Area players shine in all-star game
An unbeaten regular season, three state appearances and two conference championships.
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That's what Fred Weiss, Eric Fornshell and Mark Poepping helped their high school football teams accomplish during their careers.
Those three combined forces to help the Outstate team knock off the Metro team 34-13 in the Minnesota High School All-Star football game at Macalester College Saturday.
The week long event started Sunday when players arrived and practiced at night. Players endured two practices a day until Saturday's game.
Weiss, the Brainerd area's leading tackler with 191, helped the Brainerd Warriors to its first unbeaten season since 1938 and the Section 8, Class 5A finals.
He said the best part of the week was meeting new people.
"I was kind of nervous to go play because it was going to be the best of the best," said Weiss, who will play at Concordia College this fall. "After the first day everyone loosened up and started having fun. You got to see a different perspective of other towns and how important football is to different people."
Weiss broke his hand for the third time this year, but said the week was a good experience for him.
Eric Fornshell
"It was unbelievable," he said. "I was surprised. I was on the kickoff team and usually you run down and hit somebody and you don't really get a reaction out of them. Those guys, it was like hitting a brick wall.
"It gives you a view of what college life is going to be like."
Poepping pushed the Pierz Pioneers to co-Central Minnesota Conference champions. His 31 receptions for 558 yards and five touchdowns were third in the area.
Poepping's four-year storybook career at Pierz included 89 receptions for 1,619 yards and 20 touchdowns. He was named the conference's defensive back of the year twice and was named to the Associated Press all-state second team.
"Mark had a couple of balls thrown to him but he didn't get any catches," said Pierz Pioneers coach Leo Pohlkamp, who was one of the Outstate coaches. "Mark had a good week and he showed he can play with any of those kids."
Fornshell recorded 100 tackles for eighth in the area and helped teammate Tony Mason rack up an area-leading 1,831 yards rushing from his offensive guard position.
"Going down there and not knowing anyone and having to explain to everyone where Pillager is it was kind different," said Fornshell. "I kept saying 14 miles west of Brainerd.
"Playing with the top player from all the teams made the game go so much faster. It's a faster pace when everyone knows what they need to do and you don't have to explain everything."
Mark Poepping
The senior captain helped the Pillager Huskies to three-straight Class 1A state appearances. Fornshell played a vital roll in the Huskies runner-up finish in 2001. He's hoping for that same kind of success at Bethel College where he will play next year.
"Just having a week of football and hitting people again before I have to go to camp is really valuable," Fornshell said. "To get back into the swing of things and having a week to get back into shape it just helps all around."
Along with Pohlkamp, Brainerd assistant coach Chet Stevenson was also an assistant for Outstate head coach Terry Turek of LeSueur-Henderson.
"It's really nice because you get to see some of the kids you hear about but don't get to see during the season," said Pohlkamp, who was the linebackers coach for Outstate. "I had one of my kids down there too. It was neat to go down there."
Pohlkamp said he was selected by a committee to participate in the week-long event.
"I guess if you do anything for a long enough time you're going to get recognized."
Pohlkamp said the process for choosing the teams is a lengthy affair. First a players conference nominates a player. Then each coach from that conference writes a letter of recommendation. Once the list is pared down, a committee makes the final selection.