Two years in a row, time to make it three.

That outlook and those expectations didn’t follow the 2000 Sleepy Eye Indians football team, however. After graduating the bulk of their starters from the 1999 state team, the Indians stepped onto the gridiron for the 2000 season unranked and with cautiously optimistic attitudes at best. There was talent on the team, albeit most of it young.

The Indians also had to deal with a robust conference which included a dominant McLeod West Falcons, a team the Indians had to face right away in Week 1 of the 2000 season. The Falcons ended up winning that Week 1 test in a 48-38 shootout.

Fast forward to the end of the season, the Indians got payback over the Falcons in the first round of the Class A state tournament, defeated Murray County Central in the state semifinals and inched out a 13-12 win over Warren-Alvarado-Oslo to end the season as Class A state champs for the first time in program history.

ournal file photo Marty Hoffmann (54) holds the Class A state title plaque above his head as the Sleepy Eye Indians celebrate their victory over Warren-Alvarado-Oslo on Nov. 24, 2000 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

SHAPED FOR SUCCESS

Often when the Indians’ 2000 team comes up in conversation with Sleepy Eye residents, memories of the two football teams Sleepy Eye sent to state in 1998 and 1999 quickly come up also.

Cory Haala, assistant head coach at the time of the game and current Activities Director at Sleepy Eye High School, said many people think the 1998 and 1999 Sleepy Eye teams were even more loaded with talent.

“A lot of people would probably argue our 1998, ’99 state tournament teams had more talent,” Haala said. “The 2000 team was probably a little bit, maybe unexpected. But they were also practicing against some very talented people for a few years, so that probably helped them as well.”

Two starters and leaders back from the 1999 team in 2000 were senior linebackers Marty Hoffmann and Isak Rasmus.

Jose Saenz, a sophomore fullback for the Indians in 2000 who is now working for the City of Sleepy Eye, said he played on special teams as a freshman as the Indians were stacked with talent in 1999.

“It was great because we were on the scout team,” Saenz said. “Our defense got to go up against the best team in the state, that’s what we thought. So the whole time that you’re practicing, that’s what you’re up against. So essentially the whole scout team ended up being the next year’s team, minus Marty and Isak.”

New to his varsity role, Saenz said he didn’t put too much pressure on himself or think too far down the road in the 2000 season.

“I went in there with an open mind and just a play-the-game mentality, whatever happens, happens,” Saenz said. “I don’t think anybody thought we were going to make it that far. They just threw a bunch of guys together and made it work.”

GETTING GOING AGAIN

After making state in 1998 and 1999 and unable to come away with a championship plaque, the Indians had to reset in 2000 with almost an entirely new lineup.

Saenz said he didn’t remember the team being ranked at any point into the season going into the state tournament.

“Going into the season they didn’t expect nothing from us,” Saenz said. “Back then the Tomahawk Conference was so tough there. There were probably five, maybe six teams ranked in state out of our conference. So for a while there, whoever won our conference ended up going to the state tournament.”

After losing to McLeod West in the opening week of the 2000 season,

Hoffmann, current head football coach at the University of Minnesota Morris, said despite opening the season with a loss, he was optimistic after the game.

“We opened the season with that McLeod West team and we lost that one,” Hoffmann said. “It was close, and I just remember thinking to myself, ‘Hey, we’re not going to be that bad.’ Obviously we had an uphill climb and we knew that we got a lot of guys kind of their first live varsity experience from that game. But I think we came out of that game feeling pretty good.”

Hoffmann wasn’t the only one to see potential after that opening loss.

Dean Deibele, Sleepy Eye’s head coach at the time who now resides in Monticello, also took positives away from that Week 1 defeat.

“They were so solid and so well-coached, we knew we had to play really well,” Deibele said. “But playing a pretty close game against them the first game of the season with what they had coming back and what we had lost, I think it gave us a little bit of confidence that, ‘Hey, we can maybe play with some of these better teams.”

After opening the 2000 season with a loss to McLeod West, the Indians won their next five games, defeating Wabasso, Buffalo Lake-Hector, Mountain Lake/Butterfield-Odin, Minnesota Valley Lutheran and Springfield during that stretch.

“I think we lost, if I recall, about 16 talented seniors from that [1999] group, so we didn’t know what to expect in 2000,” Deibele said. “We had some very good athletes returning and as the seasons progressed, I think we became more and more confident that we could compete against some of the top teams in our conference. … Without a doubt, I think our opponents that year helped prepare us for our state tournament run.”

CRAFTING CONFIDENCE

The Indians ran into a tough Red Rock Central Falcons team in Week 7, suffering a 34-12 loss to the Falcons.

“The Red Rock Central game kind of sticks out in my mind as a turning point for us,” Hoffmann said. “We got a little bit of a run, won a few games, were feeling pretty confident and then kind of got kicked in the mouth, so to speak. I think that kind of refocused us all and really got us dialed in on the end of the year and then getting that playoff run.”

Deibele said the loss to a very physical RRC simply came down to not coaching or playing well.

“We simply did not coach or play very well in that game, it’s that simple,” Deibele said. “And I think it really woke us up and made us realize that we had to be totally prepared for every opponent. We kind of took them a little bit lightly for whatever reason and was at their place and they just came out ready to play. They were very physical and they kind of put us on our heels right away and they pretty much dominated us that game.”

The Indians had a short memory as they ended the regular season with a 54-21 win over Cedar Mountain. They then defeated Bethlehem Academy 27-14 in the first round of the Section 2A tournament, New Ulm Cathedral 20-6 in the section semifinals and Minnesota Valley Lutheran 21-6 in the section finals to earn a trip back to state.

In the first round of the state tournament, Sleepy Eye got payback over McLeod West by eking out a 26-24 win. The second round wasn’t any less heart-stopping for Sleepy Eye as they scraped out a 13-10 win over Murray County Central. Regardless of the point differentials, Sleepy Eye was headed to the championship game.

THE BIG DANCE

Nov. 24, 2000.

The Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome played host to the Class A State Prep Bowl game between the Sleepy Eye Indians and the Warren-Alvarado-Oslo Ponies.

With the rough turf at the Metrodome, something Haala described as carpet on a cement floor, the Indians entered the state title game determined to turn a unranked season into an undeniable one.

With a 4-4 defense and a mix of a 5-2 look later on in the season, the Indians were prepared to do all they could top stop Ponies star running back Brett Lindenberg. Easier said than done.

“In the state championship, we actually went to a 5-2 and tried to free up our linebackers as much as possible to chase down [Lindenberg],” Deibele said. “[He was] a really good running back, so we changed it up a little bit and we tried to force them to throw the ball because they were a really good running team.”

Saenz, who finished the game with 111 yards rushing, got the first TD of the game after it was set up on a nice pitch from Indians quarterback Bryce Belseth to Cody Walter, who stiff-armed his way to the Ponies 8 with a 19-yard run. Two plays later, Saenz was untouched on his way to the end zone for a 4-yard score.

The XP was blocked, keeping it a 6-0 game.

While Belseth was the man under center for the Indians, he didn’t end up throwing the ball much in the game and was more of a standout on defense and special teams.

After the Ponies drove across midfield in the second quarter, a sack by Belseth was followed with an interception by Walter to keep it 6-0 heading into the half. The Ponies tied it midway through the third on a TD rush from Lindenberg, but the 2-point try was snuffed out in the backfield on a tackle from Belseth.

Sleepy Eye ran it back down the field the following drive, getting a couple of strong runs by Walter for 20 and 15 yards. Walter finished the game with 86 yards on the ground. His nice rushes on the drive helped set up his own TD run of 3 yards.

The PAT kick by Jeremy Ibberson made it 13-6.

The Ponies got a touchdown back the next drive on an 8-yard rush from Lindenberg, his 28th of the season, but Sleepy Eye again stopped the 2-point try on a pass deflection by Belseth to hold the 13-12 lead with 7:45 left to play.

Having to punt it away after a three-and-out, Sleepy Eye’s defense came through, but not before Lindenberg and the Ponies made the Indians sweat. Following a 50-yard punt by Walter that bounced out at the Ponies 14 with 5:22 left, the Ponies galloped down the field with several solid runs that got them to the red zone.

There, Hoffmann and Rasmus made back-to-back big stops.

After Warren-Alvarado-Oslo got a third-and-1 opportunity in the red zone, Lindenberg was stuffed at the line by Hoffmann to bring up a fourth-and-1. A run outside by Lindenberg followed and he was wrapped up by Rasmus in traffic.

The chain gang was brought out to measure where the ball was from the first-down marker and Lindenberg was marked down a foot short of the line to give the ball back to the Indians, who then were able to kneel the clock out and make history.

Lindenberg finished the game with 183 yards on the ground, but Sleepy Eye did enough in the end to leave with the hardware.

“It was one of those memories I guess you never lose,” Hoffmann said of the Indians’ late stops. “Obviously the third-down play, I think there was a timeout in between that … but the fourth-down play with Brett Lindenberg, their big time running back, we just got into stance to kind of see what was going on, everything went quiet, so to speak.

“You almost kind of just heard in your head that they were gonna run toss. They ran a motion guy across and I remember yelling, ‘Toss, toss, toss,’ before it even snapped and shot a gap and thankfully my teammates were there to clean it up.”

Haala said he was confident his players made the stop even from his Metrodome box high above the crowd.

“I was able to see probably before anyone where the ball was spotted in relation to the sticks and I knew it was going to be short from that perch,” Haala said. “I just remember knowing it was going to be short and we were gonna have the ball on downs and be able to run out the clock, so I literally packed up my headset and I started down the tunnels and I had to run all the way around to the other side of the field because I was up in the press box on the opposite side.”

Haala had probably one of the better views in the house in terms of seeing where the ball was spotted, but the players had a few more butterflies on the field.

“I just remember letting the chains get through and kind circling behind so you get a look right at the spot,” Hoffmann said. “I think Isak was with me at the time and we just kind of got down on our knees and really just looked and stared at it.

“That’s a feeling that never leaves you in terms of what that felt like to see, those chains getting stretched past the ball and you just knew you did something extremely special.”