Ponies, LaBore Begin New Page in Football History, Expectations High

Here we go with the Beau LaBore era at Stillwater.

After 11 years, Scott Hoffman has retired from coaching and teaching at Stillwater and LaBore will inherit one of the strongest Suburban East Conference (SEC) teams, along with one that usually finds its way in the top 10 rankings come season end.

What LaBore also gets is a team that has only accumulated three losses during the past two seasons.

All of those defeats were to Mounds View, one being what some would call a 23-17 upset in the section finals during the 2009 season.

Stillwater went undefeated in the regular season and had an easy victory in the section semifinals, prior to the stunning loss to the Mustangs a week later.

The Ponies also beat state-power Cretin-Derham Hall earlier that year, which snapped the Raiders 30-game win streak in the conference.

Mounds View dominated Stillwater in both meetings last year, the first in Week 2 where the Mustangs 27-3 and the second in the section finals by a score of 32-6.

It was the third consecutive year Mounds View ended Stillwater’s season in section play.

LaBore, , will open the season against his former team when the Ponies play host to the Royals on Sept. 9 at Pony Stadium.

There are two other big games that will garner some conference and state attention.

On Sept. 16, Stillwater will take on Cretin at home and go for an unprecedented third-straight victory against the Raiders. The last two games between the Ponies and Raiders have been thrillers with Stillwater winning 31-28 last season and 12-7 in 2009.

The other big one is a road test against Mounds View on Sept. 30, where the Ponies will try to snap a three-game losing streak to one of their biggest SEC rivals.

Mounds View is coming off a season where it also got the monkey off its back by beating Cretin in the state quarterfinals.

This season also will be the first time Stillwater and East Ridge will play each other.

After a tough go in their first season in 2009, the Raptors improved last year with an outstanding running game. They also were able to get younger players valuable playing time and if we know anything about high school football, experience is one of the most valuable assets a program to have.

That game is scheduled for Oct. 7 at Pony Stadium.

With 10 teams in the SEC, Stillwater, for the third consecutive season, will not have a nonconference game. The only change is it will not play Park-Cottage Grove this year.

After spending six seasons as the head coach of the Royals program, the former defensive coordinator will have a solid defense and an offense that has evolved into a pro-style offense after running the option and veer offense since the 1970’s.

Expectations in Stillwater are high on the gridiron and it will remain that way, especially after two consecutive SEC championships.

The two questions for the new ball coach is can LaBore keep the Ponies competitive at a high level in the toughest conference in the East Metro and can he get them past Mounds View and into the state tournament in his first season?

It will be tough, but he has all the ingredients to keep Stillwater in the elite status.