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High school football: Raiders believe ‘Cretin-Derham Hall football is back’

By Jace Frederick, Pioneer Press, 08/29/18, 12:00PM CDT

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Cretin-Derham Hall tight end Matthew Cunningham gets love from full back Abe Schwinn near the end in the fourth quarter in a Class 6A quarterfinal football game in White Bear Lake, Friday, Nov. 10, 2017. Cretin-Derham Hall beat Edina, 28-14. (Pioneer Pres

Cretin-Derham Hall tight end Matthew Cunningham gets love from full back Abe Schwinn near the end in the fourth quarter in a Class 6A quarterfinal football game in White Bear Lake, Nov. 10, 2017. Cretin-Derham Hall beat Edina, 28-14. (Pioneer Press)

Cretin-Derham Hall came up 40 yards short of a Prep Bowl appearance in 2017, falling 17-14 to Minnetonka in the Class 6A semifinals. Nine months later, Raiders players still think about that loss.

“Every single day,” quarterback Danny Callahan said.

That loss helped sparked a productive offseason. The Raiders had more players in the weight room this summer than they’ve had before, and Callahan spent his offseason trying to build off his stellar second half against the Skippers.

“I feel like we really can’t forget that, because that feeling we had, we never want again,” senior defensive back Rajiv Redd said. “Honestly, we still have that bad taste in our mouth, and I feel like this whole year we’ll play with that chip on our shoulder.

“Obviously our goal is a state championship. We had a pretty good team last year, but we want to get back to where we were — but even further.”

Those are the goals Raiders football teams once reached routinely but had become rare until last fall, when the Raiders built up throughout the season and were playing their best football at the end.

Said Callahan: “I think Cretin-Derham Hall football is back.”

Coach Brooks Bollinger said anytime you taste success and have the chance to play late-season football is a plus.

“That’s part of the reason you play the game,” he said. “You want to be in that big moment and experience success. And a lot of guys got to experience that last year and a lot of guys got to stand really close and watch it. Now, whether it’s really early or late in the year, I think it’s getting into those big moments and then playing your best football and getting to experience that success with the group.”

That type of success breeds expectations, as if those didn’t already exist at Cretin-Derham Hall. The Raiders enter 2018 as one of the favorites to contend for the Class 6A football state crown with a returning quarterback, top-end talent such as Gophers commit Peter Udoibok at receiver and skilled players at every level on both sides of the ball.

The pressure to succeed exists, but Bollinger said that’s a school tradition, and why people want to be there. Besides, the wins and losses aren’t where Bollinger feels the pressure. That comes from his other coaching goals.

“Where I feel the pressure is there’s a tradition of doing it the right way and teaching character and molding young men,” he said. “Honestly, as long as I’ve been — OK, it hasn’t been that long — but in all my years of coaching high school football, the biggest pressure I feel is that everyone can come out of [that locker room] and go, ‘You know what? I’m better for that experience.’ ”

Bollinger said he wants to push players to grow, learn and be better at everything they do. That’s been his goal since taking the Raiders’ head coaching gig. At the start of his third season, those lessons seem to be entrenched.

“There’s things that all of a sudden, ‘Oh, they already know that,’ and you don’t have to beat them over the head with it day in and day out. It’s bred into what they are,” Bollinger said. “It’s different challenges, but it does make some things go a little bit more smoothly when you’ve had guys that have been around the block with you before.”

Callahan said players have fun at practice and want to be there each day. Practices are high-energy — an extension of who Bollinger is as a coach — and efficient.

Redd said there’s been a “culture shift” during Bollinger’s time at Cretin-Derham Hall, one built on self-discipline, putting in the extra work and doing one’s job. It’s a culture conducive to the sustained success some of the state’s top programs have established.

“That’s the kind of culture we need around here,” Redd said. “It’s not necessarily an easy culture to keep going, but it’s for sure worth it.”

Bollinger lauded the senior class, calling them a fun group of kids he enjoys being around. He also referenced one of the more well-known quotes from legendary college coach Amos Alonzo Stagg. When once asked how he felt about one of his teams, Stagg responded that he wouldn’t know for another 20 years.

“You’re kind of using [football] as a tool to beat those things into them, and in my mind, the winning comes as a result of that,” Bollinger said. “You kind of focus on the process, focus on the other stuff and the winning will come.”