."

"I was trying to make a play and was doing too much. Anytime you have the ball in your hands you have the whole organization in your hands. And I let the Vikings down today."

— Tight end Josh Oliver on his fumble on the first play of the game.

The Vikings are a sloppy team. Between turnovers and dropped passes, they can't get out of their own way. It reflects poorly on everyone involved to repeatedly self-implode in this manner.

UP NEXT

Totino-Grace vs. Orono, 7 p.m., Friday. A matchup of two of the best in Class 4A. Orono has 12 takeaways in six games with three defensive touchdowns.

A FAM FINAL WORD

The Gophers are 3-3 and coming off a 42-point shellacking by Michigan that was as one-sided of a game as one will see. The Vikings are 1-4 overall, 0-3 at home and have more turnovers than any NFL team. There is no way to spin how badly this season has started for the two most popular football teams in Minnesota.

Thank you for reading FAM. I'll publish this each Tuesday morning in time for your lunch-hour reading. I appreciate feedback so please reach out anytime. Thanks again — Chip (@chipscoggins on X)