How This High School Football Team Overcame 2 Decades of Loss | Through the Storm

[Tyrone] Hey, Woose.

[Andrew] Sup.

[Tyrone] He's asking, How does it feel

when you get your pads on and get out there,

since you guys haven't won a game in a while?

[Andrew] Huh?

He's asking, How does it feel

to go play a football game

when you guys haven't won in a while?

[whimsical music]

Plank, M.

If it hurts, it's working, guys.

We wanna get you guys a six pack, here.

Something I used to have.

Set.

Hut.

When you guys chop like that,

it'd be hard to tackle him.

We still gotta have some fun.

When we get the ball and we're running to the end zone,

do we stop at the 40 to catch our breath

or do we keep going?

That's what we need to do in practice, guys.

Legs up.

Hey boy, you gotta hustle or go to the bathroom?

Boy, don't be walking.

Eight,

seven.

That shit hurts, bro.

[Nolan] Six.

Five.

[Ty] This is a good throw.

A little lack of hustle.

Four.

Three-step.

Three.

Oh.

Three. There it is.

Ooh. Three.

Ah. Oh, there you go.

[Nolan] Two.

One.

That's touchdown all day.

What is that?

[Nolan] There's some times where

we may have 12 kids for an 11-man football game.

One time, I said, You guys wanna stay home?

You wanna stay home, forfeit the game?

I said, I'll let you guys vote on it.

I'm not gonna force you guys to go over here and play.

Set. Outta all 12 kids,

they all said, Let's go. Let's just go play.

Oh, hey.

I was like, Okay.

That melted my heart, let's go.

I like it. Let's go.

That's the attitude I like to have.

Three Warriors on three!

One, two, three! Warriors, Warriors, Warriors!

[heartfelt music]

[thunder rolling]

In the community, in northern Minnesota, Indian country,

the sport is basketball.

'97,

'98, '99,

2000, 2001,

'02, '03,

'14 to '15 to '16.

Hey, defense, close out, man.

[Nolan] Come out here at one o'clock at night,

there's kids hooping here.

Maybe it's 'cause we've had success at basketball,

you know what I mean?

We've had a lot of success, so naturally,

people want to gravitate

towards something that's working, right?

Who wants to go and be the guys, who go

get beat up on Friday nights?

There's ain't no winning since, I don't even know,

20 years ago, I ain't even been alive that long. [laughs]

I know last year wasn't too good for us.

I didn't play, but still,

zero record.

[heartfelt music]

Uh-huh.

But yeah, I'll call you after here, then.

Alright, bye.

Alright, thanks, Keen.

Okay, see ya, Nolan Yep, later.

Next week again? Yeah.

On Tuesday. Okay.

[football playing on computer in background]

If you never played football before, you know,

how you gonna know if you're gonna like it or love it?

You know, put a helmet on,

you might just fall in love with it

even before you get to hit anybody.

Just putting that helmet on like,

Okay, this is how it feels, man.

Okay, now let me put the shoulder pads on.

Okay, now let's start going and hit somebody.

Okay, you get your bell rung.

You get back in there like,

Okay, man, let's, let's do this again.

Come on, I'm coming for you. I'm coming for you.

I don't want a football team to be the worst in Minnesota.

I want it eventually to be,

at least, up there.

Not the worst, but like, somewhere, you know?

The

morale goes down after

we lose the first game, you know?

Goes down like, Oh, this is gonna be a repeat of whatever.

But I just want everyone to be motivated, you know,

like, as hyped up as I am.

[Micah groans]

I don't want my season, like, my last year of football

to be ended because of

people don't wanna show up.

I think I may have the only child on a Res

that has NFL dreams.

D1. D1.

[Michelle] It's always been D1.

Yeah. Football is his game

and it's always been.

We go to every single game, every practice.

I can't imagine not going to one. [chuckles]

It's just what we've always done.

Yeah, there he goes. There he goes.

Run, run. Come on, Oscar, pass him up.

There you go, Mr. Brun, looking better today.

[Ty] Set.

Hut.

[Michelle] When you say football here,

it's kind of passive.

You don't have the fans there.

You don't really have that support.

Good practice today.

I gotta have you guys running

because y'all already know,

we're gonna be outmanned

every game again.

Okay?

If there's 11 of us, there's no subs

and you gotta play defense.

You gotta play both sides.

I counted 24, that should be here,

nine through 12.

So, you guys know who they are.

Bring 'em out here.

[Rob] Thank you guys. I appreciate you.

Good job.

I just kind of want everyone to have fun,

you know like, see the bright side of it.

And try to get the younger guys

to get into it as much as, you know, I did.

[children laughing] [bright music]

Because, eventually, I feel like

football, it's not gonna be here anymore.

It's just gonna be cut out from Red Lake.

[bright music]

Yeah. Yeah.

What you've been seeing

is what we do every day, man.

Try to

better this place,

one day at a time, man.

One kid at a time, if it takes.

That's what our core, our foundations,

and our bylaws are, you know, is to

help our community out. You know?

That's the thing I live by, man.

If sports ain't around then

it's just a lot of bad depression shit, you know?

I couldn't play football no more.

And that's what really brang me down

to the point where I was depressed in my life

and like, damn, I couldn't play my favorite sport no more.

[somber music]

I remember just waking up and my parents,

they went like this,

[Andrew sighs deeply]

Andrew, you got into a car accident.

No words.

Just heartbroken.

[uplifting music]

Here's a few things I'm gonna tell you,

the doctors told me,

the day I woke up.

They told me I couldn't stand up.

Ain't gonna be able to run,

jump,

walk,

play any type of sport.

So, when they told me all that,

that really set a goal in my life.

You know what? I'm gonna prove these doctors wrong.

That I can actually rebuild myself back up.

And I did.

[Tyrone] Yeah. We all up fucked, bro.

It's how you go about it after that.

[background chatter]

[Micah] Got a new player ready.

Just got set up in the locker room, bro.

No one came today.

[New Player] So, I just came on a bad day?

No, you came on a good day.

Any day is a good day.

I think I counted 18.

9, 9, 9.

My expectations, you know, season-wise,

is to have a season.

If the numbers look the same,

we're gonna have to pull the plug.

I got enough football helmet for an army right now

and I need an army.

Oh, there you go, M.

Complete.

Ooh.

2-1.

Let's get water.

[water splashing]

Get his flag.

Pick six.

Pick six.

Oh. [laughs]

We'll get better soon, man.

First timers.

[motorcycle engine revving]

Nolan, man, he's a good dude, man.

Man, he gets shit done, man. Yeah.

He's gone through some rough shit,

within the past few years, man.

His kid, his son passed away.

Little Nolan, it was at that birthday party,

he rolled over that Ranger.

You know?

Man, that's what it was.

And that little guy, I called him Magic Hands.

That kid could do some shit with the basketball, man,

that nobody could do.

He would've graduated last year, I think, yeah.

Yeah.

[somber music]

Happy birthday, Asia.

Your unicorn cake.

No?

I know what he goes through, you know, and

he knows what I go through.

Okay. Come stand over here, honey.

And so we adjust, you know,

we learn how to lose and, you know,

'cause we take the L, every day, living without him.

[party-goers exclaiming]

[background chatter]

[water splashing]

[kids laughing and screaming]

Oh. Hard.

One more. Go ahead, dad.

[Nicole] Swing!

[kids yelling]

Ah! Candy!

Mine! Ah!

Okay, you got it?

Okay, we're good.

What's up, Charlie?

[Orville] I still wonder how Coach is still coaching

after losing his kid.

[Nolan] Dana. What's up, Dana?

You know, 'cause I can imagine some people being,

like, down and giving up.

I bet you

any kid that had a dad that was coaching

would want them to still coach, no matter what,

if that kid's gone.

Should have all 15 here. 16?

Are we all marking up?

Yeah.

That's what's up, guys.

Show 'em no mercy.

War paint.

Oh, bro, I didn't do it right.

Oh, I look goofy now, bro.

First game of the season now.

If we make mistakes, guys, we just move on to the next.

There's no need to get frustrated,

pissed off, whatever it is.

We just move on to the next, guys.

It's just like in life, you mess up,

you just move on to the next phase.

You can't sit there and dwell on the past, guys.

The more you dwell on the past,

eats you up in your head.

You just forget about it. Move on.

They're a three-hour trip.

Let's make it a long bus ride home for them, guys.

[somber music]

All right, guys, go ahead.

Get to the sideline.

Good luck, good luck, good luck,

good luck. Hey, good luck, today.

Chip Runion, good luck, good luck.

[whistle blows]

Right up here, Gabe.

Go, go, go! Block!

Hold it!

[Donald] One of the new guys.

Oh, hey, good look.

Way to catch it. Incomplete.

[whistle blows]

No reason to hang your head, guys.

No reason to hang your head, guys.

[Tyrone] Go, let's go!

[crowd cheers]

Every play, guys, we gain confidence, guys.

Aw, goddamn it.

Yeah. Squish.

Ah!

[somber music]

Don't let 'em see you cry, big man. Okay?

[whistle blows]

Alright, I just wanna talk to you over here.

Look at me. Look at me.

You're doing all right.

Wrong time, second half.

We're getting banged up.

It'd be best for both teams.

Eight on the sideline.

We got 19, all of a sudden. [chuckles]

Good game, guys. Good game.

Good game, guys. Good game.

Good game, guys. Good game.

Good game, guys. Good game.

[Nolan] Thanks for coming to the Res, guys.

Thank you guys.

Thanks for coming, guys. Thank you.

The past 48 hours, it's been like nonstop,

Is Red Lake gonna play?

I'm like, Yeah, we're gonna play. We're gonna play.

I had, why? I had faith in all you guys would be here.

And you guys showed up. You manned up, guys.

You came, you came to party, put it that way.

You look at our numbers from last week.

What were we looking at? Nine guys.

We got 19 today, guys.

Once school starts,

you know anybody, Hey bro, let's go play football.

Come on, come on.

Just drag 'em out here.

Get your haircuts after practice.

Hey.

Not during Coach's time.

If you need a haircut, I'll cut you hair right at practice.

[team laughing]

You may like it or you may love it.

[team laughing]

Good work out there today, boys.

Shit was fun as hell, man.

Shit was fun. Let's go, bro.

[Ty] Three Warriors on three!

One, two, three! Warriors, Warriors, Warriors!

[wheels rattling]

It's kind of hard, man.

'Cause I don't know what to do after this.

[grocery carts banging]

Come on. Get it!

[Micah laughing]

When I graduate, like, I'm trying to

go get my coaching license and stuff, so I can

help with these guys.

I want to help make them better,

so they can get to college

and make a future.

Hit 'em. Oh, my god.

Game. No!

That's game Nope.

Like, that's just my goal. I want to see them winning.

[background chatter]

I'm gonna send you that on Facebook.

Put that as your profile picture.

Say big bro since day one. Yep.

[Announcer] I'd like to introduce your

2023 Red Lake football team.

[crowd cheering]

Gerald Kingbird, 12th grade.

Ty Beulieu.

Ty Beulieu, 12th grade.

Micah, aw. [laughs]

Micah Brun, 12th grade.

[heartfelt music]

It's like you play with these people

and you go and you trust each other,

you try to protect each other,

all throughout the season, for weeks,

like the practices.

Like, every single day you get closer.

You can trust them and it's just a,

it's like, a different type of bond.

[heartfelt music]

[crowd cheering]

Oh, yeah.

[Micah chuckles]

He sweating bad, boy.

[background chatter]

I like wearing this number

because Nolan always wore it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

[whistle blows]

[Producer] What's one of your favorite memories with him?

I don't know, just like, all those

basketball tournaments we used to go to.

So, I'll be watching footage of that sometimes.

[Basketball Coach] Nolan Desjarlait.

[kids cheering]

Hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo.

[Basketball Coach] Gerald Kingbird.

[kids cheering]

Ah, there you go, Gerald.

[Nolan Jr.] Warriors on three!

One, two, three! Warriors!

[thunder rolling]

[traditional Native American music]

[Commentator] Kind of a cold,

rainy, chilly night, here in Red Lake,

as we get things moving here

for the sixth week of the high school football season.

The Mahnomen/Waubun Thunderbirds, 5-0 on the season,

and the 0-5 Red Lake Warriors.

[traditional Native American music continues]

[whistle blows]

[uplifting music]

Yeah!

Fuck yeah!

[Donald] You know, they are what their team is. You know?

They battle.

[Tyrone] All I can say is, man, they are will get ya, dog.

They're true warriors.

[team yelling over each other]

[uplifting music continues]

I wanna win every game.

Every game.

[whistle blowing]

We just gotta learn how to lose.

You know, I lost my son, so I lost a lot.

I could have gave up on the whole program and everything,

the summer he died and

it took me a long time to come back.

[uplifting music]

The kids wanted me back.

Being around these kids,

you know, it makes me feel special to be here still.

[Commentator] Gerald Kingbird down the sideline!

Touchdown!

Gerald Kingbird to the house.

I'd rather lose with these guys, like, a thousand times

than the win with a bunch of people

I'm not really that close with.

I'd choose this team so many times.

All right.

[Ty] Three Warriors on three!

[Team] One, two, three! Warriors, warriors, warriors!

You guys pay attention, all right?

I know you guys'

attention span is very small,

but it's important,

what we're trying to teach you.

Okay?

Aw.

He's a lineman.

[kids laughing]

You guys wanna have a race?

Yay. You guys wanna have a race?

No race?

No. No. Race!

Race, race! Race!

Yeah! Yeah!

[uplifting music]

[thunder rolling]

[uplifting music continues]