Blooming Prairie (Minn.) sustained a 50-27 loss to Dawson-Boyd (Dawson, Minn.) during the Class 1A state semifinals today, even though quarterback Luc Zellmer became Minnesota's career touchdown passing leader.
Luc Zellmer
Courtesy of Ian Stauffer/Owatonna Peoples Press
The 5-foot-11, 168-pound Zellmer completed 15 of 35 passes for 173 yards and all four of the Awesome Blossoms' touchdowns. That gave him 102 career touchdown passes, one more than the previous record set by Chris Meidt from 1984-87.
Zellmer accomplished the feat despite missing five games due to a broken thumb and shoulder injury.
Coach Chad Gimbel isn't a total stranger to state records, because he had a record-setting wide receiver before Zellmer.
Gimbel told MaxPreps, "He never wanted to talk about records. He just wanted to win. On the other hand, we fought to get him the record."
He was referring to Zellmer's record touchdown pass. The veteran quarterback was on the bench with a share of the record and didn't want to go back in because of the lopsided score.
Gimbel told him, "We're going to put you back out there and you deserve the record. If you hadn't gotten hurt, you would have blown the record out of the water."
It was a shovel pass for a one-yard touchdown in the game's closing minutes.
Zellmer is leaving a great legacy for future players.
"I sure hope they role-model after him," Gimbel said. "He put in so much time and was a great leader. He's got a strong arm, is very accurate and extremely smart (3.97 GPA). We didn't have to do much with his mechanics. He's had an outstanding career."
Gimbel said that his senior star has had a few offers from Division II colleges and more from Division III colleges.
"His (lack of) height is the only thing that kind of holds him back," Gimbel said.
