Chad Greenway, an advocate of high school sports, has helped launch an app in Minnesota that provides real-time scoring updates for prep sporting events.

The MN Scores app is modeled after SD Scores and provides results, rosters, schedules, standings and rankings for the Land of 10,000 Lakes. The apps also provide livestream links to games. 

Greenway, a Mount Vernon native and former Minnesota Vikings linebacker, was introduced to SD Scores at a basketball game last season watching his niece and nephew -- Reagan and Reed Rus -- play for Mount Vernon/Plankinton. 

Greenway downloaded it and was immediately impressed with the app, which allows fans to punch in football, volleyball and basketball scores on game nights. 

So when his oldest daughter, Maddyn, started playing basketball the following month in Minnesota, he noticed a void and information was hard to find around the state.

Soon afterward, Greenway contacted SD Scores developer Adam Aughenbaugh about bringing the similar approach to Minnesota.  

“I really loved how complete South Dakota Scores was and how clean it was,” Greenway told 605 Sports. “So I reached out via the app to Adam and basically sent him a message and said how do we bring this to Minnesota?”

It started an unlikely partnership between an 11-year NFL veteran and a recent South Dakota State University data science graduate. How did Aughenbaugh, a Minnesota Vikings fan, react to receiving a message from Greenway?

“I was over the moon and working with him since then has obviously been a lot of fun,” said Aughenbaugh, who is from De Smet. “I didn’t know how hands-on he would be, but he exceeded expectations there and obviously he brings a lot of energy to helping bring this to Minnesota.”

Aughenbaugh launched SD scores as a website in 2019 and it debuted as an app last fall. Aughenbaugh had considered taking the app into other states. So coupled with Greenway’s interest, the timing was perfect for Aughenbaugh to dip into Minnesota. 

“Being a neighboring state like that, that was one of them we were looking at going toward next,” Aughenbaugh said. “We would like to really hone what we do and do it well in South Dakota first. I think we’ve done a good job with that and with Chad being on board, we were able to sort of carry that over into Minnesota.” 

The MN Scores app, like SD Scores, is available on Google Play and the Apple App store. The Minnesota version also provides services for football, volleyball and basketball. But hockey, the state’s premier sport, will be added in the winter as the app continues to grow.

“We are now a couple weeks into both volleyball and football over there,” Aughenbaugh said. “People are learning about the app and they are hopping on. We are seeing more and more people scoring games and our traffic has been increasing. Obviously, Chad has helped to accelerate that and help spread awareness over there in Minnesota.”

In Minnesota, Greenway has done interviews with media outlets to help spread the word about the fan-driven app and joked “sometimes not shutting up about it to people.”

“I explained to them that this is our product and this is certainly our company,” Greenway said. “But this is really a fan experience and we want this to be the go-to app for everything and for everybody.”

Greenway not only helped launch MN Scores, but he’s also going to update fans on the app for years to come. Greenway and his wife, Jennifer, have four daughters between the ages of four and 14 years old.

The four daughters -- Maddyn, Beckett, Blakely and Carsyn -- are already active in sports. Maddyn, who is an eighth-grader at Providence Academy, averaged 21 points last season in basketball and helped the Lions reach the state tourney. 

This season and moving forward, Greenway will update Providence Academy’s scores on game nights. 

“I will be updating scores on the app and so I will be just like everybody else -- a parent and a fan,” Greenway said. “I have four daughters from 14 down to four. So I am going to be in high school sports for a long time and I am really excited about it. My wife and I talk about it all the time. She grew up in the Chicagoland area in Joliet and high school sports are so important back there as well. We just love it so much that we are excited to kind of live in this world for the next 14 years and have somebody playing high school sports for that many years in a row.”

And for Greenway, who was an All-American at the University of Iowa and a two-time NFL Pro Bowler, there’s nothing like high school sports. He powered Stickney/Mount Vernon to consecutive Class 9AA state football championships in 1999 and 2000, while also starring in basketball, baseball and track and field. 

“High school sports are what it’s all about,” Greenway said. “If you were to ask me my favorite sports memory in the history of my life, it would be from high school. There’s just no question about it. The innocence of it. The culture behind it. The community behind it. I have obviously been at every level and there’s nothing like it.”