A pair of BP football players sign with Concordia
Published 11:10 pm Thursday, February 5, 2009
BLOOMING PRAIRIE — For Blooming Prairie head football coach Chad Gimbel and his coaching staff, Wednesday may have felt like the movie Ground Hog Day all over again as two more football players signed Division II college letters of intent.
Josh Johnson and Austin Moe signed on the line (literally) as the decision as to where to go to college next year was finally settled.
Both boys have been dreaming about this time of their life since their freshman year.
“I really started thinking about it seriously,” Johnson said. “After coach Gimbel sat down with me as a freshman and he said that I could have what it took to play in college someday.”
Moe remembers thinking to himself after his second start at quarterback in that same year. “This is something that I love enough,” Moe said. “That I would want to concentrate on for as long as I possibly could. I always hoped that it would be through my college years.”
Johnson has been a Blossom for most of his life. Having grown up in BP, he got his nickname here, Skiboy.
“I remember being in sixth grade football,” Johnson said. “Coach Wallace walked up to me and he wondered if I could ski with just my shoes on.”
Johnson wore a size 12 at that age and he has only known playing for the Awesome Blossoms his whole life. So going out and looking at other schools and teams and a new experience for him.
“I have been to Gustavus, River Falls, Winona, RCTC (Rochester Community and Technical College),” Johnson said, “and a few others but Concordia, I feel was just the best fit for me.”
Coaches from many colleges have been calling both of the boys for months now and the relief of finding the “right fit” is an understatement, by the sounds of it.
“For me,” Johnson said, “Concordia is like a small school in a big town and I really like that.”
Concordia is a Christian liberal arts university that is located in the midway district of St. Paul just minutes away from the metropolitan area of the Twin Cities on 37 acres. Johnson was recruited as a defensive lineman and expects to redshirt (practice but not play) in his freshman year.
For the past two years Johnson and Moe have played high school football and basketball together in BP.
Moe came to BP as a transfer from Walker, Minnesota midway through his sophomore year. Moe’s father (Rick) is a 1978 graduate of BP and the move back to the area began with a Google search while looking at how high school football teams were doing around the state. “I couldn’t believe my eyes,” Rick Moe said. “As I saw that my alma mater was having the kind of year that they were having. Austin was looking over my shoulder as we were seeing that the Blossoms were undefeated at 6-0 and then we looked at how they were winning with such dominating scores. We knew at that point that this was a team that had found a way to run both a good defense and offense.”
After a few contacts back to the area to family and friends it started to look like a move to BP might be in order.
“I have no regrets about moving to Blooming to be a part of the community and the program here,” Austin Moe said. “The first few months were really hard but after making new friends and being able to be a part of the experience of throwing the pass that Elliot caught to set a new state made it all worth it.”
Moe was recruited by Concordia for no specific position other than as an athlete. The Concordia coaches have talked to him about the possibility of a few different positions.
“The coaches have said that they would like to take a look at me at possibly a slot-receiver position,” Moe said. “I could also be used at a defensive back position.”
Moe and Johnson are looking forward to joining friend and former teammate Spencer Ohm at Concordia University. Ohm, also a Blossom, was recruited as a quarterback by Concordia in his senior year.
“I think it is Awesome,” Ohm said. “Having one of my best friends (Moe) up here and playing football together is going to be great!”
Moe and Ohm have spent a good deal of time together throwing the football for the past two summers and both are looking forward to the chance of finally getting to play football together.
As for Moe and Johnson, they have played together as teammates for the past two seasons and both made the all-conference team in their respective positions in both their junior and senior year as well as making the honorable-mention list of the All-State football team for both those years also.
Moe’s and Johnson’s signing made it a solid dozen now that have signed and gone on to play football with a Division II or III college after playing for coach Gimbel in the past decade.