— Sometimes change is good and it can bring the best out of a program. As the Perham Yellowjackets stepped onto the practice field to begin their 2023 campaign, the team entered a new era of Perham football.
Jesse Hein was promoted from offensive line coach to head coach last May. He has been with the program since 2017 starting as a volunteer coach before becoming the full-time offensive line coach in 2018. As the season begins, Hein is ecstatic to get the wheels turning in his first year.
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“It is exciting and fun to get out on the field,” he said. “It is a great community, school and system to be a part of. There’s a lot of support for the boys. It's fun to bring some coaches back and get things going.”
Senior and two-year starter quarterback Blaiz Schmidt is happy to see everyone back in the pads.
“I am very excited,” he said. “We have a lot of good guys coming back for us. It's been fun at the first practice with all the new guys getting the offense going. It’s just fun getting back out here again.”
Perham finished the 2022 season with an overall record of 5-5. Its season came to an end in the second round of the Section 8AA tournament in a 24-21 loss to East Grand Forks. The game still lingers in the quarterback’s mind.
“That loss still stings,” he said. “We lost the year before in the same round so we have been two games short of making that championship. It motivates us a lot that we want to get there, get to the dome, and get a chance to go to state.”
“We just have to stay the course,” Hein said. “We couldn’t quite get over the hump last year. We played East Grand Forks toward the end of the season and beat them in a nail-biter. We knew that the game was going to be tight. We have to be able to dig ourselves out of the holes we created and try to eliminate a lot of those little things.”
Hein brings the experience of being between the hash marks intoyear one. He was a five-year letter winner for Perham and an All-State offensive lineman in 2010 and 2011. Hein was a part of three Heart of Lakes Conference championship-winning teams and three Section 8AAA championship-winning teams.
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He continued his playing career at Bemidji State University where he was a starter for four years. Hein is the only three-year captain in Beavers history. Having been in the trenches, the knowledge he brings with him can be credited to those who taught him the game.
“I think the experience of playing for some great coaches is huge,” Hein said. “You get to see a lot of different coaching styles and the ways people do things. I have taken some things from them and made them my own trying to get the boys to play at the highest level they can.”
Hein has been a part of the coaching staff for six years. Schmidt and his teammates have fully embraced what their new head coach is all about.
“He brings a lot of energy,” he said. “He is very motivated and has a lot of fun. He gets us going in practice. He wants us to compete which is good so we can be physical and ready for game time.”
Already having a rapport with the players on the team, Hein was able to skip a few steps that other new head coaches would have to go through.
“It eliminates the introduction phase,” he said. “As I said before, we had a great turnout in the weight room this summer and a lot of those relationships are built already going into the year. There is not any wasted time on introductions and get-to-know-you things. You can hit the ground running right away.”
The Yellowjackets haven’t played in a state tournament since 2019. Getting back there will be a difficult task but from what Hein has seen from the boys during the offseason, it's not too far out of reach.
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“One, it comes down to belief and hard work,” he said. “We put in the work this summer. We probably had the highest attendance in the weight room in a while which was fantastic. It's little steps to getting back to where we need to be. It starts in the weight room and eliminating those mistakes that we have had in the past.”
Schmidt believes what Hein brings to the table can take Perham to the next level – but it won’t happen all at once.
“I think just going one game at a time and focusing on that one week,” Schmidt said. “It’s best we not look too far down the road so we can prepare for that upcoming game on Friday night.”
Hein has been impressed with how Schmidt has assumed his leadership role. Being a senior and his second year under center, Schmidt has taken huge strides during the summer in building his body and being a guy other teammates look up to.
But it’s not just Schmidt Hein sees as an integral part to this season's success.
“We return a pretty heavy senior class," he said. “They are a tight-knit group. The two seniors in the backfield, Braylon Rach and Hudson Hackel, have carried the ball for us since they were sophomores. We return a lot of O-linemen in Carson Byer and Jaxson Vetch. A lot of those guys had ‘baptism by fire’ when they were younger but now they are reaping the benefits of playing a lot of football. Finally, Gage Aanenson has been a staple for us in the receiving core. We expect big things from a lot of those guys.”
As their first game against Hawley on Sept. 1 quickly approaches, there are some games on the schedule that Schmidt and his teammates have highlighted and are most excited to play in.
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“We are looking forward to the big teams like DGF (Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton) and Thief River Falls,” he said. “We have lost to DGF in the past couple of years. That sets the tone. We want to go out there and beat them. Thief is always a big contender in the section and so is East Grand Forks which is a team we want to get our revenge on.”
PERHAM FOOTBALL SCHEDULE 2023
Sept. 1 vs. Hawley, 7 p.m.
Sept. 8 at Detroit Lakes, 7 p.m.
Sept. 15 vs. East Grand Forks, 7 p.m.
Sept. 22 vs. Little Falls, 7 p.m.
Sept. 29 at Fergus Falls, 6 p.m.
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Oct. 6 vs. Thief River Falls, 6 p.m.
Oct. 13 at Morris, 7 p.m.
Oct. 18 at Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton, 7 p.m.
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