Armstrong coach Jack Negen connects two storied football rivalries

Cooper and Armstrong are the two high schools that serve the sprawling District 281 west of Minneapolis. They have not always met in football, due to conference affiliations and section assignments.

The good news is that things have heated up in this most natural of rivalries, with Cooper and Armstrong being 2 ½ miles apart on either side of Hwy. 169.

Cooper put together a four-game winning streak from 2015 to 2018. They didn't play in 2019 and the pandemic caused a miss in 2020.

Then came 2021: Cooper defeated Armstrong by a robust 49-14 in the regular season, then 14-3 in the sectional on the Hawks' journey to the state semifinals.

Which made the score in fall 2022 very shocking: Armstrong 63-7 in the regular season — followed by 42-7 in the Class 5A, Section 5 title game.

"Cooper was a younger team and missing some players in the regular season," said Jack Negen, Armstrong's head coach. "They got better, and you could see they were going to be back this season."

Armstrong required two overtimes to defeat Cooper 20-14 on Sept. 14. And then came Friday: another meeting in the section final, both teams coming in at 7-2.

It took maybe 10 minutes in actual time of watching the elusiveness and playmaking from skill players on these teams to ask the question:

"How did these outfits play to a 7-7 tie in four quarters two months ago? Brian Ferentz couldn't even hold these teams to seven points."

As these emotional games have had a tendency to become in recent years, it became a blowout — this time by 49-14 for Armstrong.

Yet as the Falcons headed for the locker room at halftime, they were not feeling overly pleased. That's because Armstrong had a chance to turn it into a 28-7 lead at the break, and instead it became 21-14.

"I was feeling awful — especially about the way I coached those last couple of minutes," Negen said. "We had two long plays and we're at their 15 and got nothin'. And I left them time on the clock to go down the field and score on the last play of the half."

Armstrong had stopped Cooper at the Falcons 20 by recovering a fumble. Immediately, Kevon Johnson, a relentless junior destined to be well-recruited, burst for 20 yards. Then Dawson Franke hit Gideon Breker for 47 yards and the Falcons were in business.

Somehow, they went backward with some penalties, gave up the ball on downs and Cooper went 72 yards in 1:12 to make it 21-14.

At that moment, Negen was kicking himself. "I should've run a couple of plays and not given them time," he said postgame.

The kicking didn't last long. Johnson went 60 yards for a touchdown on the second play of the second half. He would wind up with 28 carries on 235 yards and three touchdowns.

Franke, the junior quarterback, was 12-for-15 for 261 yards and two touchdowns. Breker, playing two ways with an interception, had five catches for 123 yards.

Langden College, a tall linebacker in the middle, led what became a dominant defense in the second half. He is committed to the University of North Dakota.

Now that it's back in the state tournament, Armstrong is hoping for a less painful outing than last November.

The Falcons were leading Rogers 23-7 late in the third quarter of the 2022 state quarterfinals. And then Rogers exploded for 27 points in 13 minutes for a 34-23 victory.

"That was an all-time heartbreaker," Negen said. "We were up two touchdowns, and they scored on a long play, and everything broke loose.

"Tough way for it to end for a very good senior class."

Back again, with another good senior class — and some explosive juniors.

Negen originally arrived here from Kansas to be a wide receiver for Bethel in 1989. That was the same year Steve Johnson became the coach.

Negen was among those surprised when Johnson announced this week — right after getting his 250th victory — that he would retire after this season.

"If things work out right on Saturday, Steve could end up playing Pete for the conference title next week," Negen said.

That would be Pete Haugen, the Gustavus Adolphus coach, and Negen's Bethel teammate in those early seasons for Johnson. Negen spent 14 years coaching at Minneapolis Washburn with Haugen.

"If it's Pete Haugen vs. Steve and Bethel, I'll have to root for both teams," Negen said.