I drove into the parking lot at Cretin-Derham Hall this morning and saw a rare sight: a crew of tailgaters watching the first football practice of the season. It was a mix of boys and girls, all Cretin students, wearing the school colors and sitting in lawn chairs surrounded by a grill, snacks, beach balls and an inflatable kiddie pool.

One of the tailgaters, Phil Hansen, filled me in on the details. The group of four girls and five guys arrived at school at 8 p.m. Sunday, set up tents, got a fire going and cooked steaks and burgers. One of the kids — no surprise here — brought an Xbox 360 and a TV, with an extension cord runing from a car to the tents. (The power from the car eventually died, meaning someone must have been shopping for a new battery today).

There was a little excitement in the middle of the night, when a car came through the lot and somebody ripped a hole in one of the tents. But nobody got hurt. The kids woke up around 6:30 a.m., started the fire again and cooked up pancakes, bacon and ribs for breakfast. The football team took the field at 8:15, to the cheers of their little band of supporters.

“We’ll stay out here until noon or 1,” Phil told me, “cheering them on.”

–As the Cretin players gathered around coach Mike Scanlan at the end of the morning practice, Scanlan mentioned Woodstock, which took place 40 years ago this month. Scanlan looks the part of a Woodstock veteran, with his shaggy hair and beard.  Later, he told me that he had brought up Woodstock while meeting with his quarterbacks prior to practice, “and they didn’t know what I was talking about.” That makes coaches — and members of the sporting press — feel old.

–Interesting first-day drill this morning at Woodbury. Working on kickoff coverage, 11 Royals at a time lined up in kickoff formation, the kicker approached the ball and … whiffed every time. Turns out the ball was not necessary. Two coaches waited near the goal line, pretended to field the phantom kick and then ran with it. They even performed fake and real handoffs, using a hat instead of a football. That eliminated the need for 100-percent accurate kickoffs every time down the field. Smart and efficient. Now, if Woodbury school officials could just do something about their cramped little press box …

John Millea is on Twitter at www.twitter.com/stribjohnÂ

Hi again everybody. My summer vacation has reached the finish line and I can’t wait to get started on a new season of high school sports in Minnesota. Monday is Day 1 for fall sports practices, and a few teams are holding Midnight Madness workouts as Monday officially commences at 12:01 a.m. (Hint …more about that in Tuesday’s paper.) 

I’ll be at Cretin-Derham Hall on Monday for football practice. I’m working on a profile of Seantrel Henderson, the Cretin lineman who is the top-ranked senior recruit in the nation. He has every big-time college program in the nation after him, and you know Tim Brewster would love to land him.

We’re planning lots of exciting upgrades to our prep sports coverage here at Star Tribune World Headquarters, including a new look for our website and regular video segments featuring our prep staff (shield the eyes of small children, please).

Let’s roll.

John Millea is on Twitter at www.twitter.com/stribjohnÂ

The Minnesota State High School League announced Thursday that its agreement with television partner KSTC-TV (Channel 45) to televise state tournaments has been extended through 2021. Currently, KSTC-TV broadcasts the Prep Bowl, the boys’ hockey state tournament, the girls’ basketball state tournament and the boys’ basketball state tournament.

The extension also includes the MSHSL’s first official foray into webcasting of state tournaments.. Starting this school year, KSTC will partner with GrandStadium.tv, an online webcasting network, to provide the volleyball, wrestling, softball and baseball state tournaments. The MSHSL will be monitoring the webcasts to determine if interest in them is sufficient enough to webcast other league-sponsered tournaments and events in upcoming seasons.

While we try to shy away from press releases, one that came our way this morning offers some potentially useful information to quite a few sports families out there. The gist (straight form the release):

From now until the end of September, Target guests aged 18 months to 18 years can get a sports physical, which is normally $59, for just $29 at all Target Clinics in Minnesota. Target Clinics are located in select Target stores, and with no appointment necessary, parents can get their kids the checkup and documentation they need to head back-to-school or join the sports team - all at their convenience.

Target Clinic providers are qualified to perform physicals and provide the proper documentation for camp, school and sports teams. As certain restrictions may apply, a medical assistant is on hand to answer any questions parents may have.

So there it is: a half-price sports physical.

Eden Prairie and Blake were named the Minnesota State High School League Challenge Cup winners for the 2008-2009 school year. The Challenge Cup is a year-long competition among all of the MSHSL schools in which points are awarded to each school based on success in MSHSL-sponsered Section and State competition. The two schools - one in Class 2A, one in Class 1A - that have the most points by the end of the school year are awarded the Challenge Cup.

It is the third Challenge Cup victory for each school in the six years the Cup has been awarded. Eden Prairie won the Class 2A competition in 2006 and 2008, while Blake was the Class 1A champion in 2005 and 2007.

CLASS 2A 

Eden Prairie totalled 971 points last year, including state team championships in girls’ cross-country, boys’ hockey and girls’ lacrosse. The school also had individual champions in boys’ Nordic Skiing, girls’ track and field and girls’ swimming and diving.

Wayzata was second with 815 points, Edina was third with 763 and Eastview finished fourth with 613.

CLASS 1A

Blake won with 547 points, winning team championships in boys’ cross-country, soccer and swimming and diving and girls’ hockey. The Bears also had individual championships in boys’ tennis, track and field, Alpine skiing and swimming and diving.

Perham, the 2007-2008 winner, was second with 415 points. Breck finished third with 386 points and Rochester Lourdes was fourth with 355.