Elk River's Lucas Dahlberg coordinates gameday production at high school, city sporting events

When Lucas Dahlberg hears his name called at an Elk River football game, he stops. The request that follows could be just about anything.

"Lucas, is that camera set up?" "Lucas, where should we put the Gatorade?" "Lucas, can you add "Hot to go" to the music playlist?" "Lucas, can I have some of your popcorn?"

On a chilly Friday evening, making the short walk between the school's football stadium and the community ice rink nearby, the Elk River senior was stopped five times and fielded requests from adults and students alike.

The football team prepped to faced Rogers, while the Minnesota Squatch Junior A hockey team took the ice next door.

Dahlberg can't be in two places at once, but he can try. There's no written to-do list. "That's up here," he said, tapping his temple.

Despite not yet graduating high school, Dahlberg has been running the show — or rather, shows — for so long, it's become second nature. As a freshman, he offered to run the video board for the City of Elk River's new ice rink. Now, he's employed as the city's senior coordinator of event experience and gameday presentation — plus, announces or produces high school football, hockey, baseball, soccer and lacrosse games.

Rarely is a senior coordinator, well, a senior.

"[Surprise about my age] is a thing I've dealt with ever since freshman year," Dahlberg said. "Yes, I'm a high schooler, but I know what I'm doing."

Dahlberg used to be the one on the ice. He grew up playing hockey before realizing there was a different way he could be involved in sports. He watched YouTube videos, taught himself video board tech, eventually shadowed gameday production at the Minnesota Twins, Minnesota Wild and St. Paul Saints. The oldest sibling, he got behind the mic announcing his little brother's hockey games.

"I played until it's fun, and then when it wasn't fun, I just dropped it," Dahlberg said. "But here, I'm still a big part of the team. It's a way for me to be involved without snapping like a twig, playing football."

Friday night, he wore a red No. 14 jersey as he stepped into his role as director of gameday entertainment for Elk River football. Against Rogers, that meant spending any down time in class planning each minute of the pregame show in a heavily-detailed Google Sheet. He uses his free sixth period to help set up the Squatch game, then football equipment, driving an old green John Deere gator around the track.

"Let me walk you through this," is a common refrain for Dahlberg.

"We recognized right away, from the very beginning, that he had this idea about how to make this place so much better than just the average everyday high school experience," Elk River's defensive coordinator Mike Cross said.

Dahlberg might be short on time, but not ideas. At Squatch games, he helps host in-game promotions, like tug-of-war on the ice and a recliner giveaway. He creates original motion graphics for the video boards, highlighting players and local businesses, and runs drones at football practice.

"To me, this is like scoring a touchdown," Dahlberg said, as players ran onto the field at around 7 p.m. "That's where I thrive, just the adrenaline rushes. There's a lot of people that run away from doing all this, but I run towards it."

It's not all smooth sailing. On top of juggling a full-time workload helping as much as seven teams, Dahlberg has to consider the opinions and needs of school administrators, City of Elk River coworkers, coaches, football players, band, dance team, student section and other team managers. He's had to work to gain people's trust as a student leader.

"He's always got someone hollering at him," said Libby Kubicka, an Elk River student who works for the Squatch with Dahlberg.

Dahlberg described his role as a cross between "the 12th player" of the football team and "the fans' advocate."

"There's always going to be times where I try to do something and it doesn't work, [but] I just love to do it. What other teenager in the state gets to say that they get to sit and entertain a bunch of people and be a member of the football team?"

During one of Elk River's blowout victories — not uncommon for the 2022 5A state champion — Dahlberg got the entire Elks' sideline to dance to the "Cupid Shuffle." On Friday, he played "Cotton Eye Joe" and started to dance in the press box as the bleachers shook with fans stomping.

"Our guys see him as an equal to them," Cross said. "They don't like see him as a manager. They see him as the guy that creates all this for them." Cross gestured to the throngs of fans gathered on the field. "He brings all these fans together and makes them feel like part of the group."

After graduating from Elk River, Dahlberg hopes to attend the University of St. Thomas and study sports and business management, working in game operations or production. That's the bittersweet thing about student athletes, and student managers: They only have four years at a school, and then someone has to fill their shoes.

"I'm never going to be surprised if all of sudden, Lucas calls me in 10 years and says, 'I'm running the Target Center,'" Cross said. "I've been coaching football for 33 years, and I've never met a kid who was more about making everybody else happy."