Semi-Finals- What to Watch

[ChickenNuggets]

The top four seeds all have advanced to the state semi-finals for the second straight season. All Four semi-final teams come into the game with identical 10-0 records for the second straight season! I do think that these four teams truly are the top four teams in the state and from this point on, nothing will really surprise me all that much.

#4 Cavalier (10-0) @ #1 LaMoure/L/M (10-0)
The obvious story line here is that this is a rematch of last year's Dakota Bowl. The Loboes have been dominant all season long, including their first two playoff games. Cavalier has been equally impressive. Although they played a few closer games in the regular season, they have been dominating in the playoffs. Both teams are averaging well over 40 points per game offensively. Both teams have tremendous defense. LaMoure has 7 shutouts through 10 games while Cavalier has 5 of their own. Cavalier will have to play a perfect game to get a win on the road. They are capable of doing that. They have the post-season experience playing and winning close games including multiple overtime games over the past three seasons. That said, That's tough to do in a place like LaMoure. Should be an excellent game. Hard to pick against either team. Draw them out of a hat. I predict a 1-score game.

#3 North Prairie (10-0) @ #2 New Salem/Almont (10-0)
North Prairie is always a solid team, but I have to say they kind of came out of nowhere this season. They were a playoff team last year finishing third in their region and exiting the playoffs in the second round. This year they have run the gauntlet going 10-0 to this point while playing a very tough schedule. New Salem/Almont is right back in the exact same position as they were a year ago. Undefeated, At home, in the Semi-finals as the #2 overall seed in the playoffs. Last year they were a 2-point conversion away from a trip to the Dakota Bowl. That memory has to linger and be a driving force for them to get through this round and move on to the next step in a quest for a state title. Like the other semi-final game, I do think that these teams are very similar in a lot of ways. Both teams have big, physical lines. The battle between All-Staters AJ Heins and Nate Tastad could be very fun to watch all afternoon!. Both teams have solid weapons on offense including mobile quarterbacks and solid running backs. Both teams play physical defense. I'm not sure who is going to win this game, but it will be a fun one to watch! Something in my gut tells me that the Cougars go on the road and win a very close game. North Prairie wins 26-24.

[defensewinsgames]

Another interesting subplot of the Cavalier LaMoure game is that if Cavalier wins they will be forced to move up to 11 man. Kind of a unique and unsavory situation...."Congratulations you're going to a state championship! Also have fun in 11 man!"

[ChickenNuggets]

Another interesting subplot of the Cavalier LaMoure game is that if Cavalier wins they will be forced to move up to 11 man. Kind of a unique and unsavory situation...."Congratulations you're going to a state championship! Also have fun in 11 man!"

Very interesting subplot- Obviously there are no previous examples of teams in 9-man being moved up due to success points, but there have been a number of teams who have moved up recently for enrollment reasons.

Thompson- They were the 2018 state champions in 9-man football going undefeated. They moved up to 11-man in 2019 and have been 11 man ever since. In the four seasons since moving up they have won just 1 playoff game, but have qualified for the playoffs all four years.
(9man)-12-0 State Champs in 9-man
2019 (11-man)- 7-3, won a first round playoff game and lost in quarterfinals
2020 (11-man)- 6-3 lost in first round of playoffs
2021 (11-man)- 5-5 lost in first round of playoffs
2022 (11-man)- 7-3 lost in first round of playoffs

Linton-After winning the 2020 state 9-man championship they moved up to 11 man (They will be moving back to 9-man next season). they're 7-10 combined in 11-man with no playoff appearances.
2020 (9-man) - 9-2- State 9-man Champions
2021 (11 Man)- 3-6- Didn't make playoffs
2022 (11-man)- 4-4- DIdn't make playoffs

New Salem had a brief stint in 11 man as well.
2016 (9-man) 10-2- State 9-man Runner-up
2017 (9-man) 10-1- Lost in 9-man Semi-finals
2018 (9-man) 11-1- State 9-man Runner-ups
2019 (11-man)- 7-3- Lost in first round of playoffs
2020 (11-man) 5-4- Did not make playoffs
2021 (9-man) 10-1- Lost in 9-man Semi-finals
2022 (9-man) 10-0 will play in semi-finals

Bottineau has gone back and forth over the past couple of seasons as well.
2019 (11-man) 0-9
2020 (11man) 2-7
2021 (9-man) 10-1. Lost in Semifinals
2022 (11 Man) 8-2, lost in first round of playoffs.

The only example of any team being moved up a division due to success points would be St. Mary's this year.
2018 (Class A)- 9-2- State Runner-up (3 points)
2019 (Class A) 7-3- Lost in State Semi-finals (2 Points)
2020 (Class A) 11-0 State Champions (4 Points)
2021 (Class A) 10-2 State Runner up (3 Points)
2022 (Class AA)- 3-6, Did not make playoffs, but did beat the Class A #1 overall seed for the playoffs.

[WalkingStick]

Cavalier prepared for this possibility though by playing two 11-man games to start the season (maybe not the best competition but they won them).

[ndlionsfan]

I understand the opt ups due to success points and the idea behind it. What I don't understand in the football plan is the opt downs from 11man to 9man. I know if you are in the bottom half of the enrollment in that division and you don't have any playoffs, you have the ability to drop down. For me, its the 9man teams that have the enrollment to be 11man, but continue to opt down to 9man. Surrey is one I'll use for an example. They have made the 9man playoffs for the past 3 seasons I believe. Certainly not dominating, but consistently a 9man playoff team. When are they forced to stay in 11man for a couple years? Or is it because they don't have 11man success points and they aren't dominating as much as Cavalier in 9man, they are continuously able to opt back down?

[ChickenNuggets]

I understand the opt ups due to success points and the idea behind it. What I don't understand in the football plan is the opt downs from 11man to 9man. I know if you are in the bottom half of the enrollment in that division and you don't have any playoffs, you have the ability to drop down. For me, its the 9man teams that have the enrollment to be 11man, but continue to opt down to 9man. Surrey is one I'll use for an example. They have made the 9man playoffs for the past 3 seasons I believe. Certainly not dominating, but consistently a 9man playoff team. When are they forced to stay in 11man for a couple years? Or is it because they don't have 11man success points and they aren't dominating as much as Cavalier in 9man, they are continuously able to opt back down?

Opt Downs will be forced back up if they achieve 8 success points over a 4-year period. Then they have to be there for at least 2 years and if they have 2 success points or below they can opt back down again.

[ndlionsfan]

I understand the opt ups due to success points and the idea behind it. What I don't understand in the football plan is the opt downs from 11man to 9man. I know if you are in the bottom half of the enrollment in that division and you don't have any playoffs, you have the ability to drop down. For me, its the 9man teams that have the enrollment to be 11man, but continue to opt down to 9man. Surrey is one I'll use for an example. They have made the 9man playoffs for the past 3 seasons I believe. Certainly not dominating, but consistently a 9man playoff team. When are they forced to stay in 11man for a couple years? Or is it because they don't have 11man success points and they aren't dominating as much as Cavalier in 9man, they are continuously able to opt back down?

Opt Downs will be forced back up if they achieve 8 success points over a 4-year period. Then they have to be there for at least 2 years and if they have 2 success points or below they can opt back down again.

Thank you. I suppose we are just getting to that 4 year period about now since this idea was implemented?

[ChickenNuggets]

I understand the opt ups due to success points and the idea behind it. What I don't understand in the football plan is the opt downs from 11man to 9man. I know if you are in the bottom half of the enrollment in that division and you don't have any playoffs, you have the ability to drop down. For me, its the 9man teams that have the enrollment to be 11man, but continue to opt down to 9man. Surrey is one I'll use for an example. They have made the 9man playoffs for the past 3 seasons I believe. Certainly not dominating, but consistently a 9man playoff team. When are they forced to stay in 11man for a couple years? Or is it because they don't have 11man success points and they aren't dominating as much as Cavalier in 9man, they are continuously able to opt back down?

Opt Downs will be forced back up if they achieve 8 success points over a 4-year period. Then they have to be there for at least 2 years and if they have 2 success points or below they can opt back down again.

Thank you. I suppose we are just getting to that 4 year period about now since this idea was implemented?

I think that the success points rule is only about 2 years old but it was also retroactive when it went into effect, hence St. Mary's being moved up this season.

[bison football73]

I understand the opt ups due to success points and the idea behind it. What I don't understand in the football plan is the opt downs from 11man to 9man. I know if you are in the bottom half of the enrollment in that division and you don't have any playoffs, you have the ability to drop down. For me, its the 9man teams that have the enrollment to be 11man, but continue to opt down to 9man. Surrey is one I'll use for an example. They have made the 9man playoffs for the past 3 seasons I believe. Certainly not dominating, but consistently a 9man playoff team. When are they forced to stay in 11man for a couple years? Or is it because they don't have 11man success points and they aren't dominating as much as Cavalier in 9man, they are continuously able to opt back down?

I don't know if Surrey is the example you want to use. Yes they've made the playoffs the last 5 years, but never further than the quarterfinals and never had an undefeated season. That means they have 2 success points.

[ndlionsfan]

I understand the opt ups due to success points and the idea behind it. What I don't understand in the football plan is the opt downs from 11man to 9man. I know if you are in the bottom half of the enrollment in that division and you don't have any playoffs, you have the ability to drop down. For me, its the 9man teams that have the enrollment to be 11man, but continue to opt down to 9man. Surrey is one I'll use for an example. They have made the 9man playoffs for the past 3 seasons I believe. Certainly not dominating, but consistently a 9man playoff team. When are they forced to stay in 11man for a couple years? Or is it because they don't have 11man success points and they aren't dominating as much as Cavalier in 9man, they are continuously able to opt back down?

I don't know if Surrey is the example you want to use. Yes they've made the playoffs the last 5 years, but never further than the quarterfinals and never had an undefeated season. That means they have 2 success points.

Yes, they aren't dominating 9man and they don't have a long history of success but their enrollment is much larger than Kenmare and even a bit more than Langdon. Other teams that have opted down are either right around that cutoff or have a lot of added enrollment in coops that doesn't always equate to participation numbers

[bison football73]

I understand the opt ups due to success points and the idea behind it. What I don't understand in the football plan is the opt downs from 11man to 9man. I know if you are in the bottom half of the enrollment in that division and you don't have any playoffs, you have the ability to drop down. For me, its the 9man teams that have the enrollment to be 11man, but continue to opt down to 9man. Surrey is one I'll use for an example. They have made the 9man playoffs for the past 3 seasons I believe. Certainly not dominating, but consistently a 9man playoff team. When are they forced to stay in 11man for a couple years? Or is it because they don't have 11man success points and they aren't dominating as much as Cavalier in 9man, they are continuously able to opt back down?

I don't know if Surrey is the example you want to use. Yes they've made the playoffs the last 5 years, but never further than the quarterfinals and never had an undefeated season. That means they have 2 success points.

Yes, they aren't dominating 9man and they don't have a long history of success but their enrollment is much larger than Kenmare and even a bit more than Langdon. Other teams that have opted down are either right around that cutoff or have a lot of added enrollment in coops that doesn't always equate to participation numbers

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think in Linton and Kenmare's cases they were forced to move up because of emergency co-ops being brought in. I could be wrong, but I know that's why Linton was forced to move up because they added Strasburg-Zeeland. The argument should really be made that both teams should not have been moved up to begin with. If you look at the number provided by NDHSAA the cut off for 9-man is 60, but from the looks of it with opt downs the cut off number is really around 72.

[ndlionsfan]

I understand the opt ups due to success points and the idea behind it. What I don't understand in the football plan is the opt downs from 11man to 9man. I know if you are in the bottom half of the enrollment in that division and you don't have any playoffs, you have the ability to drop down. For me, its the 9man teams that have the enrollment to be 11man, but continue to opt down to 9man. Surrey is one I'll use for an example. They have made the 9man playoffs for the past 3 seasons I believe. Certainly not dominating, but consistently a 9man playoff team. When are they forced to stay in 11man for a couple years? Or is it because they don't have 11man success points and they aren't dominating as much as Cavalier in 9man, they are continuously able to opt back down?

I don't know if Surrey is the example you want to use. Yes they've made the playoffs the last 5 years, but never further than the quarterfinals and never had an undefeated season. That means they have 2 success points.

Yes, they aren't dominating 9man and they don't have a long history of success but their enrollment is much larger than Kenmare and even a bit more than Langdon. Other teams that have opted down are either right around that cutoff or have a lot of added enrollment in coops that doesn't always equate to participation numbers

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think in Linton and Kenmare's cases they were forced to move up because of emergency co-ops being brought in. I could be wrong, but I know that's why Linton was forced to move up because they added Strasburg-Zeeland. The argument should really be made that both teams should not have been moved up to begin with. If you look at the number provided by NDHSAA the cut off for 9-man is 60, but from the looks of it with opt downs the cut off number is really around 72.

Yes I agree and that's kind of my point. Surrey with being basically a single school (yes I know Sawyer was recently added) and having nearly the exact same enrollment of Linton/Hazelton/Moffit/Braddock/Strasburg/Zeeland and having more enrollment than Kenmare/Bowbells/Burke Central are two totally different scenarios when you factor in participation.

[Sorenson23]

LaMoure-Litchville-Marion 26-18
New Salem-Almont 24-20

[5-time state chump]

if Cavalier wins they will be forced to move up to 11 man"

That one sentence summarizes the bs we have going on with h.s football in ND.

Why are they 9-man in the first place? Enrollment. Why were FN, FS, GFC and GFRR in the highest division in the first place? Enrollment

NDHSAA rewards teams for failing and penalizes them for winning.

Moving someone up or down a class simply because of winning or losing when their enrollment shows firmly where they should be is on thing.

Its a completely different level of "mind-blowingness" moving someone up a division that requires 2 more roster spots.