Caledonia, back where it belongs – State
The Caledonia High School football team is back at its second home, again.
A year after missing the MSHSL Class 2A state playoffs for the first time since 2004 – yes, 2004 – the Warriors are back and looking for state title number six since 2007.
Caledonia (11-0) will play Maple Lake (10-1) at 7 p.m. Friday at Rochester Community and Technical College.
Last season, the Warriors lost a heartbreaker 13-10 in overtime to Chatfield in the section championship to get to the state tourney.
This season, it’s business as usual, but the No. 2-ranked Warriors – a team that’s 95-5 in its last 100 games and two of those losses came in overtime – will have their hands full with the sixth-ranked Irish (10-1), who lost in the state semifinals last season.
Cal Redemske and Dustry Strub are the Maple Lake offense. Redemske, a 6-foot-2, 210-pound senior, is the power, while Strub and his 5-11, 165 frame, is the speed.
Between them, they have 44 touchdowns and nearly 3,000 yards rushing. Strub is averaging 11.5 yards a carry, while Redemske has worn down defenses with 235 carries.
Nobody on Caledonia compares.
The offenses are miles apart. The Warriors have nearly 2,000 less yards rushing and average 140-yards less a game. Maple Lake also has scored 50 points a game to Caledonia’s 34.6.
Defensively, the Warriors have an advantage, but not by much. The Warriors give up a minuscule 5.5 points and 123 yards a game to Maple Lake’s 10 and 170.
It’s hard to draw comparisons against opponents, either. The combined records of Maple Lake’s opponents are 48-61. Of those opponents, two are in the state tournament, including 10-0 Pierz, which beat the Irish 28-21 – their only loss. Four of those teams have a record above .500, four of them have two or fewer wins.
Caledonia’s opponents are 45-61. None of its opponents are in the state tournament – though Rushford-Peterson, which lost to the Warriors 7-6, came close. Four teams they’ve played have an above .500 record and four have two wins or fewer.
TEAM STATISTICS
| OFFENSE | RUSHING | PASSING | TOTAL | YDS./GM | POINTS |
| MAPLE LAKE | 3,758 | 613 | 4,371 | 397 | 50 |
| CALEDONIA | 1,797 | 1,027 | 2,824 | 257 | 34.6 |
| DEFENSE | RUSHING | PASSING | TOTAL | YDS./GM | POINTS |
| MAPLE LAKE | 1,132 | 767 | 1,878 | 170 | 10 |
| CALEDONIA | 661 | 688 | 1,349 | 123 | 5.5 |
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
| PASSING | |||||
| Name (Tm) | Comp-Att. | % | Yards | TDs | INTs |
| Tony Goelz (ML) | 31-64 | 48 | 1,605 | 10 | 2 |
| Austin Bauer (C) | 58-104 | 56 | 807 | 12 | 4 |
| RUSHING | ||||
| Name (TM) | Att. | Yards | Avg. | TTDs |
| Dusty Strub (ML) | 139 | 1,605 | 11.5 | 27 |
| Cal Redemske (ML) | 235 | 1,361 | 5.8 | 17 |
| Devan Heaney (C) | 148 | 813 | 5.5 | 11 |
| Tanner Gran (C) | 80 | 376 | 4.7 | 9 |
| RECEIVING | ||||
| Name (Tm) | Rec. | Yards | Avg. | TTDs |
| Ryan Kalinowski (ML) | 18 | 280 | 15.6 | 5 |
| Colton Lampert (C) | 22 | 344 | 15.6 | 8 |
| Tanner Gran (C) | 14 | 216 | 15.4 | 9 |
| *TTD=Total TDs |