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Jun. 30—WILLMAR — The countdown to the 2026 football season is on for Willmar.
On Monday morning, the Cardinals kicked off its first of two summer camps at the Willmar Civic Center turf fields. Sixty-six players attended Day 1. The players practiced in helmets and shorts, going through the basics both in drills and mental reps as the Cardinals prepare for their season opener on Sept. 4 at home against Fergus Falls.
"Every year is different," said Jon Konold, who enters his 18th season as Willmar's head coach. "Some of these seniors, this is their third year of playing varsity football. For a number of them, it's their second year getting varsity experience. This is our first day out here and they just know where to go, they know where to lineup and they know the basics of everything."
The countdown on Monday was 67 days before the Otters arrive at Hodapp Field.
"I'm pretty excited for the season to start," said incoming senior running back/linebacker Hudson Sjoberg, "but we still have a long ways to go.
"We still got a lot of work ahead of us, but it was a pretty good first practice."
Willmar is coming off a 6-4 record in 2025, including a first-round playoff win against New Ulm. The season came to an end in the Section 2AAAA semifinals against Rocori. Marshall won the section and reached the Class AAAA semifinals.
The Cardinals have plenty of optimism with a large senior class back in the mix. Twenty-two incoming seniors were at Monday's camp. Konold is expecting between 22-to-24 seniors on the roster this fall.
"There's not a ton of explaining on how to run drills and things," Konold said. "They kind of just step up and they go. It allows you to do more things and get kids more reps. And when they know what they're doing, they can help other people out."
The large class led to five seniors being named captains: Sjoberg, lineman Travis Venenga, running back/defensive back Isaac Cayler, tight end/defensive lineman Jackson Carlson and tight end/linebacker Lawson Anez.
"You gotta give them some energy and you gotta pump them up," Sjoberg said on helping the inexperienced players as a captain. "You got to give them some confidence and make sure they know what they're doing. If they need help, answer the questions."
Week 1 of camp concludes on Thursday. The Minnesota State High School League's "No Contact Period" goes from July 4-10. The Cardinals resume camp on July 13-15. Then from July 16-17, the team heads to a team camp in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
"We're scrimmaging about 10 schools from the Sioux Falls area and southern Minnesota that we'll scrimmage," Konold said.
There's three key position battles Willmar hopes to work through leading up to fall practice beginning on Aug. 17.
At quarterback, the Cardinals have to replace a three-year starter in Jordan Ellingson. He's off to Northern State University in Aberdeen, South Dakota to play for the Wolves' baseball team.
Incoming seniors Briar Schuett and Alex Hoppe took reps at quarterback on Monday along with junior Jacob Ellingson. Jacob is Jordan's younger brother.
Willmar also has three spots on the defensive line open due to graduation. There's also an open spot at inside linebacker with Rene Vallejo graduating.
There's two months of summer to go before the first game of the 2026 season. Starting with this week, the Cardinals are building to what they hope is a successful fall season.
"I want to see some leadership skills and see which guys have grown in their leadership aspects," Konold said. "I want to see our quarterbacks develop and see if any of those guys step to the top, take that leadership role, take that spot and run with it. I want to see how much stronger we are than we were last year.
"We had a good start last year. Now we need to take that next step."
Continue reading...
On Monday morning, the Cardinals kicked off its first of two summer camps at the Willmar Civic Center turf fields. Sixty-six players attended Day 1. The players practiced in helmets and shorts, going through the basics both in drills and mental reps as the Cardinals prepare for their season opener on Sept. 4 at home against Fergus Falls.
"Every year is different," said Jon Konold, who enters his 18th season as Willmar's head coach. "Some of these seniors, this is their third year of playing varsity football. For a number of them, it's their second year getting varsity experience. This is our first day out here and they just know where to go, they know where to lineup and they know the basics of everything."
The countdown on Monday was 67 days before the Otters arrive at Hodapp Field.
"I'm pretty excited for the season to start," said incoming senior running back/linebacker Hudson Sjoberg, "but we still have a long ways to go.
"We still got a lot of work ahead of us, but it was a pretty good first practice."
Willmar is coming off a 6-4 record in 2025, including a first-round playoff win against New Ulm. The season came to an end in the Section 2AAAA semifinals against Rocori. Marshall won the section and reached the Class AAAA semifinals.
The Cardinals have plenty of optimism with a large senior class back in the mix. Twenty-two incoming seniors were at Monday's camp. Konold is expecting between 22-to-24 seniors on the roster this fall.
"There's not a ton of explaining on how to run drills and things," Konold said. "They kind of just step up and they go. It allows you to do more things and get kids more reps. And when they know what they're doing, they can help other people out."
The large class led to five seniors being named captains: Sjoberg, lineman Travis Venenga, running back/defensive back Isaac Cayler, tight end/defensive lineman Jackson Carlson and tight end/linebacker Lawson Anez.
"You gotta give them some energy and you gotta pump them up," Sjoberg said on helping the inexperienced players as a captain. "You got to give them some confidence and make sure they know what they're doing. If they need help, answer the questions."
Week 1 of camp concludes on Thursday. The Minnesota State High School League's "No Contact Period" goes from July 4-10. The Cardinals resume camp on July 13-15. Then from July 16-17, the team heads to a team camp in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
"We're scrimmaging about 10 schools from the Sioux Falls area and southern Minnesota that we'll scrimmage," Konold said.
There's three key position battles Willmar hopes to work through leading up to fall practice beginning on Aug. 17.
At quarterback, the Cardinals have to replace a three-year starter in Jordan Ellingson. He's off to Northern State University in Aberdeen, South Dakota to play for the Wolves' baseball team.
Incoming seniors Briar Schuett and Alex Hoppe took reps at quarterback on Monday along with junior Jacob Ellingson. Jacob is Jordan's younger brother.
Willmar also has three spots on the defensive line open due to graduation. There's also an open spot at inside linebacker with Rene Vallejo graduating.
There's two months of summer to go before the first game of the 2026 season. Starting with this week, the Cardinals are building to what they hope is a successful fall season.
"I want to see some leadership skills and see which guys have grown in their leadership aspects," Konold said. "I want to see our quarterbacks develop and see if any of those guys step to the top, take that leadership role, take that spot and run with it. I want to see how much stronger we are than we were last year.
"We had a good start last year. Now we need to take that next step."
Continue reading...
