Renegades welcomed into Midwest Football League

by Dennis Dalman

editor@thenewsleaders.com

With a record of 4 wins, five losses so far (with one game left as of press time), the Granite City Renegades semi-pro football team members know they could have done better were it not for an avalanche of disruptions throughout the season.

There were injuries, battling summer’s fickle weather, firefighter players having to answer fire calls at inopportune times and even weddings.

It was one thing after another, said Brett Weaver of Sartell, who, along with his wife, Danelle, is the founder and owner of the Renegades. They founded the team in 2010.

“We really should have won four of those five games,” he said.

But Weaver’s not pining or looking back. He’s as excited about the team as the day he founded it.

“One big change is we are now in the Midwest Football League,” he said. “It’s a 16-team league with members as far south as Missouri, Nebraska and Kansas. We’ll be doing a lot of traveling. It’s exciting. It’s challenging, and we’re looking forward to it.”

Before the change, the Renegades were members of the Northern States Football League.

The Renegades home field is on the campus of St. John’s University.

“This was a tough year. Last year was our best year,” Weaver said. “We only lost two, once to the Fargo Raiders and then again to the Fargo Raiders in the championship.”

All of the Renegades are local players who live in the greater St. Cloud area. The hardest part is scheduling practices and games because all members of the team are so active and always busy in their own lives.

“We set up the schedule in December,” Weaver said. “It’s very difficult to do that.”

Weaver grew up in St. Cloud and played linebacker for St. Cloud Apollo High School. After traveling around the country, his yen for football reawakened and he began to dream of starting a semi-pro team. He formed a team named the Fighting Scotts and played on it, besides being its general manager. He fell in love with the team’s dance captain, Danelle, and they married. Both of them one day said to each other, “Hey, let’s start our own team.” And that’s how the Granite City Renegades team was born.

“We want to continue to keep growing,” he said. “We’d love to get to the point when we can start paying our players. It would be a nice perk for them. We also want to work on getting our fan base built up, but people are so busy during the summer months it’s difficult to do. In the summer there are so many things competing for people’s attention: weekends, graduations, parades, weddings, festivals.”

The Weavers have three children – Landon, 8; Raider, 6 and Major, 3.

Needless to say, they all love football.

“They adore the game,” Weaver said. “They love to come to the games, and they have a great time.”

Weaver is the Raiders’ head coach; defensive coach is Tommy Middagh and assistant coach is Jake Hutt. There are 48 players on the team, all of them living in the central Minnesota area.