Local Sports Notebook: Med City Freeze have a date at U.S. Bank Stadium

A Rochester football team will get a chance to play at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on Saturday.

The Rochester Med City Freeze will be one of 12 teams from the semi-pro Southern Plains Football League that will play in the new stadium.

“It’s a billion-dollar stadium, it’s the first year of the stadium and we’re really excited to play,” said Tim Nela, one of the founders and a running back for the Med City Freeze.

The Freeze will take on the Buffalo Ridge Wildcats in a game scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. It is the fifth of six games at the stadium that day and could begin early so Nela encourages fans to arrive well in advance.

The Southern Plains Football League is nine-man football. The six games Saturday involving teams from the league will begin at 9 a.m. The final game is scheduled to begin about 8 p.m. The cost for an all-day pass is $20 and tours of the stadium will also be available for an additional cost.

“We going to be hanging out as a team,” Nela said. “We’re just excited to play football.”

Nela is a friend of Marcus Sherels, a fellow John Marshall grad who plays for the Minnesota Vikings. Nela has been to the stadium already, but is looking forward to seeing the Vikings locker room and other inner parts of the stadium.

“I’m going to be like a kid in a candy store,” Nela said.

Nela said the Freeze will be taking about 50 players to the game and 42 are expected to suit up. It is just an exhibition game, but Nela said it is being taken seriously.

The Southern Plains League season begins in late April and teams play an eight-game regular season. The Freeze were 7-1 during their first year of play in 2016 and then lost in the opening round of the playoffs.

“We have a really good core of returning guys, but we also have a lot of new guys,” Nela said.

Some of the top returning players include linemen Ted Ohm and Matt Jech, defensive back Andre Davis, defensive back/receiver Mike Collins and quarterback Jeff Sipple. A couple of key newcomers are running back Miles Miller, who played for the Austin War Hawks last year, and quarterback Aaron Quandt of Stewartville.

“I’m a big fan of (Quandt), but I’m a big fan of Sipple, too,” said Nela, who led the Freeze in rushing last season.

Nela said the Southern Plains League commissioner and the board of directors set up the one-day event at U.S. Bank Stadium. He said fans can go to the Med-City Freeze football Facebook page to see a live stream of the game.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity so we’re definitely going to take advantage of it,” Nela said.

“We’re going to make it a fun event and I’m very appreciative to all of our sponsors,” he added.

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The Vikings have honored student-athlete Thomas Hennessy of Lewiston-Altura High School as a 2016 Minnesota Vikings Community Captain.

Hennessy is a senior at L-A and was honored for his outstanding leadership on and off the field. He was a football captain his junior and senior years and helped the Cardinals posted a 17-4 record as an elite linebacker. He was a member of the Post Bulletin All-Area team this season.

As a student, Hennessey has a 3.76 grad-point average and is in the top 10 percent of his class.

He is a member of the National Honor Society and a co-founder of the LAHS Fellowship of

Christian Athletes. He is active in community volunteering at a local youth/community center and also leads his community’s annual US Marine Corps Toys for Tots toy drive and the Feed My Starving Children campaign.

A $1,000 donation has been made in his name to his favorite charity, Christian Crossings/The Crossings Center in Lewiston.