High school football players from across the state will showcase their talents this weekend in the 31st annual Iowa Shrine Bowl at Jack Trice Stadium.

Eighty-eight recent high school graduates, including Waterloo’s Milan Moses, the brother of former Cyclone star wide receiver J.J. Moses, will play against each other as North and South teams after being selected by Iowa high school coaches.

The head coach of the North team, Fredericksburg Head Coach Steve Staker, was selected by a panel of Iowa coaches from the Iowa Football Coaches Association.

Assistant coach Steve Waechter, the head coach at Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn in Hartley, Iowa, said the athletes work hard and have full days.

“They wake up each morning at 6:30 for breakfast, and we have a padded practice from 8 until about 10:30,” he said. “Then they eat lunch, and we have a practice with just helmets from 1:30 until about 3:15. We give them about an hour and a half to lift weights, if they want to, from 3:30 until supper at about 5.”

Entertainment, trips part of experience

Waechter said the teams are also kept very busy when they are not playing football.

“We went to an Iowa Cubs game and up to Minneapolis to visit the Shriner’s Hospital. We don’t have much down time, but it’s a great experience for everyone.”

Assistant Coach Jim Carver, head coach of Alburnett High School, said the best part of the Shrine Bowl is working with the players all week.

“The kids are here because they want to be,” he said. “They want to be coached, and they want to play football.”

Carver said he is excited to take back some new coaching styles to his high school team after this experience at the Shrine Bowl.

“All the coaches have different ideas as to how to make things work and to make things better,” he said. “I’ll take some of what we’ve done here and try to make it work for my team.”

A first for the North team

Along with his newly appointed coaching staff, Staker also brought two trainers from his high school team. These trainers, however, are a first to the Shrine Bowl — they are both female.

High school juniors Kaleena Holthaus and Jessica Nelson followed Staker to Iowa State and help the team with various tasks throughout the day.

“Our day starts when their day starts,” Holthaus said. “We get everything ready for their morning practice and then again in the afternoon.”

Nelson explained some of the jobs they have during the day.

“There’s a van outside,” she said, “and we have to unload a lot of the equipment out of it. There are footballs, replacement pads and cones that we have to get. We have stuff to fix helmets with, and we also have to get the water.”

Holthaus explained they also have duties away from preparation.

“We run errands for all of the coaches, so that they don’t have to,” she said. “That way, they don’t have to take time away from coaching.”

Players meet with old rivals

Scott Bangert, a defensive lineman from Algona, said he’s glad to be part of the Shrine Bowl. Bangert is on the North team and says this week has helped him mentally return to football.

“It gets my mind back into it,” he said. “They expect us to be in shape when we come, but they help prepare us for our upcoming college seasons.”

Bangert will play next year for Simpson College in Indianola.

Aaron Cawthorn, a three-year starting running back for Des Moines Roosevelt High School, said his experience at the Shrine Bowl has been a good one so far.

“It’s cool to meet a lot of new friends,” he said. “Some of the guys I used to play against in high school are on my team now.”

Cawthorn said the big difference between his high school team and the Shrine Bowl team is the playbook.

“All the plays are different from what I used to run,” he said. “The hardest part is remembering the new offense.”

He will play football next year at Concordia College in St. Paul, Minn.

Kris Dougherty, a cornerback from Marengo, said he was is really glad to be a part of this week’s events.

“I’m honored to be a part of it,” he said. “It’s just great to be asked to play.”

Dougherty said the biggest difference for him is going from being an all-star at Iowa Valley High School to having everyone around him an all-star also.

Dougherty will attend Iowa Central Community College in Fort Dodge next year where he will continue his football career.

Sideline support

With football comes cheerleaders.

Junior and senior cheerleaders from all over the state were nominated during the school year by hometown coaches and then went to a tryout in Des Moines to make the squad.

Anna Steil, a senior at Oelwein High School, said the best part of the Shrine Bowl experience so far has been traveling to Minneapolis to visit the Shriner’s Hospital.

“It was really great to see why they have the Shrine Bowl,” she said. “We all raised money to come here, and now we all know why we were.”

Nicole Stolfus, also from Oelwein, said learning the new routines has been really difficult.

“We learned five new routines today,” she said, “And they want us to perform them in practice tomorrow. It’s hard to remember all of them, but everyone will be ready this weekend.”

Stolfus said her favorite part of the week has been going to the hospital and meeting the football players.

She will attend the University of Northern Iowa next year, but will not continue as a cheerleader.

Barbara Warburton, from West Hancock High School in Britt, said the mental strain of the week was tough and getting back into shape wasn’t easy either.

“Many of us haven’t cheered in a while,” she said. “We’re training our bodies and minds while we’re here.”

The week wraps up this Saturday with the game at Jack Trice Stadium. Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m. and tickets are $10. All proceeds will go to Shriner’s Hospitals.