Week 1 of the 2025 Minnesota high school football season is complete. Before Strib Varsity looks back at four more games we found interesting, click on these links — the mix of video, audio and text that Strib Varsity will roll with every week — to see anything you missed:

• Friday’s “Strib Varsity Live With Randy Shaver”
• Thursday’s “Strib Varsity Live With Randy Shaver”
• Friday’s recap of Strib Varsity’s live coverage
• Thursday’s recap of Strib Varsity’s live coverage
• How the Minnesota Top 25 fared

Friday games:

• Highlights and soundbites: Moorhead makes 6A debut with victory over Rogers
• Apple Valley finds inspiration in a big play, overcomes Rochester John Marshall
• Orono sinks defending Class 4A champ Becker 21-0 with dominating defense
• St. Thomas Academy defeats Cretin-Derham Hall, keeps its grip on the Monument Trophy

Thursday games:

• Maple Grove begins defense of 6A football championship by turning back Stillwater
• Minnetonka satisfies coach this time, rolling to 41-0 victory over East Ridge
• Rocori, dealing well with a style change, surges away from Totino-Grace

Elk River coach: ‘The best backfield we’ve ever had’

Elk River’s ground game is well known in Minnesota high school football, but the Elks took that to a whole new level Thursday at Bemidji State’s stadium.

The Elks ran for 499 yards on 41 carries without attempting a pass in a 50-42 victory over Bemidji in Week 1 of the 2025 season.

“When you’re running for 500 yards, it’s hard to do anything else,” Elks coach Steve Hamilton said.

Braedon Becker led the way with 172 yards and three touchdowns. Carsyn Kleffman had 159 yards and two touchdowns. Levi Harris, the quarterback who ignites the Elks’ Power T approach, had a team-high 12 carries for 97 yards and a touchdown.

“We believe this is the best backfield we’ve ever had,” said Hamilton, whose Class 5A team is ranked seventh in the Minnesota Top 25, the highest ranking for a team from outside Class 6A.

The Lumberjacks kept pace with 419 rushing yards and had a two-score lead late in the second quarter. Logan Phonethep led the Lumberjacks with 136 rushing yards and three touchdowns.

“It was entertaining for those not on the sideline,” Hamilton said. “It puts some extra pressure on you. It came down to one play here or there. You feel pressure to end every drive with a touchdown.”

The Elks scored three straight touchdowns, a run that started late in the first half and carried into the third quarter, to take a 34-26 lead. The teams traded touchdowns until Elk River’s Jackson Freeman settled it by scoring on a 33-yard run with 3:38 remaining.

QB lifts Andover this time. Who’s next?

Quarterback Joseph Mapson did it all for the Huskies in Thursday’s 44-26 victory over Wayzata, running for 216 yards and five touchdowns and throwing for 83 yards and a touchdown.

Mapson isn’t the only weapon for the Huskies, ranked 11th in the Minnesota Top 25 and new this season to Class 6A. Thursday was his night, but next week it could be someone else, coach Tom Develice indicated.

“We try to look at what the defense has,” Develice said. “Any given night, it could be Joseph, it could be our receivers or it could our running back.”

The Huskies entered the fourth quarter with a 24-6 lead, and Mapson piled on with two of his touchdown runs and his scoring pass in that quarter.

The Huskies took advantage of short fields thanks to onside kick recoveries as the Trojans tried to play catch-up.

“The game was closer than the score would indicate,” Develice said. “[The Trojans] are a really good team. We just had a few less mistakes than they had.”

Next for Andover is a 6 p.m. home game Friday against Champlin Park, which opened with a 21-12 home victory over St. Michael-Albertville.

Hastings’ style: ‘Pound the rock and move the chains’

Victory came gradually for Hastings on Thursday.

The Raiders pulled off a nearly last-minute victory over New Prague, winning 20-17 when Zack Shatek scored the only points of the second half on an 11-yard run with 1:06 left. Shatek finished with 35 carries for 215 rushing yards and three touchdowns.

“I’m not sure we want to run him 35 times a night, but he’s a big part of our offense,” Raiders coach Dana Strain said. “Those three touchdowns were on 10-play drives. It’s not like he hit a bunch of home runs. The yards came between the tackles. Our offense was able to pound the rock and move the chains.”

Carter DenHartog threw two touchdown passes to Sawyer Jasperson to give New Prague a pair of one-score leads in the first half. DenHartog passed for 214 yards, going 15-for-22. Jesperson made eight catches for 129 yards.

New Prague ended the first half with a 24-yard field goal by Thomas Geiger and tried to win with a long one in the final seconds, but it was blocked.

Richfield makes the most of a few touches

Richfield didn’t have the ball much in the second half of Friday’s 28-20 home victory over St. Paul Highland Park — a single offensive series, coach Kris Pulford reports. Blame junior wide receiver Dre Collins.

Collins kept the offense off the field by returning two second-half punts for touchdowns. This came after he scored on a first-half pass.

“He is a really good player,” Pulford said. “He started for us as a freshman. He is becoming more of a leader.”

Highland Park also contributed to Richfield’s low time of possession with a grind-it-out offense, Pulford said. The Scots scored a touchdown with just over a minute left and then recovered an onside kick, but Richfield’s defense responded with sacks on three consecutive plays to end the game.