9-man- Way to early 2023 outlook

[ChickenNuggets]

Here is my best guess as to how the Regions shake out next year.

Region 1:
1- LaMoure/LM
2- Wyndmere/Lidgerwood
3- Maple River
4- Seargent County

Richland
Hankinson
Hatton-Northwood
Griggs County
Enderlin
Tri-State

I think LaMoure and W/L are the top two teams and then the next 3-4 teams could be battling for the remaining two playoffs spots. in that region.

Region 2:
1- North Prairie
2- Nelson County
3- New Rockford/Sheyenne
4- St. John

Northstar
Four Winds
North Border
Larimore
Midway-Minto

This will be one of the deepest/strongest regions. in the state. The top 5-6 teams are going to be very good as long as they all stay healthy.

Region 3:
1- WNG
2- Divide County
3- Surrey
4- Tioga

Central McLean
TGU
Alexander
MLS
Dunseith
Lewis & Clark

WNG and Divide County should be towards the top of this region. Surrey is always respectable and should compete well. After that I'm not so sure. This is the region I am least familiar with.

Region 4:
1- New Salem/Almont
2- South Border
3-Grand County/Flasher
4- Linton HMB

Hettinger County
Hettinger/scranton
Napoleon
Beach
Kidder County
Richardton/Taylor/Hebron

New Salem will lose some very nice pieces to their championship team, but has a lot coming back. South Border will have a few pieces to replace as well, but I think they will be just fine. Linton and GC/F both have a really big senior class this year and will have a lot of pieces to replace. GC/F will have their All-State QB returning. He'll be a solid weapon for them. Linton HMB is a solid football program and it would be difficult to count them out in any year, but especially as they transition back down to the 9-man ranks.

[justplayalready]

Have 2 9 man playoff divisions...Play the season out and have the top 8 or 12 teams play in one playoff and take the next 16 and play another. I think there was only one, one score game in the first two rounds, the rest were all 3 score+

[ChickenNuggets]

Have 2 9 man playoff divisions...Play the season out and have the top 8 or 12 teams play in one playoff and take the next 16 and play another. I think there was only one, one score game in the first two rounds, the rest were all 3 score+

Or just have two 9-man divisions. There are 40 teams. You could easily have two 20-team divisions. You could even raise the enrollment cap a bit for the higher 9-man division. There are EIGHT 11-B schools opting down into the 9-man division for next year to begin with.

two 20-Team divisions. Each division has two 10-team East/West regions. That gives you 9 regular season games. Top 4 from each division make playoffs. That gives you 3 weeks of playoffs. Geography shouldn't matter. The playoffs are already seeded for Quarterfinals so there wouldn't be any more travel. It likely would make for much more competitive games int he regular season and eliminate some of the huge blowouts in the early rounds of the playoffs. Plus the real small schools now can have an opportunity to compete in the smaller division against similarly sized schools AND you could get rid of the ridiculous success points formula that sends schools in 9-man up to play teams 2-3 times their size.

[Sorenson23]

Region 1 - LaMoure Wyndmere-Lidgerwood, Maple River, Richland
Region 2 - North Prairie, New Rockford-Sheyenne, Nelson County, St. John
Region 3 - Divide County, Westhope-Newburg-Glenburn, Surrey, Central McLean
Region 4 - New Salem-Almont, Grant County-Flasher, Linton-HMB, South Border

Regions 1 & 2 not very familiar with. As for Region 3, Divide County has always been tough for us. The game later in the year against Westhope-Newburg-Glenburn will be a barn burner, but I have the Maroons at #1. Surrey will be three, but the fourth spot, is tricky as CM, Tioga, M-L-S, or T-G-U could come away with that fourth and final spot. I think these four beat up on each other. But, I'll give CM the slight edge, by winning the tiebreaker. Region 4, New Salem-Almont, will win the region, but 2-4 I switched up a bit. And have Grant County-Flasher at 2, Linton-HMB3, and South Border 4.

[Flip]

I heard South Border will be missing their best lineman with a concussion suffered over the summer.

[WalkingStick]

Thoughts with one week away...some are just estimated guesses

Region 1:
1- Sargent County
1- LaMoure-LM
3- Wyndmere/Lidgerwood
4- Maple River
5- Hankinson
6- Richland
7- Griggs/Midkota
8- Hatton-Northwood
9- Enderlin

Region 2:
1- North Prairie
2- New Rockford-Sheyenne/Maddock
3- North Star
4- St. John
5- Larimore
6- Nelson County
7- Four Winds
8- North Border
9- Midway-Minto

Region 3:
1- Westhope-Newburg-Glenburn
2- Divide County
3- Surrey
4- Central McLean
5- Tioga
6- Mohall-Lansford-Sherwood
7- TGU
8- Alexander
9- Lewis & Clark
10- Dunseith

Region 4:
1- New Salem-Almont
2- Linton-HMB
3- Grant County/Flasher
4- South Border
5- Hettinger County
6- Napoleon/Gackle-Streeter
7- Hettinger/Scranton
8- Kidder County
9- Beach
10- Richardton/Taylor/Hebron

Overall
1. North Prairie
2. New Salem-Almont
3. Sargent County
3. LaMoure-LM
5. Linton-HMB
6. Westhope-Newburg-Glenburn
7. Grant County/Flasher
8. Divide County
9. New Rockford-Sheyenne/Maddock
10. South Border

[vikingman]

For North Star it looks like another year of explosive offence and implosive defense.

[WalkingStick]

TGU takes down Divide County - Biggest shocker of the opening weekend so far I'd say.

[Flip]

I'll take a shot after seeing week 1 scores.

Region 1: Hard not to put SC #1 after beating LLM by 30+.
1- Sargent County
2- Wyndmere/Lidgerwood
3- LaMoure-LM
4- Maple River
5- Hankinson
6- Hatton-Northwood
7- Griggs/Midkota
8- Richland
9- Enderlin

Region 2: Kind of going out on a limb with my #1, but I remember thinking last year NC would be good this year. Same with NS, but I thought it was possible they could have some depth issues. NB winning in Hankison surprised me too
1- Nelson County
2- North Prairie
3- New Rockford-Sheyenne/Maddock
4- North Star
5- Four Winds
6- St. John
7- North Border
8- Larimore
9- Midway-Minto

Region 3: Grasping at straws here. I don't know anything about this region.
1- Westhope-Newburg-Glenburn
2- Central McLean
3- Surrey
4- Tioga
5- TGU
6- Divide County
7- Mohall-Lansford-Sherwood
8- Alexander
9- Lewis & Clark
10- Dunseith

Region 4: No Clue after the top 3. NSA didn't crush KC like I thought they would. The only really lopsided game was the SB game.
1- South Border
2- Grant County/Flasher
3- New Salem-Almont
4- Linton-HMB
5- Napoleon/Gackle-Streeter
6- Hettinger County
7- Hettinger/Scranton
8- Kidder County
9- Beach
10- Richardton/Taylor/Hebron

[WalkingStick]

Thoughts with one week away...some are just estimated guesses

Region 1:
1- Sargent County
1- LaMoure-LM
3- Wyndmere/Lidgerwood
4- Maple River
5- Hankinson
6- Richland
7- Griggs/Midkota
8- Hatton-Northwood
9- Enderlin

Region 2:
1- North Prairie
2- New Rockford-Sheyenne/Maddock
3- North Star
4- St. John
5- Larimore
6- Nelson County
7- Four Winds
8- North Border
9- Midway-Minto

Region 3:
1- Westhope-Newburg-Glenburn
2- Divide County
3- Surrey
4- Central McLean
5- Tioga
6- Mohall-Lansford-Sherwood
7- TGU
8- Alexander
9- Lewis & Clark
10- Dunseith

Region 4:
1- New Salem-Almont
2- Linton-HMB
3- Grant County/Flasher
4- South Border
5- Hettinger County
6- Napoleon/Gackle-Streeter
7- Hettinger/Scranton
8- Kidder County
9- Beach
10- Richardton/Taylor/Hebron

Overall
1. North Prairie
2. New Salem-Almont
3. Sargent County
3. LaMoure-LM
5. Linton-HMB
6. Westhope-Newburg-Glenburn
7. Grant County/Flasher
8. Divide County
9. New Rockford-Sheyenne/Maddock
10. South Border

LESS ESTIMATED GUESSES AFTER WEEK 1 - Preseason is always hard...still hard after 1 week.
Region 1:
1- Sargent County
2- LaMoure-LM
3- Wyndmere/Lidgerwood
4- Maple River
5- Hankinson
6- Hatton-Northwood
7- Griggs/Midkota
8- Richland
9- Enderlin

Region 2:
1- North Prairie
2- New Rockford-Sheyenne/Maddock
3- Nelson County
4- North Star
5- Four Winds
6- St. John
7- North Border
8- Larimore
9- Midway-Minto

Region 3:
1- Westhope-Newburg-Glenburn
2- Surrey
3- Central McLean
4- TGU
5- Divide County
6- Tioga
7- Mohall-Lansford-Sherwood
8- Alexander
9- Dunseith
10- Lewis & Clark

Region 4:
1- New Salem-Almont
2- South Border
3- Grant County/Flasher
4- Linton-HMB
5- Napoleon/Gackle-Streeter
6- Hettinger/Scranton
7- Hettinger County
8- Kidder County
9- Beach
10- Richardton/Taylor/Hebron

Overall
1. Sargent County
2. North Prairie
3. New Salem-Almont
4. Westhope-Newburg-Glenburn
5. South Border
6. New Rockford-Sheyenne/Maddock
7. LaMoure-LM
8. Grant County/Flasher
9. Nelson County
10. Linton-HMB/S-Z

[Sorenson23]

After Week 1

Region 1
1. Sargent County
2. Wyndmere-Lidgerwood
3. LaMoure-L-M
4. Hankinson

Region 2
1. North Prairie
2. Nelson County
3. New Rockford-Sheyenne-Maddock
4. North Star

Region 3
1. Westhope-Newburg-Glenburn
2. Surrey
3. Central McLean
4. TGU

Region 4
1. New Salem-Almont
2. Grant County-Flasher
3. South Border
4. Linton-HMB-Strasburg-Zeeland

[ChickenNuggets]

After week 1 here are my season prediction-

Region 1-
1- Sargent County
2- LaMoure
3- Wyndmere/Lidgerwood
4- Maple River

Region 2-
1- North Prairie
2- Nelson County
3- NR/S/M
4- 4 Winds

Region 3-
1- WNG
2- Surrey
3- TGU
4- Central McLean

Region 4-
1- New Salem
2- South Border
3- GC-F
4- Linton HMBSZ

[ndlionsfan]

For North Star it looks like another year of explosive offence and implosive defense.

My unofficial stats had NRS/M running 8 plays the entire second half and scoring 4 touchdowns (30 points). North Star stayed in the game and actually had two touchdowns called back due to penalties that really could have changed the outcome. This is despite having much less depth than NRS/M and battling some injuries throughout the game.

[Tomdawg34]

The week 1 Region 4 Rumble was alot of fun to watch and a great way to kick off the season. I only missed the Napoleon vs Hettinger County game.

Region 4:
1-South Border
2-Grand County/Flasher
3-New Salem/Almont
4-Linton HMBSZ
5-Richardton/Taylor/Hebron
6-Hettinger/Scranton
7-Napoleon
8-Hettinger County
9-Kidder County
10-Beach

New Salem didn't look great. I was surprised that Kidder County put up 18 on them, but they played tough. I'm sure NS will improve, but not sure they have the talent to win the region this year.

Hettinger-Scranton came out physical and running hard, but ran out of gas. The FB/LB Maddox Pierce seemed to make every play on offense and defense. LHMBSZ came out slinging it in the 2nd half and looked like a totally different team.

South Border came out of the gates hard and never looked back. Beach had no energy and looked lost.

Grant County has the best athlete in the Region with Javin Friesz. The game easily could have been 18-8 at the half with RTH leading. Not scoring on red zone opportunities gave GC too many chances though and GC can score very quickly if not contained.

[sportsphenom]

What is the criteria for teams opting down? I heard Sargent County was able to opt down to 9 man from 11 man and the way they looked the other night I think they would compete well in 11 man. Its hard to tell from watching online but they looked big and had 35 kids on their roster, so obviously not a numbers thing. LaMoure was ranked too high and they showed it. They have some huge shoes to fill from last year and their line is not big, they will need to make adjustments to better use their speed. Sargent County should be at or near the top at the end of the year.

[WalkingStick]

What is the criteria for teams opting down? I heard Sargent County was able to opt down to 9 man from 11 man and the way they looked the other night I think they would compete well in 11 man. Its hard to tell from watching online but they looked big and had 35 kids on their roster, so obviously not a numbers thing. LaMoure was ranked too high and they showed it. They have some huge shoes to fill from last year and their line is not big, they will need to make adjustments to better use their speed. Sargent County should be at or near the top at the end of the year.

Being right around the cutoff for A and 9-man and having a lack of success in your current level will allow for opt-downs. They are eligible for it next year too as their lack of success in 11B (A) for the past few years allows for it.

[Flip]

New Salem didn't look great. I was surprised that Kidder County put up 18 on them, but they played tough. I'm sure NS will improve, but not sure they have the talent to win the region this year.

I didn't see the game, but I was able to follow the scoring online and was surprised it was as competitive as it was. This is why I put NS #3. I've been told they graduated a lot from last year's team and this year's replacements are good but young and inexperienced. It kind of felt like they were picked #1 off of last year's championship and their tradition. I get that, football can be hard to predict before the games start.

[OdessaAardvark]

After week 1 here are my season prediction-

Region 1-
1- Sargent County
2- LaMoure
3- Wyndmere/Lidgerwood
4- Maple River

Region 2-
1- North Prairie
2- Nelson County
3- NR/S/M
4- 4 Winds

Region 3-
1- WNG
2- Surrey
3- TGU
4- Central McLean

Region 4-
1- New Salem
2- South Border
3- GC-F
4- Linton HMBSZ

Dear Nuggets,

When are the weekly "What to Watch For" updates coming through? I miss them.....

[Class B]

WNG is ranked #4 in the media polls, but I still don't think the state is ready to take them seriously. They seem to be flying under the radar. I'm not sure why though. Their QB might be one of the best overall athletes in NoDak, but the supporting cast is what makes that team dangerous.

New Salem is the top dog in the west until someone proves otherwise, but I think that team could be WNG.

[Flip]

Region winners are seeded 1-4 I assume. How is the seeding done?

[WalkingStick]

Region winners are seeded 1-4 I assume. How is the seeding done?

https://ndhsaa.com/regulations/football
Scroll to bottom
A & 9-Man follow same process this year

[Flip]

I actually just found it. Thanks.

[Flip]

Region 4 seems like a mess. Eight days ago I thought Linton had a chance to win the region and tonight they lost to Hettinger County. Napoleon was semi-competitive with South Border early and now KC drops them 42 buff. There have to be some injuries.

[5-time state chump]

I heard South Border will be missing their best lineman with a concussion suffered over the summer.

Yes. He's a boss. Huuuge difference maker. Heal up S.N!!! I hope you're ready come wrestling season!