Bemidji Football Returns to the Gridiron in 2025 with Mix of Experience

It was time to knock the rust off for Bemidji football, as they, like all the other high school sports in Minnesota, started their season today with practice.

The 2025 Lumberjacks are coming off a 7-3 campaign that includes a run to the Section 8AAAAA semifinals for the second year in a row. But as noted by head coach Bryan Stoffel, the boys aren’t resting on what was, and he had positive words after their first practice back on the gridiron.

“It’s a lot of learning, both with what we’re putting in football-wise, but also teaching the boys how we actually practice,” said Stoffel. “There’s a lot of learning going on, which slows the feet at times, but today I thought it was really good.”

He continued, “I always talk to the kids about, ‘You’re going to make mistakes.’ The key to getting better is not making the same mistakes over and over again, and being coachable. And that’s what we talk about, what coach-ability actually is. It’s when you get coached on something that may have not been right, how quickly and how accurately can you fix that, and those are some of the things that if you continue to correct mistakes, you get better by default.”

As there is every year, Bemidji saw some turnover. But there were some key players returning on both sides of the ball, including quarterback Owen Vandermeer, who benefited from seven starts under center last season.

“It definitely makes me be more confident in what I’m doing out on the field now,” said Vandermeer. “I’m not rushing to know everything that I didn’t know last year, and knowing you know more than last year. We have a couple new faces this year of kids that joined. So they’re kind of scrambling and they’ve asked some questions, and it’s nice to be able to tell them what they need to do.”

Another key returner is senior Nick Strand, a former linebacker turned safety who is one of the leaders on defense.

“We want to be the most physical defense in Minnesota, so we’re going to do everything it takes to be there,” said Strand. “We weren’t in pads today, but we’re really physical. We’re meeting the ball, we’re swarming to it. There wasn’t a lot of errors in our assignments. Everyone knew what they were doing so that, it feels good, especially when you only have a couple of returning starters. So it’s good to feel that everybody knows what they’re doing.”

Bemidji’s first game of the season is now just 17 days away, and it’s a big one. They Lumberjacks host reigning AAAAA state champion Elk River on Thursday, August 28th at Chet Anderson Stadium on the campus of Bemidji State University.