Annunciation shooting: P.J. Fleck’s plea after Gophers beat Buffalo

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - The University of Minnesota football team opened the 2025 regular season with a 23-10 win over Buffalo Thursday night at Huntington Bank Stadium.

The game was the first public sporting event in Minneapolis since the mass shooting at Annunciation Church on Wednesday that left two children dead, and as many as 18 others wounded.

Gophers’ coach P.J. Fleck arrived to the postgame podium with a heavy heart and an impassioned plea in a nearly three-minute opening statement before he talked about the win: "I’m not a politician nor do I act as one, but there’s a lot of things that need to happen and should happen, and we need to hold people accountable to make sure that happens. These are our kids."

Read more: Annunciation School shooting: Emergency audio reveals medical response, injuries

Read more: Annunciation Church school shooting: What we know about the victims

‘We’ve been through a demonic tragedy’

What they're saying:

Fleck is in his ninth season as the Gophers’ head coach, and brought the "Row the Boat" mantra to Minnesota. It centers around overcoming adversity. Fleck has two children of his own, and lost a child shortly after birth.

But his tone Thursday night was that of passion and anger. Children at a Catholic mass at the start of the school year were targeted by a gunman before they took their own life. In the grand scheme of things, a Gophers football game really doesn’t mean much.

Fleck hopes it provided a distraction for grieving families, and a glimmer of hope.

"I’m not a politician, I don’t have to be a politician nor do I want to be a politician. We’ve been through a demonic tragedy over the past few days, and that’s felt by every single person in our city, in our state. I’m a husband and a father first, our thoughts, our hearts, our prayers are with every single family that is going through an unthinkable, horrific tragedy," Fleck said. "Unimaginable, and there’s way more important things than football, but we’re the first team to play since that. We talked to our team about the tragedy, we said that we’re playing for so many more people than just our locker room and our fans. We’re playing to give hope to people for maybe a minute, that’s what Row the Boat is all about. It’s unthinkable to know what those families are going through, but I truly hope that we brought a little glimpse of hope. It is the smallest thing right now, we’re thinking about every single person involved in that tragedy."

Moments of silence

What we know:

The Gophers held a moment of silence before kickoff Thursday night to honor the victims. The Minnesota Twins did the same before Wednesday night’s game at the Toronto Blue Jays.