Roseville High School’s football stadium bleachers and press box were built into the side of a hill adjacent to County Road B2 West. Just to the right of the stadium seating, ample grassy hillside still exists – a reminder of what existed before.

Within that hill are two well-defined, barren dirt columns – a reminder of the work that’s been done and, hopefully, the success that will follow.

“We’ll go attack that,” Roseville coach Andy Stephenson said. “That’s part of what will get us prepared.”

Roseville football coach Andy Stephenson closely watched a drill during practice on Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024. (Jace Frederick / Pioneer Press)

They’re products of foot traffic. Raiders football players are on that hill throughout camp, trudging up it five times or more per session. That number escalates if reminders are needed to increase effort and hustle.

“It’s dusty every time we run up, because we’ve wore the grass down so much,” senior lineman Owen King said.

“It shows everything that our program resembles,” senior linebacker Dylan Hageman said.

Or at least the image current players and coaches hope to portray.

Everyone can fondly recall Roseville’s run to the state semifinals in 2013, powered by a potent passing offense featuring the likes of quarterback Jacques Perra and receiver Jesper Horsted.

But the Raiders have had just one winning season since. They went winless in 2019, 2021 and 2022.

Stephenson took over in 2023, coming in from a program in Spring Lake Park that is entrenched in sustained success. This would not be that, certainly not right away. The coach knew as much.

He entered the job focused on building a successful culture based on three things: belief, accountability and resiliency. Shirts reading “Raise the BAR” are visible all over Raiders practice.

Belief and accountability are obvious traits of any successful team or organization.

But resiliency is an underrated facet of a fruitful rebuild. You are going to get knocked down many, many times on your trek from the bottom to the top.

Stephenson’s first game on the Roseville sidelines came in last fall’s season opener against Woodbury. The Royals returned the game’s opening kickoff for a touchdown. Roseville responded, when Javon Minor did the same on the Raiders’ ensuing return.

But then Woodbury again housed the following kickoff en route to a 55-14 victory. Stephenson estimates Roseville produced maybe one defensive stop all night.

“Literally my head is spinning over there,” Stephenson recalled as he gazed at the Raiders’ sideline. “Like, ‘This is how it starts?’ ”

Roseville’s first four games of the season came with an average margin of defeat nearing 23 points. Stephenson’s wife was constantly reminding him to remain patient. He had to stay with it and continue preaching fundamentals and work ethic. Consistency was crucial.

It’s easier for adults to understand that philosophy than kids. But, luckily for the coach, Roseville players are nothing if not resilient. You’ve had to be in this program of late.

Get beat down, get back up, show up the next day and go to work. Playing football at Roseville is not like it is at perennial powers such as Eden Prairie or Lakeville North. There, King noted, you can join the team and be constantly celebrated and hyped up on Friday nights.

“We don’t really get much,” Minor said. “We walk around the halls and people are saying how bad our team is or ‘Oh, are we going to win a game this year?’”

Hageman, King and Minor all started on varsity as sophomores. That season, eight of Roseville’s nine losses came by 30-plus points. When the results are that bad, what keeps you coming back to the field?

“The love for my game,” Minor said, “and the love for my teammates.”

Roseville senior lineman Owen King pursues the ball carrier in a drill at practice on Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024. (Jace Frederick / Pioneer Press)

He noted he has played with many of his current teammates for six-plus years. He’s witnessed their daily struggles on the field and in the weight room, and they his. They’ve sacrificed and suffered by one another’s sides day after day, year after year.

“We’re not just teammates anymore. At this point, we’re brothers,” Minor said. “It’s like a different kind of love and bond. I felt like we could really turn this program around if we just worked toward one thing.”

Which was to make a name for themselves, and their program. Players get tired of hearing how bad they are. They aimed to change the narrative.

Stephenson’s arrival was the spark that ignited the flame.

Hageman noted when he joined varsity as a sophomore, the environment didn’t match his expectations. But Minor said when the new coach arrived in March of last year, players were intrigued by the energy in his voice and intensity in his demeanor. Eyes were opened. Maybe this could be something.

It wasn’t right away, obviously. That loss to Woodbury was rough, and a near replica of past results. But Stephenson continued to recognize and celebrate the small gains made from there. The following week against Eastview, Roseville got a stop on its opening defensive series. Progress.

Come Week 5, Roseville went toe to toe with Buffalo, the eventual subdistrict champion. The Raiders forced seven turnovers that game and were in it until the final minute before falling 21-12. After the game, Stephenson was beaming.

“I was like, ‘You guys are probably looking at me strange, but you finally lost the right way. You were able to compete to the end,’ ” he said. “ ‘Now, you’re ready to win.’ ”

Sure enough, the following week Roseville beat Hopkins 30-0 to snap the program’s 24-game losing streak. The game after that, the Raiders went down to the wire with White Bear Lake before falling 10-7.

The success produced affirmation and trust in the process, and the people delivering it.

“At the beginning of last summer, (coach) was talking about buying in and putting 100 percent into the program. And you can see the benefit of what you get from it,” Hageman said. “During the latter half of the season last year, I could definitely see us clicking, and it felt really rewarding seeing us get turnovers.

“It just felt successful, and I don’t know, I haven’t felt that way really yet in this program.”

Even just that smidge of success — one victory and a handful of competitive losses — created momentum that carried into the offseason, Stephenson’s first full one with the program. Perra and Horsted each separately visited the team this summer to deliver messages about what’s required to achieve success. Overall buy-in continues to build.

“You can see it in their eyes, their mindset,” Stephenson said. “They flipped a switch, as well, wanting and embracing that mindset.”

The ball is rolling in the proper direction.

But this is no time to let up. Stephenson was conducting a media interview this week while his players were breaking down at the conclusion of pre-practice warmups, when he stopped, mid-answer.

“No,” he said to himself, “hold on.”

The coach marched over to the field.

“Hey, do it again, set the tone! Set the tone! Let’s go!” he yelled before returning to the sidelines. “Reminders, sorry. Not enthusiastic enough.

”The dog days, if they don’t bring it, it carries over to everything else, too.”

Accountability. Players noted those such instances are weekly occurrences.

“He tries to make sure we’re following on the right path and nobody is slipping,” King said. “And if somebody is slipping, he will make sure everybody knows, so that everybody can be at the standard that is expected.”

“He always pushes for the most out of us,” Minor said. “He’s not only doing a good job coaching, but he’s doing a good job trying to train us into young men.”

That’s what Hageman feels this entire Roseville football experience — falling down repeatedly and having to get back up only to again face potential failure — is doing for he and his teammates.

“We’re not given anything. That’s one thing Coach Stephenson says a lot. You’ve got to earn things. Things aren’t given to you here. You should not be expecting anything,” King said. “That’s the mindset that we all have and need to have — you need to put in the work to get the results you want. And I feel like we’re really starting to get that as a team.”

Roseville has designs on a resurgence this fall. King feels the Raiders, who open the 2024 season Thursday in Woodbury, can be a .500-plus team this season. Hageman noted the issue at Roseville was always more about effort than talent.

The Raiders have put in plenty of the former this offseason. They have the hill to prove it.

“I feel like if we’re ever down in a game, we can look up there and remember, ‘We pushed through that, why can’t we push through this?’ ” Minor said. “It’s a good bar for yourself to reach the top and touch the fence.”

The climb continues.

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