WATCH: Helicopter Called In To Dry Out Minnesota High School Football Field After Soaking Rain
Nearly all of Minnesota got a few days of soaking rain earlier this week. While it helped cut into drought conditions around parts of the state, it also led to soggy conditions all over the place.
That was no more apparent than at Hodapp Field in Willmar, Minnesota, where unusual help had to be called in to improve conditions before a big high school football game.
After a few days of heavy, soaking rain, the field is supposed to host the Section 2AAAA Championship game between Marshall and Willmar on Friday night. While muddy conditions are not unheard of in the game of football, the field was particularly soaked, and needed some help.
Earlier today, the Willmar 100 Yard Club (a booster program that supports the school's sports) shared that field conditions had deteriorated beyond anything the school could fix in time for the game.
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Willmar's coach, Jon Konold, spoke with the school district's grounds supervisor and the City of Willmar's agronomist, who determined the only viable solution was to bring in a helicopter to dry the field out.
I mean, it makes sense...it's basically a big fan, right?
Slippery conditions were already an issue for the last game on the field, which was between Willmar and Rocori on Halloween night. After a few days of soaking rain earlier this week, concerns over safety for this Friday night's championship game forced the unusual solution to be enacted.
So, where do you get a helicopter to dry out the field?
The Willmar 100 Yard Club contacted Scott's Helicopter Service from Le Sueur, MN to hire a helicopter to come in to tackle the task. The organization emphasized on social media that they would be covering the cost of the helicopter, and neither the school nor the city would be on the hook for any of the costs.
The helicopter arrived around 1:30 this afternoon, spending some time hovering over the field surface to help dry things out, as seen below.
While you don't see much of the flying action in the clip above, I will admit the pilot did some impressive work avoiding the goal posts and maintaining a low altitude hover. I know, it's a professional doing their job, but I'm still impressed.
While the Willmar 100 Yard Club didn't provide a formal update after the helicopter's visit to the field, it sounds like the mission was accomplished, and Friday night's game is on as planned.
By the way, this isn't the first time this has been done. People in the comments on social media pointed out that this unusual tactic was also employed a few years ago. It's actually been on more than one occasion. One such instance was back in 2015, and another in 2013.
It sounds like they need some work on drainage...or maybe a school helicopter if this keeps happening. You know, because schools have budgets for that kind of stuff haha
Top-seeded Willmar will take on 2-seed Marshall at 7 pm Friday night, with the winner advancing to the Minnesota State High School League's 2026 State Football Tournament, which starts next week.