St. Thomas Academy athletics director Reed Hornung was discussing the Cadets football team in front of the school one morning early in the school year when he noted that, via his play, Todd Rogalski had earned the nickname “Big Play Todd.”

“No one had ever called me that,” Rogalski noted this week.

Not to his face up to that point, anyway.

But it had been said — or, written.

Gerry Brown is the legendary Cadets football coach after whom the home stadium is named. He still consumes St. Thomas Academy game film and sends his observations to current head coach Travis Walch, who shares the notes with his staff.

Rogalski was a kick-blocking menace last fall, Walch noted. He blocked approximately nine kicks or punts. And as his impact plays continued to pile up, Brown started referring to Rogalski in his emails as “Big Play Todd.”

A legend was born.

Rogalski has lived up to it again this season. He leads the undefeated Cadets — who will meet Spring Lake Park in the Class 5A state semifinals at 2 p.m. Friday at U.S. Bank Stadium — in total tackles (70), tackles for loss (13, tied with Kristian Cercioglu), interceptions (three, tied with Matthew Wagner) and, yes, blocked kicks. He *only* has four of those this season, but Walch noted opponents have schemed up their protections specifically to block Rogalski.

The Cadets’ counter to that has been to sometimes have Rogalski return punts. He returned one for a score this season, and has also taken an interception and a kickoff to the house.

“I didn’t think he’d be as explosive as he was,” Walch said. “It started to flash in special teams. We had him on kick returns and you realize, ‘OK, he’s really tough to get down. He’s just wiry, strong, athletic, and he’s got vision.”

St. Thomas Academy’s Todd Rogalski (8) celebrates with his teammates after returning a punt 70 yards for a touchdown against Mahtomedi during the second half of the game at St. Thomas Academy in Mendota Heights, Wednesday, Oct. 15 2025. St. Thomas Academy won 35-7. (Craig Lassig / Special to the Pioneer Press)

The Cadets had to find more opportunities to get the ball in Rogalski’s hands, and that meant more offensive snaps. The two-way player has been a mythical being at St. Thomas Academy for years. But Walch couldn’t help but notice Chanhassen played numerous guys — including star running back Maxwell Woods — both ways in the fourth quarter of the Prep Bowl matchup between the two teams in 2023.

Since then, St. Thomas Academy has moved slowly in that direction. It started in small doses with Rogalski — a screen here, a handoff there. He was dangerous every time he touched the ball. Rogalski, who had previously pined for offensive reps, noted his opportunities were precious. So, he poured his all into every touch, and rarely went down on the first tackle attempt.

“I can’t explain it. I’ve watched football for a lot of years. He’s like bendable. He’s like one of those dolls that just bends on wires and stays on his feet,” Walch said. “I haven’t seen a lot of people like him that way.”

It went so well, St. Thomas Academy had no choice but to continue to expand the Rogalski playbook. His route tree expanded. And then he had to be out there for plays where he didn’t get the ball, too, so his presence on the field wouldn’t be a dead giveaway for what was to come.

“It started with, ‘Let’s find three to five ways to get him the ball a game,’ ” Walch said. “And now … he’s just part of our offense.”

Rogalski has six receiving touchdowns and is averaging seven yards per carry.

“It’s been really fun and awesome,” he said. “Obviously, I’m just trying to help my team in the best way possible and be the most effective player.”

That now includes being an impact player in all three phases of the game.

Rogalski may be the best kick blocker in the state. His dominance in that department started a year ago, when former Vikings special teams coordinator Marwan Maalouf, now an assistant coach with the Denver Broncos, served on the Cadets’ staff. Maalouf dialed up pressures for Rogalski, who continually delivered.

Rogalski simply sees the game at a high level and has outstanding body control; he has never accrued a roughing-the-kicker penalty. There are physical traits required for success in the kick-blocking craft.

But Walch coached special teams at the collegiate level for 13 years, and he has countless examples of guys who could reach the “block point” but couldn’t get their hands on the ball.

“It’s kind of a commitment thing. I’ve watched some of my teammates or other teams, and when they get close, they don’t fully extend all the way,” Rogalski said. “I’ve just gotten to the point where I know it doesn’t hurt (to get hit by it) and I know there’s bigger plays on defense that are going to hurt me more than that.”

And the payoff is so grand. When he watches film of his blocks, Rogalski immediately pans to the sidelines to see the team’s reaction.

“It’s worth putting your body on the line,” he said. “It’s a big momentum shifter.”

That fearlessness is part of what has made Rogalski the best player on the field in every game the Cadets have played this season, per Walch. That includes contests against players who will suit up at the Division I level next fall.

Rogalski has an offer to play for the University of St. Thomas next year, but he’s focused on finishing his senior season with the Cadets before making any decisions on that front.

Walch has told every one of his collegiate coaching colleagues about his star defensive back. Yes, Rogalski’s stature isn’t big — he’s listed at 5-foot-11, 175 pounds — but his plays sure are.

“There’s an amazing amount of confidence that he has; he’s just got a belief in himself. You try to impress on every kid in the program that, at some point, you have to give something of yourself – probably physically – for the benefit of the team. And he does it every play, every game,” Walch said. “You have to know where he’s at. … You never get a break from this kid, and he just continues to make plays. I don’t know how he does it.

“He does whatever he’s got to do to give of his body. He’s wiry and he’s small. But man, he plays heavy, and he plays big.”

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By RODRIQUE NGOWI and PATRICK WHITTLE

BOSTON (AP) — It wasn’t a croc — there really was an alligator on the loose in Boston.

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And the story of the city’s slithering saurian appears to have a happy ending. The small alligator, spotted along the Charles River in Boston multiple times this week, has been rescued and delivered to safety, wildlife officials in Massachusetts said Thursday.

The roughly foot-long crocodilian startled a few people and became an instant social media star after confused onlookers took videos of it slipping out of sight. But the animal is not native to Massachusetts, and couldn’t possibly survive the harsh New England winter, so the search for the wayward gator was on.

A local wildlife educator captured the critter on Wednesday night, and it’s now awaiting a permanent home, officials said.

Harvard University graduate student Whitney Lieberman was among the residents who caught a glimpse of the exotic visitor. She notified wildlife authorities when she saw the creature while she was jogging to work.

“Yeah, I did a double-take. For a second, I had to check myself — alligators are not native to Boston waterways, right?” Lieberman said. “I texted my coworkers because I had a morning meeting: ‘Hey guys, this is a good excuse to be late for work. There is an alligator right in front of me and I don’t know what to do.’”

This image provided by Whitney Lieberman shows a small alligator sighted on the Charles River Esplanade, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025 in Boston. (Whitney Lieberman via AP)

The animal was in jeopardy due to the chilly temperatures. It was 51 degrees Fahrenheit along the Charles on Thursday. Alligators prefer temperatures above 80 degrees. They are cold-blooded and can’t regulate their own temperature, so they enter a dormant, energy-saving state called brumation to survive colder temperatures.

Joe Kenney, who runs a wildlife education business called Joe’s Craz-zy Critters, captured the alligator, the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife said in a statement. It said the state has temporarily authorized Kenney to keep it for now while it evaluates where to find a long-term place for it.

Kenney, of Abington, Massachusetts, said the alligator, being young and just a foot long, is basically harmless to humans. He said he located it by walking in the area where it was last reported and was “a little shocked” when he found it.

Joe Kenney holds an alligator he rescued after it was discovered in Boston’s Charles River, Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025 in Abington, Mass. (AP Photo/Rodrique Ngowi)

He said fans of the reptile have reached out to him and some asked to name it “Charles.” Kenney said the animal was probably someone’s impulse purchase, but not a good idea for a pet.

“An alligator isn’t designed to live in a fish tank. Really, ideally, it should be living out in the swamp in the southern United States,” Kenney said. “And they can get pretty big. So even though this guy is still little, by the time he’s somewhere around 10, 15 years old, he’ll be an adult alligator.”

Adult alligators can grow to more than 11 feet long and weigh more than 500 pounds.

The wildlife department said the alligator’s appearance is still under investigation, but added it was most likely a pet that escaped or was intentionally released.

Joe Kenney holds an alligator he rescued after it was discovered in Boston’s Charles River, Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025 in Abington, Mass. (AP Photo/Rodrique Ngowi)

“MassWildlife is working in close collaboration with the Environmental Police to find a safe home for this alligator as an educational animal with a permitted facility. This incident serves as an important reminder that it is not legal to keep alligators or any crocodilian species as pets in Massachusetts,” state herpetologist Mike Jones said in a statement.

Alligators have a history of occasionally showing up in urban areas far from their native ranges. One, dubbed Chance the Snapper, turned up in Chicago in summer 2019 and was eventually trapped. Another one showed up on the Charles River in the Boston area in 2010.

Whittle reported from Scarborough, Maine.

By MAKIYA SEMINERA

Vital federal funding is on the way for Head Start centers that were thrown into crisis by the government shutdown, but it could take time before some children who rely on the federal program can return to preschool.

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Some centers that missed out on federal payments had to furlough staff. Others had to shut down entirely, destabilizing thousands of needy families around the country. And operators fear it could take weeks more for overdue payments to be processed.

Even when agencies receive long-delayed grant money, centers will have to rehire staff members and bring back families — both of which may have grown wary of instability in the program, which relies almost entirely on federal grants.

“The damage has been done in a lot of ways,” Massachusetts Head Start Association Executive Director Michelle Haimowitz said. “We know that it’s going to take some time to fill back up.”

About 140 Head Start programs representing 65,000 slots didn’t receive their annual grants during the 43-day shutdown, which concluded when President Donald Trump signed a government funding bill Wednesday night.

Head Start serves children from low-income families from birth to age 5. The program offers a variety of services to families, such as early learning, support for children with disabilities, free meals and health screenings.

With the shutdown over, the federal Office of Head Start will expedite funding and contact affected Head Start programs to share when they can expect federal money, said Emily Hilliard, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the program.

Head Start operators anticipate that could take weeks.

Federal workers are returning to “a mountain of work” that will take time to process, Haimowitz said. That doesn’t just include sending out missed grant awards — other paperwork for a range of technical issues has been delayed since layoffs at the Office of Head Start earlier this year, she said.

“Those delays have just been piling up since April, with no fault to the existing civil servants at the Office of Head Start,” Haimowitz said. “They just have half the capacity that they had just a few months ago.”

Families prepare for the worst-case scenario

Depending on how quickly federal workers can send out funds, the backlog in grant renewals could spill over and affect Head Start agencies that are supposed to receive funding in December, operators said. Some of the families who attend those centers are already making preparations for that worst-case scenario.

Gena Storer, who works as a home health aide in Xenia, Ohio, is trying to “make as much money as I possibly can” in case her daughter’s Head Start center closes. The center staff told parents hours before the government reopened that they still expect to shutter temporarily on Dec. 1 if funding is delayed, Storer said.

If the center closes, Storer’s 4-year-old daughter, Zarina, will stay at home until it reopens. Storer will then need to adjust her work hours to make sure she can be home with Zarina while her fiance works 12-hour shifts at a Target distribution center.

Uncertainty about SNAP federal food aid payments has also added stress for Storer’s family. Storer had been working extra hours through the shutdown to help provide for her 72-year-old mother, who also uses SNAP benefits.

“If my mom didn’t have us to help her, what would she do?” the 31-year-old said.

For Storer, Head Start has been more than a reliable option for child care. Zarina used to receive speech therapy to address her lack of speaking. But since starting Head Start in September, Storer said she’s noticed her daughter becoming more talkative and outgoing because she learns from having conversations with her classmates.

Programs pay out-of-pocket to keep doors open

Programs that stayed open without a guarantee of reimbursement by the federal government could also face further financial strains. At Louis Russ’ home day care in Knox County, Indiana, he and his wife are planning a pop-up toy shop out of their garage to offset money they might lose by staying open.

Russ and his wife started operating a day care out of their home in April and partnered soon after with East Coast Migrant Head Start Project, a nonprofit that serves children of migrant farmworkers across 10 states. Six out of the eight children in Russ’ home day care are Head Start-funded.

East Coast Migrant Head Start Project was one of the programs affected by a funding lapse, which resulted in more than 1,000 children being shut out of their centers. Russ and his wife also stopped receiving their Head Start payments at the end of October, but the decision to keep their home open was a “no brainer,” Russ said. Offering the children consistency during an otherwise unpredictable time was important to them, he said.

“Staying open and keep taking the children we have, that was the easy part,” he said. “Figuring out how we’re going to stay open if this goes on too long, that’s the tricky part.”

It’s been tense operating the program without knowing when funding will be released. Russ and his wife already took a pay cut, and they have another employee on the payroll. About three-quarters of their budget is payroll, Russ said, but other expenses like groceries and maintenance needs can stack up quickly without an income.

“Our program, being so new, we were running pretty bare bones as is,” Russ said. “And especially in child care, which doesn’t have a huge profit margin, there’s only so much wiggle room when things like this happen.”

The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

The Macalester College “community is heartbroken” by the death of a student in an off-campus accident, the St. Paul college announced Thursday.

Binta Maina, 21, was a senior biology and neuroscience major with a minor in psychology.

St. Paul police responded to a medical assist call in the Snelling-Hamline neighborhood just before 11:30 p.m. Sunday.

Multiple witnesses told officers that Maina accidentally fell down a flight of stairs inside a residence in the 1500 block of Hague Avenue where a party was taking place, according to Nikki Muehlhausen, a police spokesperson.

St. Paul Fire Department medics took Maina to the hospital.

“Binta was a cherished member of our community — bright, kind, and full of life,” according to a social media post from Macalester College. She “was known for her intelligence, her vibrant sense of style, and her deep love for her family and friends.

“We grieve this unimaginable loss alongside the Maina family, holding them — and everyone who knew and loved Binta — in our hearts during this difficult time.”

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