North Dakota Preps

Will Bowman County coming to St. John be the longest trip ever for a 9 man playoff game? or any game for that matter.

It'll be close that's for sure. I would assume when North Border was in the west for football they had some long road trips as well.

woodchuck10 wrote:Will Bowman County coming to St. John be the longest trip ever for a 9 man playoff game? or any game for that matter.

one of longest 9-man possibly...but it won't be EVER when next year's AA starts up.

Watford City to Wahpeton is 424 miles

I believe Bowman to St. John is about 364 miles
Last year St. John had to go to Hettinger which is 350 miles
2012 & 2009 - Beach to Cando was 346 miles
1997: Mohall to Forman was 329 miles
1991: Westhope to Hankinson was 359 miles

Class A
2012: Westhope and Milnor was 317 miles
2005: North Border traveled to Killdeer - 339 miles

Class AA - 2013 & 2014: Watford City traveled to Shanley - 377 miles
Class AA - 2008: Oak Grove/Park Christian traveled to Watford City - 377 miles

I believe South Border travelled to North Border a time or two. Pretty long trip, but probably not the longest

ndlionsfan wrote:I believe South Border travelled to North Border a time or two. Pretty long trip, but probably not the longest

2008: roughly 315 miles (Ashley to Pembina)

Here are some other ones I found for 9-man

2015 - 347 miles (Hettinger/Scranton vs. North Prairie)
1994 - 345 miles (Grenora vs. Edgeley/Kulm)

I know Cavalier has had to travel to Dickinson Trinity in the past for playoff games. 381 miles according to google maps.

Class AA & AAA matchups can tend to be longer...as a few I listed above.

2011: Bottineau to Wahpeton - 319 miles
2005: Dickinson to GFC - 348 miles
1998: Wahpeton to Dickinson - 340 miles
1984: Dickinson to GFRR - 348 miles

The only way that they could get much longer would be if 9 man would start cross bracketing

The Schwab wrote:The only way that they could get much longer would be if 9 man would start cross bracketing

Could you imagine Bowman to North Border or vice versa? Or Divide to Richland?

The Schwab wrote:The only way that they could get much longer would be if 9 man would start cross bracketing

They sorta did that in 2002 for the Class A playoffs. Instead of splitting the two brackets east/west (1/2, 3/4), that season they split them north/south (1/4, 2/3). The first round pairings were:

• Belfield/South Heart @ Carrington
• Wyndmere/Lidgerwood @ Washburn
• Oakes @ Killdeer
• Bowman @ LaMoure
• Renville County @ Larimore
• Langdon @ Stanley/Powers Lake
• Thompson @ Velva/Sawyer
• Kenmare/Bowbells @ Harvey

So there were some pretty far drives. The NDHSAA scrapped this plan after one season and reverted back to the east/west format (and I wonder why... )

ndlionsfan wrote:

The Schwab wrote:The only way that they could get much longer would be if 9 man would start cross bracketing

Could you imagine Bowman to North Border or vice versa? Or Divide to Richland?

South Dakota does statewide bracketing based on power points after the first round. A couple years ago Harding County (far north west SD) played a team from south of Sioux Falls (extreme south east SD). It was a 500 mile drive, and they we're the 2/3 seeds off of power points (teams were separated by less than half a point) and that dictated who had to make the 7+ hour drive. They also do their playoffs different (first round is a Tuesday, Second is a Monday and 3rd is a Saturday). Last year DeSmet had to travel to Buffalo (350 miles) on a Monday night. Really interesting and unique situation.

An update: After the first round of playoffs in SD last night (one game got moved to today) but a quarterfinal match is set. This game will be played on Monday October 31. Harding County SD (Buffalo) plays Alecestor-Hudson SD. The distance between Alcestor and Buffalo is 504 miles, AH will have to travel 7 plus hours one way on a school night to probably get beat by 40.

The Schwab wrote:An update: After the first round of playoffs in SD last night (one game got moved to today) but a quarterfinal match is set. This game will be played on Monday October 31. Harding County SD (Buffalo) plays Alecestor-Hudson SD. The distance between Alcestor and Buffalo is 504 miles, AH will have to travel 7 plus hours one way on a school night to probably get beat by 40.

You cant have stories for the grand kids if you never did it....

The Schwab wrote:An update: After the first round of playoffs in SD last night (one game got moved to today) but a quarterfinal match is set. This game will be played on Monday October 31. Harding County SD (Buffalo) plays Alecestor-Hudson SD. The distance between Alcestor and Buffalo is 504 miles, AH will have to travel 7 plus hours one way on a school night to probably get beat by 40.

I don't really have a problem with the travel for a quarterfinal game. On a Monday is ridiculous though.

MN's first round of state, also a quarterfinal game, rotates Sections 1,2,3, and 4 versus each other and Sections 5,6,7 and 8 versus each other just to reduce travel and these are Friday or Saturday games. This is for 9 man and I believe the other lower classes too. If you make the semi finals you have to travel to Minneapolis on the plus side you get to play at US Bank stadium.

I like the cross bracketing! But the Monday travel is insane!

I kind of like the cross-bracketing. If the two best teams happen to be from the same region or same half of the state even, I think they should have an opportunity to play in the state championship. With that said, I've seen a few times recently, not necessarily in 9-man, that the "State Championship" was supposedly played in the semi-finals and then that team went on to lose. I think about Park River's 1st championship 2 years ago against Killdeer. Everyone and their dog was talking about the Killdeer/Hazen Semi-final being the real title game. But I have a also seen it go the other way where the two best teams do play in the semi-finals because they happen to both be from the East or West and then the finals game is a blowout.

Before seeding was introduced...this seemed to occur in BB & VB occasionally. Cross-bracketing would be nice but don't see it happening anytime soon in ND for 9-man or A FB