The communities of Mabel, Canton 'all in' on state-bound football team

NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...

Nov. 5—MABEL — Paul Tollefsrud hears it pretty much wherever he goes in Mabel and Canton.

That's because his Mabel-Canton football team is currently the toast of these two towns, the community falling heavily for this big-time 2025 winner.

"It's fun walking around town and hearing all of the congratulations," said the 47-year-old Tollefsrud, in his fourth year as the M-C head football coach. "The towns are very excited. There are lots of people saying how hard we are playing and saying good job. People are super excited."

The Cougars — 11-0 — are fulfilling some pent-up goals. No. 1 is that they are headed to the state tournament for the first time in 44 years. They saw to that on Friday when they shut out rival Spring Grove 16-0 in the Section 1, 9-Player championship game.

It marks just the second time in its history that Mabel-Canton is state-bound in football, 1981 the other. Mabel-Canton leads off at 6 p.m. Thursday against Hillcrest Lutheran Academy at Buffalo High School in a state quarterfinal game.

M-C is the third seed out of the South Division at state, while Hillcrest Lutheran is No. 2. Mabel-Canton is ranked third in 9-Player, while Hillcrest Lutheran is fifth.

"I'm hearing the congratulations at the convenience store, at the gas station, at church and all over in school," said Tollefsrud, a tech education teacher at M-C and himself a graduate of the school, in 1997. "People are super excited as I walk down the hallways, saying good job. They're just really excited for this team."

Football has a rich tradition of bringing communities together, especially when the winning comes at such an overwhelming rate as it has this season at Mabel-Canton.

"There is something special about football," Tollefsrud said. "There is something about it starting when school starts in the fall. Football is that sport that brings communities together. It is a well-liked sport by a lot of people. And some of that is because it is the first competitive thing that we do in the fall."

Mabel-Canton Principal Michelle Weidemann says the good feelings toward this football team go beyond that it can block and tackle exceedingly well, and run fast.

It's who these kids are and what they stand for, she says, that have grabbed so many.

It's a team led by its seniors — all eight of them. Rarely has the 10th-year principal seen such leadership out of a senior class of football players. She considers it a special, special group.

"It's an amazing group of seniors," Weidemann said. "I am so proud of these students and their leadership. They are just nice kids. They are kind and they are role models not only to the young kids, but to our high school kids, too. They do what they're supposed to be doing. They've got strong values of teamwork and discipline and they just keep pushing."

The belief in this group has led Mabel-Canton fans to come out to their games in droves. Weidemann, a 1992 graduate of Mabel-Canton, said that M-C fans have always been faithful. But she is seeing it hit another level with this Cougars football team, with people that no longer live in the area now showing up at games.

The sense of pride toward this program has hit a new high. When the players and coaches returned from their game against Spring Grove on Friday, which was played in Austin, they were greeted by a stream of fans lining Main Street, welcoming the team back home.

"To see all of these people coming to the games is great," Weidemann said. "When you leave Mabel-Canton, you stay a Mabel-Canton Cougar. The energy at the games is just amazing. It's great to see so many people that I hadn't seen in a while coming back to the games. Mabel-Canton is a great place to be. The school has a lot of spirit and the community has a lot of pride."

To outsiders, the Cougars' unbeaten and state tournament season came as a surprise. The team wasn't giving many indications that something big was on the horizon. M-C finished 3-6 last year and 4-5 the year before that.

But Cougars players insist that they did see a turnaround coming. The commitment to the weight room and speed and agility workouts had gone up. The players were requesting workouts during the winter, as well as spring and summer.

But what had them believing most of all was their experience. With eight seniors returning from the year before, a big number for 9-Player football, they liked their chances.

Included in that bunch was fourth-year starting quarterback Isaac Underbakke, also an outstanding safety on defense. He sensed big things coming.

"It knew it was going to be a good year, I just wasn't sure how good," Underbakke said. "But I knew we were going to have a good team. You could see it in the summer bonding we were doing and how hard we were working out. All of that experience the years prior really paid off.

"We are good because we don't have a weak spot. We've got good running backs, we've got a great offensive line and our defense is really good. Plus, our coaches are doing a great job. It's just been a lot of fun. Everyone is extremely energized. You can tell by the way our stands are packed every Friday night, more than ever. The community is really into it. I'm always getting text messages from people saying how proud they are of (us)."

Stroll through the hallways of Mabel-Canton school and the excitement is obvious. One long hallway is almost entirely decorated and dedicated to the football team and its successes. Parents of the players came into the school over the weekend and made collage tributes to their football playing sons. On the back of each of those tributes, this is written:

"Make the most of this opportunity you have to play this game, to leave a legacy. You see, this is about more than the game of football. The way you practice, the way you choose to play each game, the way you choose to devote yourselves to giving your all every play of every game for four full quarters — all of that says a lot about how you will choose to live the rest of your lives."

Football is resonating at Mabel-Canton like it hasn't in 44 years, the last time this program made it to state. The players and this community, which visitors enter on Hwy. 44 in Mabel to a sign that reads "Cougar football #1," and a billboard with the words, "All IN. ALL TOGETHER. ONE TEAM! STATE BOUND!," are giddy for this team.

"It's nice to be in a community where after a big win, everybody is telling you 'good job,'" senior lineman Darian Hershberger said. "They are really excited. It's everybody in the community that is just kind of all in on this."

More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos