For the third time in five seasons, Prior Lake has a player nominated for the Mr. Football Award.

Senior Preston Jelen is one of 11 finalists. The award is sponsored by the Minnesota High School Football Coaches Association and the Minnesota Vikings. It will be presented Dec. 5 at a banquet at the Doubletree by Hilton in St. Louis Park.

Other finalists include: Ronald Audette of Elk River, Ty Barron of Minnetonka, Michael Empting of Alexandria, Isaac Hennen of Minneota, Owen King of Caledonia, Conner Knoepfle of Andover, Carter Kopet of Cleveland, Antonio Montero of Eden Prairie, Spencer Rolland of Apple Valley and Brevyn Spann-Ford of St. Cloud Tech.

Jelen helped Prior Lake to a 7-4 overall record this past fall, including a spot into the Class 6A state quarterfinals. It was the Lakers' first state berth since 2014 and fourth since 2011.

Jelen finished with 635 rushing yards this past season and had 149 yards receiving, along with seven total touchdowns (six rushing and one receiving).

In 2014, Alex Hart was up for the Mr. Football Award for Prior Lake, while Blake Weber was nominated in 2013.

Meanwhile, four days after the Mr. Football winner is announced, Jelen will complete in his final high school game. He was selected to play in the 45th annual Minnesota Football Coaches Association Tackle Cancer All-Star Football Game Dec. 9 at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis at 3 p.m.

Jelen will play for Team South. To see complete rosters from the north and south, go to www.mnfootballcoaches.com.

Eighty-eight seniors are selected to play in the game. For the eighth consecutive year, the game will be a north-south format. This is the second time the all-star game will be played in December. In the past, the game has been played in the summer.

The first all-star football games were played in 1945, 1946 and 1952 through 1960, before the current annual series began at Memorial Stadium in 1974. The game has been played at nine different locations during its history with the former Parade Stadium in Minneapolis being the most frequent site (19 games).