North Dakota Preps

As far back as I can see on both boys and girls, A and B, is that this site goes back to January of 2006. I'm relatively new to this site. Was there a different site prior to this that people used? I think it'd be interesting to look back to late 90's and early 2000's to see the type of conversation going on.

Or the late 80's when all those North Star Conference teams were trying to drop down to B. We love to Pick on Grafton and Valley City for their efforts to play smaller schools.

I was a part of the old North Star Conference. It was made up of Minot Ryan, Bottineau, Belcourt, Rugby, Devils Lake, Valley City, Grafton, Langdon and Harvey. Devils Lake and Valley City pretty much dominated the Conference. The WDA and EDC sent their top 3 to State and the North Star sent their top 2 to state. There were many years where the two North Star teams went 2 and out at state. Devils Lake had Doyle Heisler who was a terrific player and Valley City had Mike Jewitt (SP?) who was a really good post player. Minot Ryan had a set of twins who were good in the post, Grafton had Lance Anderson who was really good, Belcourt had Kurt Keplin who could score from anywhere in the half court and Bottineau had Neil Onarheim (SP?) who was a big strong post player. It was a very competitive conference but we couldn't hang with the WDA or EDC on a regular basis.

Sportsrube wrote:I was a part of the old North Star Conference. It was made up of Minot Ryan, Bottineau, Belcourt, Rugby, Devils Lake, Valley City, Grafton, Langdon and Harvey. Devils Lake and Valley City pretty much dominated the Conference. The WDA and EDC sent their top 3 to State and the North Star sent their top 2 to state. There were many years where the two North Star teams went 2 and out at state. Devils Lake had Doyle Heisler who was a terrific player and Valley City had Mike Jewitt (SP?) who was a really good post player. Minot Ryan had a set of twins who were good in the post, Grafton had Lance Anderson who was really good, Belcourt had Kurt Keplin who could score from anywhere in the half court and Bottineau had Neil Onarheim (SP?) who was a big strong post player. It was a very competitive conference but we couldn't hang with the WDA or EDC on a regular basis.

followed a lot of this back then (was just a kid) some really good Ball...watched Mike Jewitt (my brother played with him) in college at Valley City State (great player) ..Doug Sturlaugson from Langdon was tough too...

Carrington was still class A in the 70's.....were they in the North Star also ?

I was part of the North Star Conference in the late 70's and early 80's and Carrington was not a part of it then. I believe they went Class B in the mid 70's but I could be wrong. (The old memory ain't what it used to be!)

Carrington was part of the North Star in the 70's

I know Carrington was still A in 79......thinking they moved to B like 81 or 82. I hear you about the memory !!!

Didn't most of the North Star drop at the same time between 90-91?

Everyone except for Turtle Mountain (Belcourt) dropped at the same time and I believe it was early 90's.

When Carrington was in class A, there was 4 regions so they technically weren't in the North Star as it didn't exist. There were in the Northeast region I got this information from the 2004 Class A Tournament Program:


1964 to 1980: Class A was divided into four regions; each region qualified two teams for the state tournament.

NORTHWEST
Bottineau (1963-64 to 1990)
Minot
Crosby-Divide County (1963-64 to 1972)
Minot Bishop Ryan (1943-44 to 1954 and 1960-61 to 1991)
Harvey (1960-61 to 1986)
Rugby (1954-55 to 1990)
Williston
Stanley (1963-64 to 1972)
Belcourt* (1972-73 to present)
Tioga (1965-66 to 1973)

SOUTHWEST
Bowman (1963-64 to 1974)
Bismarck
Fort Yates** (1965-66 to 1978)
Bismarck St. Mary’s (1943 - joined Class A)
Hettinger (1963-64 to 1974)
Mandan
Mott (1963-64 to 1973)
Dickinson
Assumption Abbey (1963-64 to 1968)
Dickinson Trinity (1963-64 to 1991)
Watford City (1963-64 to 1971)
Bismarck Century (opened in 1975)

NORTHEAST
Carrington (1962-63 to 1980)
Grafton (1935-36) (2003 - joined Class B)
Cavalier (1962-63 to 1979)
Grand Forks Central
Langdon (1963-64 to 1983)
Grand Forks Red River (opened 1967)
Larimore (1963-64 to 1973)
Grand Forks St. James (1961 to 1969 - closed)
Walsh County-Park River (1935-36 to 1978)

SOUTHEAST
Lisbon (1962-63 to 1974)
Fargo Central (closed in 1967)
Fargo North (opened in 1965-66)
Fargo South (opened in 1966-67)
Fargo Shanley (1943 - joined Class A)
Jamestown
Valley City
Wahpeton
West Fargo (1959-60 - joined Class A)

The North Star was a conference during the time Carrington was class A. The difference was the North Star conference did not send a team to state until the late 70's early 80's. The teams within the North Star conference were in seperate Regions for qualifying for state purposes. Example Carrington, Devils Lake were in the North Star conference and the Northeast region for state qualifying purposes, Harvey, Rugby were in the North Star conference and the Northwest region. Conference vs Region Hope this clears it up

gvmearees wrote:The North Star was a conference during the time Carrington was class A. The difference was the North Star conference did not send a team to state until the late 70's early 80's. The teams within the North Star conference were in seperate Regions for qualifying for state purposes. Example Carrington, Devils Lake were in the North Star conference and the Northeast region for state qualifying purposes, Harvey, Rugby were in the North Star conference and the Northwest region. Conference vs Region Hope this clears it up

so why the need for a named conference? if there were 4 regions was this like a district? for seeding purposes?

There are still conferences in ND in which the teams involved are in different districts/regions. It's certainly not as common as it once was as most conferences are obsolete now. The CNDC has teams from both regions 4 and 6, with the teams in region 4 from two different districts. They just have a tournament each year, but they also used to play everyone in conference and crown a regular season conference champ about 20 years ago.

ndlionsfan wrote:There are still conferences in ND in which the teams involved are in different districts/regions. It's certainly not as common as it once was as most conferences are obsolete now. The CNDC has teams from both regions 4 and 6, with the teams in region 4 from two different districts. They just have a tournament each year, but they also used to play everyone in conference and crown a regular season conference champ about 20 years ago.

right, somewhat confusing but yet I remember the conference thing

The Wild Rice Conference is still alive and strong. Consisting of some teams from districts 1 & 2. They still crown conference champs and have a big banquet every spring to honor athletes and teams.

The conference is still growing. Just a handful of years ago they admitted Central Cass (I believe) into the conference.

gvmearees wrote:The North Star was a conference during the time Carrington was class A. The difference was the North Star conference did not send a team to state until the late 70's early 80's. The teams within the North Star conference were in seperate Regions for qualifying for state purposes. Example Carrington, Devils Lake were in the North Star conference and the Northeast region for state qualifying purposes, Harvey, Rugby were in the North Star conference and the Northwest region. Conference vs Region Hope this clears it up

I think I get it now... so Class A used to be like Minnesota with their conferences for regular season play, but for the postseason they have the Sectional tournaments/playoffs where they compete against some different teams.

I always thought that setup was kind of dumb whenever I read about Minnesota schools, I'm glad we got away from it.

So would it be accurate to say that during this period there were three conferences (WDA, EDC, and North Star) but 4 Regions? Or was there a fourth conference as well?

Mandan wrote:

gvmearees wrote:The North Star was a conference during the time Carrington was class A. The difference was the North Star conference did not send a team to state until the late 70's early 80's. The teams within the North Star conference were in seperate Regions for qualifying for state purposes. Example Carrington, Devils Lake were in the North Star conference and the Northeast region for state qualifying purposes, Harvey, Rugby were in the North Star conference and the Northwest region. Conference vs Region Hope this clears it up

I think I get it now... so Class A used to be like Minnesota with their conferences for regular season play, but for the postseason they have the Sectional tournaments/playoffs where they compete against some different teams.

I always thought that setup was kind of dumb whenever I read about Minnesota schools, I'm glad we got away from it.

So would it be accurate to say that during this period there were three conferences (WDA, EDC, and North Star) but 4 Regions? Or was there a fourth conference as well?

Just the three in the 80s. Not to sure about the 70s.

Used to be a conference involving some Region 1 and 3 teams called the South East Conference.

Members were Enderlin, Lisbon, Sargent Central, Lamoure, Oakes, Ellendale, Edgeley, Kulm, and Ashley

After the 1981 season, Kulm and Ashley went to the South Central Conference

Boys basketball played a home and home up until the 1986-87 season when the District 2 at the time began mandating that all schools play each other in the regular season. Starting with that season, SEC teams only played once.

Girls basketball played one regular season game and also had an SEC tournament.

SEC football went away when the state playoffs came about in the mid-1970s. Some schools went 9-man and some went 11-man.

The SEC also sponsored wrestling, golf, and indoor/outdoor track and field tournaments.

The SEC stopped sponsoring wrestling either late 70s or early 80s due to declining enrollments.

At the end of the 2001 academic year, the Superintendents of the conference voted
to discontinue the SEC.

There was also the Tall Towers Conference in the 70's and 80's. It was made up of current Region 1 and Region 2 teams. May have been a Region 3 team in there as well, but not sure.

The Tall Towers Conference and Red River Valley Conference covered much of the same geographic area. The TTC's schools on the whole were a little smaller than the RRVC schools.

TTC included (not a comprehensive list, but the ones I can remember) Thompson, Central Valley (some years), Arthur Dakota, Page, Hope, Cass Valley North, Tower City, Buffalo, Oriska (?), Clifford-Galesburg, and probably a few others.

The RRVC had Oak Grove, Hillsboro, Finley, Cooperstown, Northwood, Hatton, Larimore, Mayville, Portland, maybe others.

Anyone have info on what the district were 10 years ago? 20? 30? I remember district 7 was Ft. Totten, Esmond, Sheyenne, Minnewaukan, Leeds, Churches Ferry, Maddock. Think there may have been 1 more team. This was back in the 80's.

NE corner of ND late seventies early eighties was,
and I dont know what the actual number was, dist.10 maybe?

Pembina
Neche
Walhalla
Cavalier.. turned class B in 79
Milton-Osnabrock...consolidated in 80...
Valley...hoople/crystal
Drayton
St.Thomas

senditin wrote:Anyone have info on what the district were 10 years ago? 20? 30? I remember district 7 was Ft. Totten, Esmond, Sheyenne, Minnewaukan, Leeds, Churches Ferry, Maddock. Think there may have been 1 more team. This was back in the 80's.

I know 10 years ago Dist 7 had 10 teams.....maddock, Leeds, Lakota, minn/shey, nr, wells co, Harvey, FW, war, carrington

winner-within wrote:NE corner of ND late seventies early eighties was,
and I dont know what the actual number was, dist.10 maybe?

Pembina
Neche
Walhalla
Cavalier.. turned class B in 79
Milton-Osnabrock...consolidated in 80...
Valley...hoople/crystal
Drayton
St.Thomas

You are correct winner - it was District 10 with those 8 teams.