Week 4- What to Watch!

[ChickenNuggets]

Week 4 should produce some fun football games around the state. Here are my top games from each region that I think will be worth keeping an eye on.

Region 1
2-1 Central Cass @ 2-1 Lisbon
After dropping a game to Kindred, Lisbon has looked strong. They're coming off a blowout a week ago and get to play at home. Central Cass has sandwiched a pair of wins around a 1-score loss to Oakes so far this season. Their offense has looked solid in their wins, but they're giving up some points even in those wins. I think the unsure defensive play of Central Cass paired with going on the road leads to a Broncos win in Lisbon. 34-22 Lisbon Actual Score- Central Cass 36-6

Region 2
3-0 Bottineau @ 1-2 Harvey Wells County
Bottineau is flying high after a huge win over #2 Langdon last week, a team that Harvey/WC lost to a week prior by a 40 point margin. I picked this game, however, as the traditional football power H/WC is essentially playing for their post-season. With two Region 2 losses already tallied on the ledger, HWC must win this game or get a win against Hillsboro?CV in a couple weeks. Bottineau is playing well, but sometimes a team can get knocked back down to earth after a huge win if they're not careful and HWC is a dangerous team who has a lot to play for in an almost must-win type scenario. That said, I'm still taking the Braves to keep their unbeaten record on the season. Bottineau wins 30-14 Actual Score- Bottineau 46-20

Region 3
2-1 Kenmare/Bowbells/Burke Central @ 0-2 Des Lacs/Burllilngton
Kenmare started the season on fire knocking off Bowman County and Southern McLean, but they suffered a set-back in Region 3 play last week as they lost 35-0 to Bishop Ryan. DLB is 0-2 and has been outscored 76-6. That can be deflating, but those two losses come to a pair of top 5 teams in Trinity and Velva who have been very dominant. DLB could certainly use a win here as a springboard to bounce back and salvage their season. bottom line is, these are two teams who have a lot to play for. I do think they can BOTH still be playoff teams as my gut says the winner of this game finishes #3 and the loser #4 in the region. So whoever wins this one has a huge advantage to stamping a playoff ticket and the loser has a very thin margin for error. Give me the Honkers to win 36-22. Actual Score- Des Lacs/Burlington 34-0

Region 4
3-0 Dickinson Trinity @ 3-0 Shiloh Christian
This has to be my pick for game of the week for 11B Football in Week 4. Shiloh has been dominant, recording a shutout and only allowing 1 score in each of the other two games. Trinity has been very explosive offensively and has been solid on defense as well. They've given up a few more scores, but have come late in games when the outcome is a foregone conclusion. I am going to go with Trinity in this one. I'm not sure what to expect for a score, but I will say this could certainly be a statement game for the Titans. If they are able to win big in this one it would go a long way towards a possible top-2 overall playoff seed and home filed throughout the playoffs.
Actual Score- Trinity 49-35

Week 4 Pick-em Record- 2-2; Season record to this point- 9-6