North Dakota Preps

What happened to Northern Cass?

Flying Wallenda wrote:What happened to Northern Cass?

Folded, got out played most of the game, but give hankinson some credit they are very good.
NC lost 4 of their last 5 games to end the year.

didn't play zone, blueprint to beat Hankinson

Some players stepped up big last night. Both Mauchs from Hankinson had big games. 20 and 25 from Cody. Nick led the team in scoring. Logan Nelson dropped 30 in his final game. I was impressed hearing the freshman, Cole Myers, had 15. Hanson and Sakry combined for 47. Wisnewski led the game in scoring with 26. A lot of exciting games, and I expect more excitement tonight.

Tonights going to be 4 great teams battling. First we got Oak Grove the Christianson, Bakkaguard, Berg show vs the Hanson,Nelson, and Sakry show... Then the Mauch's vs The young fiesty Colt's lead by Cooper Lingen..
Oak Grove wins a close one
Richland Defense best Hankinson Offense.

Oak Grove vs Richland Championship.

Oak Groves to lose

winner-within wrote:Oak Groves to lose

Tough to argue with this assumption. They are a lot deeper than people realize and Card can crack the whip and get them to cause a lot of chaos defensively. If Andrew Christianson shoots half as well as he did against the bulldogs on Tuesday OG should cruise. That being said Richland has been playing really well with a lot of confidence, and that is super dangerous in a young team so to count them out completely would be unfair to the work that they've put in.

I do have OG winning by double digits though. Richland's best defense is a 2-3 which is playing into OG's strength. OG is going to pressure Richland the whole game as well, and as a team that relies on underclassmen as much as Richland does this spells trouble.

I look at Richland sort of the way as OG was looked at last year. Yes Richland is the #2 seed and OG was #10 last year, but coming into the year little was said about them and even come tournament time there were people (including myself) who didn't think they'd make it as far as they did. This just goes to show the change of culture that coach Nordick has brought in, and IMO should win Region Coach of the Year.

I agree Oak Grove is favored and would seem to be better all around. However, I was impressed with Richland's quickness on defense which will match up well with Oak Grove. Richland also displayed good patience and shot very well. It will be interesting to see if they can challenge Oak Grove. Oak Grove by 10.

Its going to be everyone cheering for Richland but the Grovers. Just think grovers got to much

TheOneTheOnly wrote:Its going to be everyone cheering for Richland but the Grovers. Just think grovers got to much

If you're pro 3 classes you should be cheering for OG.

74Magic wrote:I agree Oak Grove is favored and would seem to be better all around. However, I was impressed with Richland's quickness on defense which will match up well with Oak Grove. Richland also displayed good patience and shot very well. It will be interesting to see if they can challenge Oak Grove. Oak Grove by 10.

Right away I thought Oak Grove would win by double digits, but after watching how Richland played this whole tourney, with everyone kind of doubting them, how can you doubt them anymore, Nordick has them believing that they can win, so i think this will be a very close one, now i think Richland will pull off the upset. They got everyone on their side this time. Go Nordick and the Colts...

Congratulations too the grovers.. Any team that plays ZONE vs oak grove will lose!!

Why you congrats them? Teams go with what got them there(Richland is the team that needs congrats)

Another trip to the "B" for the small town village of Fargo. That makes 8 straight trips to the R1 championship game, and next year they will certainly be the favorites again out of Region 1

Stat of the night: Richland 1/21 from 3 point range.

Yes, if Richland shoots like they did in semi finals it's probably tie game at half and then who knows? But Richlands 2-3 zone just couldn't cover 3 point shooting of Fargo Oak Grove. Also have to credit defense of OG with hurrying shots, especially in 2nd half when they pulled away. I think OG will represent Region 1 pretty well at state. Even if everyone other than OG fans were pulling for Richland. Region 1 fans have a dilemma, who are they going to pull for at state?

Good thing Fargo got into the Class B Tournament, now we just need to get Dickinson and Minot in and not having Bismarck in it will be easier to swallow.

might be rematch next year in championship game, Richland has some athletes coming up, probably will be starting 4 sophomores and junior next year.

I'd like to congratulate Washburn for taking out Bismarck that was awesome! You know as I talked with people or sometimes over heard things at the tourney if Shiloh's name was mentioned it was people wishing them to lose. It's like beating Shiloh out of regionals is a championship of its own these B towns should make a trophy that floats around to the last team that bumps them out. Of course Washburn would have rather won the championship game but you know they're still riding high for beating Shiloh. One more thing...as Solen was handing out a whooping to Shiloh that was the quietest crowd I've ever not heard it was total silence from there side. But to my first remark I imagine the sentiment being the same in any region with a class b powerhouse town of 15000 plus.

74Magic wrote:Yes, if Richland shoots like they did in semi finals it's probably tie game at half and then who knows? But Richlands 2-3 zone just couldn't cover 3 point shooting of Fargo Oak Grove. Also have to credit defense of OG with hurrying shots, especially in 2nd half when they pulled away. I think OG will represent Region 1 pretty well at state. Even if everyone other than OG fans were pulling for Richland. Region 1 fans have a dilemma, who are they going to pull for at state?

There is no dilemma and that's an easy question... anyone but Dickinson, Minot, or Fargo. And to answer your question more clearly, there are Region 1 fans and there are Fargo fans. Region 1 fans cheer on the small towns and we do not cheer for Fargo. Conversely, I do not know of a single Fargo fan that will ever cheer for anyone but their coveted Grovers.

The early favorite to cheer for is TLMM as they are a team made up of a bunch of small towns. The B needs to be about small towns, period.

Bigbrew22 -- let's try a class b powerhouse "town" of over 233,000 people. That's what Oak Grove gets to draw from, because they draw from the entire Fargo metro area . We all need to chew on that thought for a while.

IMO Class B will never be the same unless Fargo-Minot-Bismarck-Dickinson get out, plain & simple. Unfortunately for Region 1 fans, there were several teams that would've represented very well this year.

UNDSiouxfan wrote:

74Magic wrote:Yes, if Richland shoots like they did in semi finals it's probably tie game at half and then who knows? But Richlands 2-3 zone just couldn't cover 3 point shooting of Fargo Oak Grove. Also have to credit defense of OG with hurrying shots, especially in 2nd half when they pulled away. I think OG will represent Region 1 pretty well at state. Even if everyone other than OG fans were pulling for Richland. Region 1 fans have a dilemma, who are they going to pull for at state?

There is no dilemma and that's an easy question... anyone but Dickinson, Minot, or Fargo. And to answer your question more clearly, there are Region 1 fans and there are Fargo fans. Region 1 fans cheer on the small towns and we do not cheer for Fargo. Conversely, I do not know of a single Fargo fan that will ever cheer for anyone but their coveted Grovers.

You need to get out more then...there are PLENTY of OG fans that would cheer for their Region when it comes to State!

You don't like the school and I get that and that is fine by me...but quit making it out to be that their fans only care about themselves...that is far from the truth and you know it.

IMO Class B will never be the same unless Fargo-Minot-Bismarck-Dickinson get out, plain & simple. Unfortunately for Region 1 fans, there were several teams that would've represented very well this year.


This seems really silly -- OG & Shiloh have never not been Class B and it's been decades since Minot Ryan & Trinity were anything but Class B. All that time it hasn't stopped Milnor, C.Cass, Kindred, Hankinson, Lisbon, Enderlin, etc.. from representing the region at state. Also, OG's run of Region finals is in the last 8 years. Check back to the mid - 90s when they didn't make it back to regionals until 98. 2000 & 2001 were followed up by some avg. or slightly better than avg. years. Not much complaining back then.
Private Schools didn't stop Coach Beyer and Hillsboro or MPCG (*cough Sharon)'s runs.


The problem is you cannot fix ND's population issues. A good chunk of Class A would be in MN's Class AA, yet those schools have to play Davies, WF, Minot & the Bismarcks.

I just think that it's funny that the solution is always to dilute the product, rather than continue to battle, improve feeder programs and most importantly enjoy the journey and the process, not some destination. Congrats to Richland for doing what many non-insiders didn't think they would. The experience of a finals can prove to be a big deal in the near future. State is not the only measure of success. We all want to get there, but there is way more to the process.

IMO...Region 1 is an will always be dominated by a team who is well coached. Another Factor in the OG dominance is that...they are a basketball school. They do not dominate in football, baseball, wrestling(do they have wrestling?)..and at most they are mediocre in track(the better track athletes are also basketball players). So to whine about OG being good at basketball is kind of redundant. Tell me why they do not dominate these other sports? My belief is kinda like this.. think of NDSU Bison football...THEY SUCKED years ago..and then all of a sudden you get a few good coaches over the years that the kids like and want to play for and wala... you win. You work hard at getting better. Pretty soon... people want to play there... and all of a sudden you produce Champions !... You cannot tell me that schools that are bigger than OG such as CC, Lisbon,CVN,Kindred cannot produce winning teams that dominate...OH wait a minute... Richland has a dominate football program...Lisbon has Track and Wrestling..Enderlin is always in the Baseball playoffs..etc..etc...etc. I am from Enderlin...I watched my sons team get beat by OG last year I Regions... a Very GOOD Enderlin team....it sucked ...but..they got out played... plus had a horrible night from the field.. IMO there were other factors.. but..you can come to your own conclusions on that one. I have my own opinion... I would almost bet that those bigger schools have great athletes that are not even playing sports...they either don't want to play..maybe they do not like the coach...maybe they don't like how the coach does things...maybe they see favoritism within and feel they wont play.... Many factors within some problems of why. Yep..OG can draw from a BIG pool...no doubt..... but in the end... THOSE kids work HARD to become as good as they are....Class B schools have a lot of talent...there are only a few that work at it to become consistently good...they put in their time..blood...sweat..and tears. It Helps to have a Coach(OG Coach knows his Business) to make all his players consistently good.... When I was in school(75-79)...it was Kindred we all hated. I am sure Region 2 hated Hillsboro..and MayPort...no matter how hard of a pill it is to swallow... I say...Good luck to OG..hope they Represent Region 1 well.


“It’s not the will to win that matters – everyone has that. It’s the will to prepare to win that matters.” - Paul "Bear" Bryant

Good Sunday morning to all,
Have had a chance to read the comments that go back and forth on Region 1 teams regarding "Fargo-private" and the rest of the smaller communities and this appears to carry over to other regions as well where there are the same dynamics of private vs public, population size, etc.
I'll try and provide a perspective that hopefully offers up some information that might be useful in the discussion.
I currently have a son on the OG team and he has been on the varsity for the past 4 years which included a state title, 3rd place finish and now another trip to the state. Wonderful memories and the group of boys that he is currently playing with were not recruited by any coaches/staff that I know of. Of the 9 seniors, 4 are children of OG alumni or a younger sibling of a former OG student. At least 3 that I can think of are players that their families transferred into the FM area with jobs and were looking for a private school (our situation) and looked at Shanley, OG or Park Christian, the others were either home schooled or attended Grace Lutheran school before transferring in during the 6th grade, when middle school starts.
There are at least 4 of the boys that have been playing since 2nd grade together in the local YMCA league with the others joining each subsequent year. I write the above to just try and share that I don't think there has been any effort to build a powerhouse via transfers or somehow capture the Region 1 landscape. Some of you might not care or place little importance on this info but I can also share that I've had a chance to get to know some great parents within the other Region 1 teams and we are often texting each other and congratulating the respective teams on the successes...this includes WYND/LDG, NC, CC, Kindred, MNS and MV. I think I can speak on behalf of most of my fellow parents at OG that we would very much be supporting our fellow R1 teams if the roles were reversed and they were going to be in Minot later this week.

Our son also has been part of the football program the past 4 years and that has provided us with some great experiences but also some major defeats at the hands of some of the schools we are referring to here in this thread, very humbling in many instances ....I don't know exactly how the NDHSAA creates the classes and places teams in the AA, A and 9 man but often our school will have 10+ foreign exchange students who come from places as far away as China to study abroad....very few if any play football, basketball, etc...yet count in our numbers towards placement in a class....we also have soccer, xc, tennis, hockey, wrestling, etc that boys are encouraged to participate in with some of the coops with Shanley, Fargo South, etc.that take away the possibilities for playing football..so, we do have times that we wished certain boys would help us in football but realize their love is for tennis, as an example. Thus, unless we end up in a coop at some point...it will be a challenge to be up against the bigger schools in Class A 11 man.

Sorry to ramble...just trying to share that at least I and my fellow OG parents respect and admire many of the R1 programs and their players and cheer them on when we can. Jake Hanson, Logan Nelson, Graham Hurlburt, Brock Benson, Nicky Zink, Dustin Kasowski, etc, etc, are some of the boys that we've crafted friendships with their parents and unless we are playing them...they will get our support and prayers for success....proud to be part of R1 with all of you.

Nothing you can say will ever convince me or anyone I know that the private schools don't belong in class A or in their own seperate league. Nothing.

And nothing you can say will ever convince me or anyone I know that private schools belong in Class B.