Reusse: Rostbergs turned Hutchinson into perennial winner in prep football

HUTCHINSON, MINN. – Out here in McLeod County, "Hutch'' can mean most anything … a café, a bowling alley, a sports shop, the power plant. An hour to the east, in the Twin Cities, mention "Hutch'' to anyone with a full interest in sports and it means one thing: football.

OK, two things: football and the home of Lindsay Whalen, Minnesota's face of women's basketball.

The faces of Hutchinson football would have to be the Rostbergs, Grady and his son Andy, although you would never suspect it sitting in the Hutch Café around 8 o'clock on a midweek morning.

The Rostbergs were among 20 locals drinking coffee and dressed in what could pass for hunting clothes. There were no inquiries as to what Andy, in his 16th season as the head coach, expected in Friday night's big game: the Tigers vs. Holy Angels in the state Class 4A quarterfinals at Minneapolis Washburn.

There were other issues, such as when Grady was going to pick up the new vehicle he had purchased from the local Ford dealer, and what he might find when making that day's rounds of his beaver and muskrat traps.

"The DNR has my dad on speed dial when there's a beaver problem around here,'' Andy said.

Grady is now 75. He came to Hutchinson in 1970 to teach math and coach. "We were 0-and-8 my first year,'' Rostberg said. "Nobody in town thought they would have Rostbergs coaching for 45 years after that season.''

"We stayed in the Missota for 20 years,'' Grady said. "That was a lot of long bus rides to Red Wing.''

Generally, the round trips to Hutchinson were longer for football opponents, particularly on the way home. Hutch had  39 straight winning seasons from 1971 until 2010, when the Tigers went 4-4 and then lost a first-round playoff game.

Andy had been promoted from an assistant to his father's replacement after the 1998 season. That year ended with what ranks as the most memorable game in Hutch's football history:

A 21-20 heart-stopper over Owatonna that sent Grady out with his third Prep Bowl championship.

The first two came with Andy as the quarterback in 1983 and 1984. Andy's first experience as a head coach in the Prep Bowl came in 2003.

There were two more section titles in 2004 and 2005, and then a six-year stretch when Hutch didn't reach the quarterfinals (aka the state tournament). The low point was 2010, although there wasn't much concern that this would be a long-term trend.

Andy and his coaches already had noticed a collection of eighth-graders — the Class of 2015 — that had a chance to be exceptional.

The Tigers' upperclassmen restored the winning tradition with a 9-1 record in 2011. And then those 2015ers, including seven starters, came along as sophomore reinforcements in 2012.

Hutch went 13-0 and concluded with a 67-7 victory over Holy Family in the Prep Bowl. They were 13-0 and state champions again in 2013, beating Holy Angels 49-7 in the Prep Bowl.

The Tigers are 10-0 and the winning streak is 36 heading into Friday's rematch with Holy Angels. If there's trouble ahead in the quest for three Class 4A titles in a row, it's that Hutch hasn't had a close game to deal with.

Grimsley's family moved here from California when he was in grade school. They started in Glencoe, wanted a little bigger town and moved to Hutch. It didn't take long for the youngster to fit in.

"Everyone here was into football,'' Grimsley said. "As kids, we would go to the football games to play our own football games … behind the stands, behind the end zones.''

Grimsley has the privilege of running behind a five-senior offensive line, led by Sawyer Witt, a right guard.

"Wow,'' Grady Rostberg said. "He had 32 pancakes in the first three games of the season, playing mostly in the first half.''

Andy nodded and said: "And, he says about three words a month. He's just a Hutch football player.''

"It would be disappointing to finish with a loss,'' Witt said.

Nine words. That's three months' worth for Sawyer Witt, football player.