By Jason Feldman
Rochester Post-Bulletin
DODGE CENTER — “We Are” won out over “Row the Boat.”
Pierce Petersohn, possibly the most heavily recruited athlete from Triton High School ever, and certainly in the past 30 years, is heading east to play big-time college football. After a lengthy recruiting process, Petersohn announced his commitment to play for Penn State University on Wednesday.
“Let’s go, home!!” the high school senior-to-be wrote in a post on his X (formerly Twitter) account.
Petersohn narrowed his choice to two universities on June 17, Minnesota and Penn State. He posted a graphic that day that included a photo of him in his Triton football uniform and helmet, with the logos of the Gophers and Nittany Lions on either side of him, and a simple message: “Where’s home?!”
His decision is music to the ears of Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin and his staff. After one more school year at Triton, Petersohn will head to Happy Valley, in State College, Pa., to join a football program that earned its first College Football Playoff appearance last season, when it went 13-3 and reached the national semifinals.
Prior to Petersohn’s commitment, Penn State’s 2026 recruiting class was ranked No. 8 in the country and third in the 18-team Big Ten Conference by 247Sports. Petersohn is the Nittany Lions’ 11th four-star recruit in the class, to go along with 10 three-star athletes.
The Gophers’ class is ranked 14th.
Penn State, Minnesota, Iowa State, North Dakota, South Dakota and Northern Iowa were among the programs that traveled to Dodge Center for in-school or in-home visits with Petersohn, his coaches and his family. Petersohn also received offers from Power 4 programs Iowa, Northwestern, Duke, and Kansas State, and FCS powerhouse North Dakota State.
Because he plays at a small school, Petersohn’s status as a must-have all-around athlete for Division I programs was no doubt helped by social media. That’s what the 6-foot-5, 200-pound quarterback/defensive back has been recruited as — an athlete. His combination of size, speed, intelligence and athleticism grabbed the attention of scouts at all levels of college football and track and field.
He was named the Athlete of the Meet at the Class 1A track and field state meet two weeks ago when he scored more points for his team than any other athlete in the meet. He was the runner-up in the 400 meters (:48.16), earned fourth-place finishes in the 200 (:22.18) and high jump (6-feet-4), and a sixth-place finish in the 100 (:11.24).
As a standout guard, he was named the Gopher Conference boys basketball Player of the Year after averaging 28.8 points, 12.1 rebounds and 3.7 assists in 28 games last winter, when he became Triton’s all-time leading scorer.
Last fall, Petersohn led Triton to the Section 2, Class 2A championship, throwing for 1,470 yards, 17 touchdowns and just four interceptions, while rushing for 398 yards and nine touchdowns. He and the Cobras came within an eyelash of a trip to U.S. Bank Stadium, falling 23-22 to powerful Chatfield in the state quarterfinals.
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