Jim Nantz makes surprise visit to high school football champs

NEW LONDON, Minn. – It was a victory unlike any other.

On the final play of the Minnesota State High School Class 3A championship football game, New London-Spicer Wildcats needed a miracle at U.S. Bank Stadium and they got it. The Minnesota Miracle II as it was dubbed — a Hail Mary with a lateral for a game-winning touchdown — went down as one of ESPN’s plays of the year.

On Friday morning, CBS announcer Jim Nantz visited the team’s training camp and gave them an inspirational speech. Nantz was in town to do a site visit at Tepetonka, a destination private golf club being built nearby, where he’s the design consultant on the short course and a founding member. One of the Wildcats’ assistant football coach’s doubles as the men’s golf coach, and attended a dinner hosted by Mark Haugejorde, the founder of Tepetonka and Class of 1971 at New London-Spicer, and attended by Nantz, who wanted to come meet the team.

Minneapolis Miracle: Part 2.

Incredible finish at the Prep Bowl on @kstc45 as @NLS_Wildcat_AD scores the game-winning touchdown as the clock hits zero in the Class 3A championship game.#SCTop10 pic.twitter.com/KalKhQ8a22

— James Monical (@jwmonicalKSTP) December 3, 2022

Ahead of the semifinals of the football state playoffs, Nantz and his CBS NFL partner Tony Romo had recorded an encouraging message to the team. After they won the final in dramatic fashion, Nantz and Romo sent a congratulatory video from the airport after calling the NFL’s Kansas City-Cincinnati game.

“We felt attached to you. We were pulling for you,” Nantz said on Friday as the team formed a circle around him and listened on one knee. “We have our own team just like you guys. It’s going to be 23 weeks all the way to Las Vegas and calling the Super Bowl,” Nantz said. “You want to win it again. Nothing ever takes away what you did last year but go win it again. It would be pretty sweet to double down on it.

“Being part of a team is the greatest thing in the world. When you have a brotherhood like this, one common goal, it’s special. It’s going to be there for the rest of your life. You guys are united forever,” he said before adding, “I’m inspired by all of you.”