Football Across Minnesota: St. Paul Johnson and rising star Justice Moody leading the ‘put on for the city’ campaign

FOOTBALL ACROSS MINNESOTA | Week 1

Richard Magembe found something that made him smile when he arrived at St. Paul Johnson High on the first day of school.

Kids were excited about the football team.

“The whole school was buzzing,” said Magembe, Johnson’s coach. “Everybody was talking about it.”

Even better: Twenty kids signed up to join the team that week.

“Twenty kids that hadn’t been out,” Magembe said.

Amazing the impact that a win and some good vibes can have on a program that is trying to reach new heights.

Johnson opened its season a few days before the start of school with a thrilling 38-35 victory over Highland Park in which star wide receiver Justice Moody tied a school record with six touchdowns, including the game-winner with 32 seconds left on a jet sweep.

Magembe is an alum of the program, Class of 2004. He returned as head coach three years ago and puts a lot of time into recruiting students to come out for football.

Some schools struggle with football participation numbers, and city schools often feel this more than suburban districts. Magembe had fewer than 30 players in the entire program in his first season, with a slight uptick since then.

The excitement he felt after the season-opening win brought him joy — and kept him busy. He had enough pads and helmets in storage to accommodate a larger roster.

“Some of them got dust on them,” he said, chuckling. “We’ve been waiting for players. I’m really hoping this is the spark that ignites us and gets up and running.”

He has an ideal salesman in Moody. A dynamic two-way player, the junior soon could be on a Division I track, Magembe says.

Moody did a little bit of everything in the opener. He rushed for two touchdowns and caught four touchdown passes. His six TDs tied a single-game program record held by former Gophers and NFL running back Thomas Tapeh.

Moody finished with 205 receiving yards. He intercepted a pass. He set up his game-winning touchdown in the final minute by returning the kickoff 24 yards and then drawing a pass interference penalty.

“I don’t even remember in Little League doing something like that,” he said.

Moody played for the West Side Boosters program growing up. He received inquiries from private and suburban schools about joining their programs that offered more athletic resources and better publicity. He elected to attend and stay at Johnson.

“I take a lot of pride in playing at Johnson,” he said. “I’m not ashamed of telling people where I play. We need people to put on for the city and St. Paul public schools.”

Moody has been upholding that responsibility since stepping on campus. He has started on varsity since his freshman year.

“You don’t really see too many wide receivers who are as polished as he is,” Magembe said.

The head coach told his offensive coordinator over the offseason that they needed to find more ways to get the ball in Moody’s hands because “we left so much on the field with Justice last season. There is so much more we can tap into.”

They tweaked their scheme to get the ball to Moody in space and allow him to use his quickness and instincts to put pressure on defenses. Expect more of that in Johnson’s second game: the Governors’ home opener Friday vs. St. Paul Como Park.

At 5-9 and 170 pounds, Moody takes pride in his route running, speed and toughness. “I can turn a screen pass into 20 yards,” he said. “I’m undersized, so I’ve got to do everything better.”

He has two big-picture goals: Make it to the state tournament and play college football.

His presence as a leader and special talent will help Magembe achieve his goal of growing the program and getting more kids involved in Johnson football.

“Hopefully we can keep it going and excite people in the community again,” he said. “Hopefully kids will realize that, hey, you can stay here and still have success, still be seen, still get to college and hopefully play in some big-time football games.”

LOVE OF THE GAME

Curtis Cox volunteered for community service hours as a Minnesota Duluth athlete in the spring of 2023. The Bulldogs kicker helped the National Marrow Donor Program (formerly called Be The Match) sign up UMD students in the national registry as potential donors.

Students gave a cheek swab to determine whether they could be a match for patients diagnosed with leukemia and blood cancers. It was valuable volunteer time — and it led to Cox himself getting a call.

“That definitely was a shock,” he said.

He learned last November that he was a match for a 2-year-old boy somewhere in the United States in need of a bone marrow transplant as a leukemia patient. The organization didn’t disclose the boy’s name or where he lives. The thought of helping save the life of a young child brought overwhelming emotion for Cox, a native of Dodgeville, Wis.

“Understanding that I could make a big difference for the boy and his family was a huge impact for me to go through with the process,” he said.

In January, Cox and his younger sister, Katelyn, traveled to Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C. The procedure to harvest bone marrow from his hip took a full day. He felt fully recovered physically after about a month.

Cox has earned his bachelor’s degree in chemistry and was named all-conference in the Northern Sun last season. He returned to school this fall for his graduate season in football.

Cox’s decision to give a quick cheek swab changed more than one life.

“People just need a gift of joy like that,” he said. “And hopefully he can have a positive life going forward.”

GOPHERS + VIKINGS

P.J. Fleck and Kevin O’Connell heard similar questions about their offensive philosophies throughout the offseason that were both similar and opposite:

Would Fleck throw the ball more? Would O’Connell run the ball more?

This weekend’s sample size was only one game, but both coaches unveiled a play-calling blueprint that hit the mark.

Gophers offensive coordinator Greg Harbaugh Jr. called — presumably with Fleck’s approval — six consecutive passes to start the second quarter and 38 drop-backs total in a 48-0 win over Rhode Island. Six passes in a row. For Fleck’s offense.

O’Connell called nearly as many runs as passes in the Vikings’ 28-6 win over the New York Giants.

Encouraging stuff, as both offenses need to be less one-dimensional this season.

Start with Fleck, whose reliance on running backs at the expense of the passing game is well-documented. But the plan Saturday called for a quick-hitting, rhythmic passing game with graduate transfer Max Brosmer spreading the ball around. Nurturing and developing the passing game during the nonconference season is essential to build trust and confidence before the Big Ten’s much-tougher competition. More of that, please.

With a stated goal of making the running game more viable, O’Connell wrote a well-rounded script Sunday featuring new back Aaron Jones, who finished with 14 tries for 94 yards. The former Packers star brings speed and savvy, and both were on display when he bounced outside for a 3-yard touchdown in the first quarter. The offense was dynamic and balanced Sunday in New York. More of that, too, please.

WEEKEND REWIND

The five best things we saw on social media this weekend:

“Taco Bell heals a lot. At 2 a.m., after that missed field goal, him and a bunch of his buddies — because this team is real close — they all went to Taco Bell. And that was the start of him feeling better. Some Cheesy Gordita Crunches solves a lot.”

— P.J. Fleck on Gophers kicker Dragan Kesich’s bounce-back performance vs. Rhode Island after he missed two field goals in the season opener, including a potential game-winner.

UP NEXT

Lakeville North at Lakeville South, 7 p.m., Friday. What is better than a crosstown rivalry game between two teams ranked in the top 10? See ya there.

WEEKLY FAM VIDEO

Each week this season, my colleague Michael Rand and I will review a few FAM topics together and post our quick chat to YouTube. This week, we talked about Justice Moody and the St. Paul Johnson team and UMD kicker Curtis Cox’s remarkable story. Watch our video right here.

A FAM FINAL WORD

There is no debate: The start of football season is the best time of the year. The weather is starting to change. Students are back in school. The anticipation for the weekend gradually builds throughout the week. Training camps are finished and we finally get to see what teams look like. You can try, but you won’t find a better time in the calendar than right now.

Thank you for reading Football Across Minnesota (FAM), my weekly column that tours football topics in our state from preps to pros. I’ll publish this each Tuesday morning in time for your lunch-hour reading. I appreciate feedback, so please reach out anytime. Thanks again — Chip (@chipscoggins on X; anthony.scoggins@startribune.com)