Henning Happenings

Chad Koenen

Contrary to what some people may believe in our community, Henning has always been and will continue to be a sports town. Fine arts are wonderful and this isn’t a slight to those activities, but lets be real for a minute—we love our Henning Hornet and Otter Tail Central Bulldog athletics in this town. 

Yes sports are big in other communities as well, but I would put our following and support for our athletes against just about any other small community in the state. How else can you explain the sea of orange you saw on TV when our basketball team competed for a state championship in 2019, and the hundreds of people who travel to literally every football and volleyball game each fall.

Like I said, we are a sports community through and through and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.

What makes us such a sports savvy community—well I would contend the recent and continued success of our sports teams definitely helps that cause.

Take for example our football team, which improved to 11-0 overall and is currently ranked fourth in the state in 9-man football. This week the Bulldogs will take on also undefeated Nevis in the state semi-finals at US Bank Stadium. If you haven’t heard that the Bulldogs have been playing well in football this fall you may very well be living under that proverbial rock in the middle of the woods.

One thing that has always stuck with me during past state tournament berths for our athletic teams has been the outpouring of support when the teams leave town, which also includes large signs that can be displayed at houses and businesses in the community. We haven’t seen that as much in town as we have in the past, but we are hoping that will change in the near future.

Last Friday Dani and I received a phone call from Mike Helle who hit a bit of a road block in trying to organize a proper send off for the football team for their state semi-final game. He was also trying to generate some additional community support for the team before they leave town on Thursday morning. We shared a similar feeling with Mike, and Dani came up with the idea of creating signs for anyone who would like to display a sign at their home, business or take it on the road to US Bank Stadium. 

We quickly designed and printed enough 11×17” posters to blanket this town with OTC football spirit. After all, we have never been ones at the Citizen’s Advocate to do some haphazardly. 

Long story short, stop by the Citizen’s Advocate and grab a poster, or three, for your house business or bring it to US Bank Stadium to cheer on the Bulldogs this week. The posters are free to take and we hope it will be another way to showcase our school spirit and community support for our athletic teams. 

On a side note, Mike mentioned that there will be a send-off around 7:45 a.m. on Thursday morning for the football team. The hope is that the community will line the streets all the way out of town to show support for the football team on their way to the Twin Cities.