The Minnesota Football Coaches Association has announced the 88 players who will participate in the 39th Annual Minnesota High School All-Star Football Game. Bemidji State recruit, Jesse Hein, will be playing center for the North team, representing Perham.
The All-Star Football Game will be held on June 30 at TCF Bank Stadium on the campus of the University of Minnesota. The kick-off will be at 1 p.m., making this the first afternoon All-Star Football Game since 2004. The game will showcase outstanding senior players from the 2011 high school football season. Players and coaches representing 79 schools and 31 conferences will participate in this year's game. They were selected by members of the Minnesota Football Coaches Association.
Hein, a three-sport star and four-year varsity player, will be redshirting his freshman year, and will likely then become a four-year starter for BSU at center. Hein was a first team selection on the Heart O' Lakes All Conference Team the last three years and was the team's Most Valuable Defensive Player as well.
Hein will likely be centering his snaps to Detroit Lakes' quarterback Joe Mollberg, D.L. linebacker Brian Labat and Ulen-Hitterdal's tight end Troy Peterson, who were also selected from the area.
The All-Star Game will be the 39th in the current annual series and the 50th overall. For the second year and for the 19th time overall, the game will feature the North All-Stars versus the South All-Stars. In the 2011 game, the North All-Stars defeated the South All-Stars 17-7 at TCF Bank Stadium. It was the first North vs. South All-Star Game since 1979 and the first game on the University of Minnesota campus since 1975. The North leads the current North-South series 1-0. The North leads the overall North-South series 9-8-1.
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A total of 27 All-State players will participate in this year's All-Star Game, including 12 players from the 2011 Associated Press All-State First Team, 13 players from the 2011 Associated Press All-State Second Team and three players from the 2011 9-Man All-State Team. There will be 13 players who participated in the 2011 Prep Bowl (nine state championship players and four state runner-up players).
The All-Star training camp will be held for the first time at St. John's University (Collegeville, Minn.) from June 24-30. The teams will travel from Collegeville to Minneapolis for the second annual All-Star Football Media Day at TCF Bank Stadium on June 27. The teams will return to St. John's after the Media Day event and will travel back to TCF Bank Stadium on June 30 to play the All-Star Game.
Tickets may be purchased from high school coaches. They will also be available at the TCF Bank Stadium gate on June 30.
The association is proud of this game and its history. The Minnesota High School All-Star Football Game was first played in 1945 and has been an annual event since 1974. The game was played in a North versus South format from 1945 through 1979, a Metro versus Outstate format from 1980 to 2010 and back to a North vs. South format in 2011. Through the years, more than 3,900 players and 400 coaches have participated in this game.
A total of 73 players from the Minnesota High School All-Star Football Game have gone on to play or coach in the National Football League.
