GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. - This is our 27th year of naming an All-Metro football team. KARE is the only local TV station which does this. Since 1987, KARE has named 748 players All-Metro and honored 25 coaches.
Dave Nelson, Larry Thompson and Craig Hansen won "Coach of the Year" twice, with Nelson the only coach to win it with two different teams (Blaine & Minnetonka).
Since 1987, Eden Prairie leads the way with 49 players named All-Metro. Cretin-Derham Hall is second at 40 with Wayzata third at 36. Cretin is truly the "quarterback factory" with five signal callers earning All-Metro.
Eden Prairie has produced the most offensive linemen with 12. Edina has a "punter" pipeline to All-Metro with four.
Current or former NFL players include:
Chris Weinke (CDH '89), Adam Weber (MV '2005), Rod Smith (Roseville '87), Thomas Tapeh (Johnson '97-'98), Nate Triplett (Delano 2004), Dominique Byrd (Breck 2001), Larry Fitzgerald, Jr. (Holy Angels '99-2000), Michael Floyd (CDH '2006-07), Ben Hamilton (Wayzata '95), Chad Setterstrom (Northfield '97), Mark Setterstrom (Northfield '01), Ryan Harris (CDH '02), Lydon Murtha (Hutchinson '02), Derreck Robinson (DeLaSalle '99),
Trevor Laws (Apple Valley '01-'02), Adam Goldberg (Edina '97), Sean Lumpkin (BSM '87), Lloyd Lee (Jefferson '93), Marion Barber (Wayzata, 2000), Dom Barber (Wayzata '03), Matt Spaeth (St. Michael-Alb. '01), James Laurinaitis (Wayzata '04), Ramon Humber (Champlin Park '04), Mark LeVoir (Eden Prairie, 99-2000), John Carlson (Litchfield '02), Jonathan Hoese (GSL '06), Rhys Lloyd (Eastview 2000), Ben Utecht (Hastings '98)
Other famous KARE 11 All-Metro Alum:
Joe Mauer (Cretin-DH 2000) - Minnesota Twins, Joe Dziedzic (Edison '89) - Former NHL player, Beau LeBore (South St. Paul '96) - Current Stillwater HS Coach, Zach Budish (Edina '08) - NHL player, Tony Nelson (Cambridge '08) - UM NCAA wrestling champion, Marcus LeVesseur (Kennedy 2000) - NCAA wrestler, Tony Pastoors (Totino-Grace '05) - Senior Asst. in St. Louis Rams front office, Rod Carey (Wayzata '88) - Head Coach Northern Illinois Football, Paul Martin (Elk River '97, '99) - NHL Player, Ben Johnson (DeLaSalle '98) - Gopher Asst BB Coach.
