Minnetonka Football Hosts ‘Dave Day’

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Skippers winning the Minnesota State Football Championship under head coach Dave Nelson. Dave and his 2004 team were honored at halftime of the Skippers last regular season home game on October 12 against Maple Grove.

Surrounded by his family and members of his 2004 team, Dave officially entered the Minnetonka Football Wall of Fame. A banner was revealed that now hangs among the jersey retirement banners of Keith Nord, Benny Joppru and Beau Allen. It is the highest honor bestowed upon a Minnetonka Football player or coach.

 

Dave was joined by his family as well as several members of the 2004 team including:

PLAYERS: 2 Matt Risinger CB 3 Grant Fallon, LB 8 Brian Suerth, QB 9 Jon Westmeyer, WR 10 Jesse Nelson, QB*  22 Alex Kubal, DB 23 Jalon Hopkins, RB 24 Sam Ebenreiter, LB 27 Mike Summers, RB 29 Ryan Leer, WR 33 Jeff Nelson, FS 37 Alex Lodge, DB 42 Joe Saffrin, LB 43 Erik Hagen, RB 45 Shane Roach, LB* 46 Brian Murrell, DL 47 Dan Elling, DE* 49 Evan Johnson, DL 51 Josh Sheehan, OL 57 Danny Curtis, LB 62 Pat Deppa, OL* 64 Shawn Peck, OL 66 Mike Free, OL 68 Kory Koehnen, DL 70 Ben Peters, OL 73 James Snyder, OL 75 Kevin Conboy, OL 77 Tom Ryan, OL 78 Ben Ashkar, OL 82 Sam Randall, WR 84 Nathan Clanton, WR 88 Chris Bach, WR 91 Hank Goff, DE 98 Mike O’Meara, DE 99 Zac Hohertz, DT *Captains in bold.

MANAGERS: Stephanie (Rice) Hagen, Max McGee COACHES: Bryan Dammann, Claud Allaire, Curtis Eischens, Dave Nelson, Dave Shoemaker, Darren Best, Derek Ward, Greg Clough, Jim Donald, Luke Carlson and Ryan Carlson

Nelson goes into the MHS history books as the Minnetonka Football program's winningest coach to date. He coached the Skippers for 18 seasons and made 5 state appearances, including the 2004 championship and runner-up in 2017.

Throughout his career at MHS, Dave’s impact transcended the turf. He was instrumental in the development of several community outreach programs including the “We Are One” football experience for kids with special needs, Men of Character, and the Tackle Cancer initiative with KARE11’s Randy Shaver. He was also a physical education teacher at MHS.

Please join us in congratulating the 2004 team and Dave Nelson for his contributions to Minnetonka Football, Minnetonka High School and the Minnetonka community.