2023 Class A State Football Playoffs

[Sorenson23]

First Round
Saturday October 21st
G1- (#1) R3#1 Velva-Drake-Anamoose-Garrison def R4#4 Bowman County 52-20
G2 - R4#2 (RV)Shiloh Christian def R3#3 Bishop Ryan 28-14
G3 - (#4) R4#1 Dickinson Trinity def R3#4 Stanley 42-6
G4 - R4#3 Killdeer def R3#2 Des Lacs-Burlington 21-20

G5 - (#2) R1#1 Kindred def R2#4 Harvey-Wells County 49-6
G6 - R1#3 Oakes def R2#2 Carrington 27-21
G7 - (#3) R2#1 Langdon-Edmore-Munich def R1#4 Lisbon 33-0
G8 - R1#2 Central Cass def R2#3 Cavalier 42-0

Quarterfinals
Saturday October 28th
G9 - (#1) R3#1 Velva-Drake-Anamoose-Garrison def R4#2 Shiloh Christian 44-14
G10 - (#4) R4#1 Dickinson Trinity def Killdeer 35-13
G11 - (#2) R1#1 Kindred def R1#3 Oakes 39-6
G12 - (#3) R2#1 Langdon-Edmore-Munich def R1#2 Central Cass 26-14

Semi-Finals
Saturday November 4th
G13 - R4#1 Dickinson Trinity def R3#1 (#1) Velva-Drake-Anamoose-Garrison 45-34
G14 - (#2) R1#1 Kindred def (#3) R2#1 Langdon-Edmore-Munich 34-32

Dakota Bowl
Friday November 11th
G15 - State A Title Game - (#2) R1#1 Kindred def (#4) R4#1 Dickinson Trinity 36-7

[WalkingStick]

Correct Bracket
G1 - (6-3) R4#4 Bowman County @ R3#1 Velva-Drake-Anamoose-Garrison (9-0)
G2 - (5-4) R3#3 Bishop Ryan @ R4#2 Shiloh Christian (8-1)
G3 - (4-5) R3#4 Stanley @ R4#1 Dickinson Trinity (9-0)
G4 - (7-2) R4#3 Killdeer @ R3#2 Des Lacs-Burlington (7-2)

G5 - (5-4) R2#4 Harvey-Wells County @ R1#1 Kindred (8-0)
G6 - (6-2) R1#3 Oakes @ R2#2 Carrington (6-3)
G7 - (5-3) R1#4 Lisbon @ R2#1 Langdon-Edmore-Munich (8-0)
G8 - (6-3) R2#3 Cavalier @ R1#2 Central Cass (7-1)

[Sorenson23]

Updated, thanks. Was going by my train of thought, as NDHSAA didn't have the 9 Man bracket until this evening.

[ChickenNuggets]

Looking at the bracket, If I was one of the seeded teams, I would want to be sitting in Trinity's spot on the bracket as I feel they have the best path of the 4 seeded teams to the semi-finals. That said, It made me think "What would the bracket look like if they seeded the #1 and 2 finishers in each region to 8 places?"

Bowman County @ #1 Velva
Oakes @ #8 Carrington

Cavalier @ #5 Central Cass
Stanley @ #4 Dickinson Trinity

Bishop Ryan @ #6 Shiloh Christian
Lisbon # #3 Langdon

Harvey @ #2 Kindred
Killdeer @ #7 Des Lacs/Burlington

[Sorenson23]

Velva-Drake-Anamoose-Garrison by 30+
Shiloh Christian by 20
Trinity by 30+
Des Lacs-Burlington by 10

Kindred by 20+
Oakes by 18
Langdon-Edmore-Munich by 20
Central Cass by 30+

[maddog1971]

Ok... I don't understand... DT is 3rd basically the whole year but when it comes time for the playoffs they drop to 4th? What.... I would be very angry if I was their team. Now they have to face the number 1 team in the state? Please don't tell me this is just about travel. I know Bowman County did none stop complaining about have to drive to Kindred a few years ago but it is a state playoff game... travel should not come into play here. This is State.

[Flip]

Ok... I don't understand... DT is 3rd basically the whole year but when it comes time for the playoffs they drop to 4th? What.... I would be very angry if I was their team. Now they have to face the number 1 team in the state? Please don't tell me this is just about travel. I know Bowman County did none stop complaining about have to drive to Kindred a few years ago but it is a state playoff game... travel should not come into play here. This is State.

-Top four teams in each region as determined by region record will qualify for the playoffs

-Coaches vote will rank the four region champs and seed them #1-4

-If like seeded teams meet in the playoffs, QRF will determine the home team

-First round matchups:

Reg 1 #1 vs Reg 2 #4

Reg 2 #2 vs Reg 1 #3

Reg 2 #1 vs Reg 1 #4

Reg 1 #2 vs Reg 2 #3

Reg 3 #1 vs Reg 4 #4

Reg 4 #2 vs Reg 3 #3

Reg 4 #1 vs Reg 3 #4

Reg 3 #2 vs Reg 4 #3

https://ndhsaa.com/regulations/football

[WalkingStick]

Ok... I don't understand... DT is 3rd basically the whole year but when it comes time for the playoffs they drop to 4th? What.... I would be very angry if I was their team. Now they have to face the number 1 team in the state? Please don't tell me this is just about travel. I know Bowman County did none stop complaining about have to drive to Kindred a few years ago but it is a state playoff game... travel should not come into play here. This is State.

Media (3rd) vs Random Formula (1st) vs Coaches (4th)

Has nothing to do with travel…has to do with the vote by coaches.

[maddog1971]

Ok... So the Coaches vote for the Rankings. I would have had
1 Langdon
2 Velva
3 Kindred
4 Central Cass
5 Trinity

Central Cass only loss was at Kindred squad that was at full strength( Not any more). If they meet again... it will be a much closer game with a coin flip on who wins.

I was hoping for a Langdon and Kindred match up in the Dome but that is not going to happen.

[WalkingStick]

Coaches vote for the #1 seeds ONLY

[maddog1971]

The thing I am not getting is how did Langdon jump up to 3 and DT drop to 4 When DT has been 3 most of the year. Now Langdon has to go through Kindred and CC to get to Dome? Those two games could have been State Championship games. Now it is Second and 3rd round with Velva having to play no one.

[Flip]

The thing I am not getting is how did Langdon jump up to 3 and DT drop to 4 When DT has been 3 most of the year. Now Langdon has to go through Kindred and CC to get to Dome? Those two games could have been State Championship games. Now it is Second and 3rd round with Velva having to play no one.

This is the first time the coaches seeded these teams so how do you know they didn't feel DT was the 4th best team all year long?

[ChickenNuggets]

The thing I am not getting is how did Langdon jump up to 3 and DT drop to 4 When DT has been 3 most of the year. Now Langdon has to go through Kindred and CC to get to Dome? Those two games could have been State Championship games. Now it is Second and 3rd round with Velva having to play no one.

DT was 3 and Langdon 4 all year in the media poll that is voted on by newspaper columnists and radio guys from around the state. Some who only see their corner of the state all year.

The playoff seeding was voted on by the 4 head coaches of the teams who won their regions. Their opinions likely were different from that of the media voting in the other poll all year.

[bk1990]

The thing I am not getting is how did Langdon jump up to 3 and DT drop to 4 When DT has been 3 most of the year. Now Langdon has to go through Kindred and CC to get to Dome? Those two games could have been State Championship games. Now it is Second and 3rd round with Velva having to play no one.

I don't think seeding and coach votes matter. The two west regions play each other and send the last team standing to the Dome, same with the East. Not saying the two best teams won't make it, but could it be Langdon/KIndred or Velva/Trinity in the championship if they did true seeding? I get it, it would be a long drive for Stanley to go to Kindred if that is how the seeding worked, or Langdon and Bowman County. But you want the two best teams to play in the end. The playoff games are on Saturdays for the most part, so it's not like the kids are being pulled out of school, just schedule a little later on Saturday if it is a long drive. There might occasionally be a conflict with field availability, such as Ryan using Minot State's field, if they were hosting, but these would be limited occasions. I just feel the top two teams should meet in the end. Not saying they won't, but use the QRF (?) ranking to try to get true rankings going into the playoffs, not opinions. I know the consensus is Velva is #1. I had the opportunity to see them and Trinity play this year. If they do meet up, I think it could be a toss up. They are very similar. Good skill players, but I feel Trinity may have the edge in the trenches, but Velva does have a great program and their players play they way they are taught and maybe overperform, however, this could be the upset out of the west and could come down to just a few plays making the difference.

[ChickenNuggets]

The thing about the seeding is that it really doesn't affect anything until Semi-finals. Seed Langdon #4 and DT #3 and it doesn't make a huge difference. Langdon still has Lisbon and likely Central Cass in the first two rounds, Then probably Velva instead of Kindred. Trinity has the same opponents first two rounds, then Kindred instead of Velva.

Region 1 is the powerhouse this year in 11B football. That punishes Langdon for being their geographical neighbor. Seeding through 8 teams would be a way to fairly reward the top 4 seeds. The top 4 teams are very good and they'll have a tough game come semi-finals regardless of who they play, but I don't think anyone is going to disagree that Langdon as a 3 seed has a much more difficult quarterfinal game than Trinity as a #4. If seeding was done to 8 places, Central Cass most likely would have been #5 and played Trinity in round 2 instead of Langdon while Langdon probably plays Shiloh. Velva,the #1 seed probably plays the #6 team in the state in round 2 (Shiloh) instead of playing the #8 team (DLB or Carrington). which I feel is a big difference. Seeding the 4 region champs would be great if they were the only 4 contenders, but there are 5-6 teams this year capable of making a big run and knocking off a top-4 team.

I also don't buy the argument that "Travel is too far" for a second when it comes to Football Playoffs. The Fargo schools travel to Bismarck and vice versa multiple times per year for regular season games. Watford City had 7 teams in their region in the red river valley a couple years ago. basketball teams will cross the state multiple times looking for good competition. Wrestling travels all over the state for big tournaments. It's common for Northern Lights (Rolla) to attend tournaments in Linton & New Salem during the regular season. Dickinson Trinity and Shiloh were at a regular season volleyball tournament in Langdon a couple weekends ago. There's never an issue with travel for any of these events, but some people want to cry and make a fuss about football playoff travel distances.

[maddog1971]

Well whomever makes it out of the East side of the state is going to be beat up. Very physical and some really good teams battling. Injuries will be a factor. The West basically only has one real team that is a hard nose team. DT is a very good football team but I don't feel they are very physical so the team coming out of that side of the state will not be beat up.
Right now Kindred looks like they will be without Sunram, 3 injured running backs and a hobbled QB. All play on defense as well. And I am sure the other teams in the East have similar problems. DT and Velva have not had to play their varsity for 4 quarters all year... maybe once each.

[Class B]

Did I miss something? What happened to Sunram?

[Your daddy]

It's a good thing kindred has 70 other kids on the roster then. They'll be just fine.

[Class B]

Well whomever makes it out of the East side of the state is going to be beat up. Very physical and some really good teams battling. Injuries will be a factor. The West basically only has one real team that is a hard nose team. DT is a very good football team but I don't feel they are very physical so the team coming out of that side of the state will not be beat up.
Right now Kindred looks like they will be without Sunram, 3 injured running backs and a hobbled QB. All play on defense as well. And I am sure the other teams in the East have similar problems. DT and Velva have not had to play their varsity for 4 quarters all year... maybe once each.

How much of a concern is conditioning for those teams?

[Flip]

How much of a concern is conditioning for those teams?

None.

[maddog1971]

It's a good thing kindred has 70 other kids on the roster then. They'll be just fine.

You are so wrong.... I think they have 100 kids playing.

It looks like Sunram will play but how much he can go is in question. He has lots of kids living at his ankles and one blocker got his ankle. He really only played 1st quarter against EEK

[Buck]

Kindred 49
HWC 6
Final

[Buck]

Central Cass 42
Cavalier 0
Final

[WalkingStick]

Oakes def. Carrington 27-21
Langdon/Edmore/Munich def. Lisbon 33-0
Dickinson Trinity def. Stanley 42-0

[Sorenson23]

Updated 10/21/23 @ 8:12 pm