North Dakota Preps

Wilbur wrote:Ok, I think I finally got my crap together on this region alignment thing. I started following Class B Basketball in 1978-79, even though I remember watching the 1977 and 1978 State title games. At that time, there were 8 regions with 4 districts apiece. The regions were 1 (southeast), 2 (east central), 3 (northeast), 4 (north central to the east), 5 (south central from Missouri River east), 6 (north central to the west), 7 (northwest corner, west central) and 8 (southwest). This alignment continued through the 1989-90 season, when the districts in each region were reduced to 3 for the 1990-91 and 1991-92 seasons.
The districts in each region were reduced to 2 starting in 1992-93, and some of the region alignments changed, most notably, Region 8 became Region 6, and Region 6 became Region 8, and added some of the area from the northern part of Region 7. This continued through the 1997-98 season, and beginning in 1998-99, the regions were aligned to what they are today.
1993-98 is still kind of a gray area for me for some reason.

the 90's were a true scramble when it came to co-ops and organizing Class B basketball I would say it was the decade of indication of a lot Class B schools were going to be closing their doors....

winner-within, sadly what you say is true. The few co-ops I can think of when I was in high school off the top of my head were Mayville-Portland, Finley-Sharon, Richardson-Taylor, Clifford-Galesburg and Divide County, if you want to include them. heck, Wing, Woodworth, Robinson, Pingree, Pettibone, Buchanan and Tuttle each had separate teams in the same district, so that should tell you how long ago that was. Remarkably, if someone would have told me in 1981 that this is the way Class B would look in 2017, I would have thought they were crazy, even though the writing was on the wall, so to speak.

Wilbur wrote:winner-within, sadly what you say is true. The few co-ops I can think of when I was in high school off the top of my head were Mayville-Portland, Finley-Sharon, Richardson-Taylor, Clifford-Galesburg and Divide County, if you want to include them. heck, Wing, Woodworth, Robinson, Pingree, Pettibone, Buchanan and Tuttle each had separate teams in the same district, so that should tell you how long ago that was. Remarkably, if someone would have told me in 1981 that this is the way Class B would look in 2017, I would have thought they were crazy, even though the writing was on the wall, so to speak.

I agree the writing on the wall was there somewhat in the sense of less kids per family, hence less enrollment, hence a small town school closing soon per say.....but I don't think anyone knew what would totally be taking place when it came to farming and once again I believe it is huge farms (nothing against them, just reality) that really changed the landscape of Class B and of so many schools realigning.....some schools didn't close because they were smaller than the next one, they closed because of location and where the school district lines were.....they're "Public Schools" and Public schools are an extension of State government and property taxes fuel them.....

I know most know this but my point is even though I believe families are getting bigger now than in the 90's that we still have so many less rural families living on the prairie if you will...

my big gripe against co-ops has always been its just a bandaid for sports....a true consolidation puts the responsibility of not only education on the school but also the resposibility of the extracurricular's too...
co-ops have many many kids driving many many miles on there own, with no true connection to the school but the sport.......

I to Wilbur am amazed at what has transpired in this great State and this great class of ball...Class B..

Winner-within, a little perspective for those who don’t understand what we are talking about. The families in small towns have gotten smaller. Most small towns in ND probably have close to the same about of houses as they did in the 1970’s, but where there were once between 6-10 people in the house has diminished to 1-4 people now. Farm families were exceptionally large in small communities. When I was in grade school (1970’s), my class had roughly 60 students, but on the occasions that we had school but the buses did not run, there were probably 15 students who came to school. Today, you don’t even notice that the buses are not running, even though transportation has improved, and parents or the kids themselves will drive to school when the buses do not run.
Another thing is that out of 56 students in my graduating class, 35 of them were the youngest in their family, which meant the end of the line for a lot of relatively large families. Within the next five years, the classes dropped into the mid-30’s and even though they fluctuated between 30-40 students for quite a few years, they never got higher than 40 again, and are now in danger of falling below 20 students per class.

I think the Co-Ops in the state of North Dakota are out of control. This state faces a unique problem with education with the rural education requirements of the majority of the school districts in the state. Education is truly one of the most ingrained socialist parts of our government. But with the diminishing populations there is less and less money for the smaller schools. Transportation becomes an issue the further the school is located from students. So the issue is population density. How do you properly educate students in an area with such a small population density? Online classes? With all of the federal requirements for teachers schools have to keep a certain number of teachers in the school. What ends up happening is classes with 1-10 students in them. That class population can not pay for that teacher's salary.

So how does this all relate to athletics? Money.

cmplx6 wrote:I think the Co-Ops in the state of North Dakota are out of control. This state faces a unique problem with education with the rural education requirements of the majority of the school districts in the state. Education is truly one of the most ingrained socialist parts of our government. But with the diminishing populations there is less and less money for the smaller schools. Transportation becomes an issue the further the school is located from students. So the issue is population density. How do you properly educate students in an area with such a small population density? Online classes? With all of the federal requirements for teachers schools have to keep a certain number of teachers in the school. What ends up happening is classes with 1-10 students in them. That class population can not pay for that teacher's salary.

So how does this all relate to athletics? Money.

cmplx6, what are the "rural education requirements"??? I don't know what you are talking about.

I think were reaching nearly the point of school closings in the state. I don't doubt we will see a few more but a lot of schools that are now in place are reaching point of size where travel is becoming factor for parents to send their children to school. I also believe these small schools can offer education now with technology to even surpass what was even possible 20 years ago in public education. Also the costs of using this technology will hold down the cost of education for these small schools. If state resists this families will turn to home schooling using the same technology to meet their needs with private schooling. I do wonder where we are heading in sports. I have feeling that if Activities association and school administrators don't start looking to future we will see a lot of areas in the state where there are very few kids participating in traditional sports. These kids will put their time into other activities and sports they can play within there areas and time and finances. I know a lot of people have hard time getting their head around this but I have been seeing this already in many sports here in rural North Dakota. For example baseball is dying slow death here which to me has been one of my biggest frustrations for as parent and fan. But look around the state there are very few communities keeping up full baseball program. Basketball is similar in that very few kids unless their parents are fully committed to program are participating in basketball. These number are getting smaller by year. I also believe its starting in football and soon will be in volleyball because of commitments that are being required to participate in these sports also.

Maple Valley has it right IMO....they vote again today for the 4th time
a new school centrally located and close down 2 old ones.........

its not right that all these new schools get built in the metros with what is needed for a student to advance and compete and excel in academics and extracurricular's etc etc and then out on the prairie where its much less cost to live and lower taxes and we cant build a school....WOW

In the spirit of the upcoming state tournament, I am reviving this thread.

With St. John making its first State B appearance, there are now only nine remaining teams that have never appeared at the State B. How many can you name?

(Note: If any part of a coop or consolidation made the tournament in the past, I counted it as an appearance. Example: South Border has never been in it but Ashley has so I did not count South Border as a team that has never appeared)

Thompson, Solen, Tioga, White Shield, Velva, Maple Valley (Oriska, Tower City, Fingal), Burke County, Nedrose and South Prairie?

The Schwab wrote:Thompson, Solen, Tioga, White Shield, Velva, Maple Valley (Oriska, Tower City, Fingal), Burke County, Nedrose and South Prairie?

Great answer. You have eight of the nine. Burke Central has been represented because both Columbus and Portal made the State B before being consolidated into the BC school district.

Anyone have another guess on the ninth school?

B Historian wrote:

The Schwab wrote:Thompson, Solen, Tioga, White Shield, Velva, Maple Valley (Oriska, Tower City, Fingal), Burke County, Nedrose and South Prairie?

Great answer. You have eight of the nine. Burke Central has been represented because both Columbus and Portal made the State B before being consolidated into the BC school district.

Anyone have another guess on the ninth school?

Alexander?

I would agree with Alexander

My guess for the final team would be Wishek. Wishek, Lehr and Ashley co-op as South Border since 2007-08, but even though Ashley has made it to State six times (most recently in 1972), and Lehr was there twice (1967 and 1975), Wishek has never been to State Class B Boys’ Tournament by itself or as part of a co-op.

Wilbur wrote:My guess for the final team would be Wishek. Wishek, Lehr and Ashley co-op as South Border since 2007-08, but even though Ashley has made it to State six times (most recently in 1972), and Lehr was there twice (1967 and 1975), Wishek has never been to State Class B Boys’ Tournament by itself or as part of a co-op.

Read the note in the original post.

Any way you spin it, Wishek still has a high school, and has never been to the State Boys’ Tournament on its own or with a co-op. The South Border co-op has not gone to State in Boys’ Basketball.

B Historian wrote:

The Schwab wrote:Thompson, Solen, Tioga, White Shield, Velva, Maple Valley (Oriska, Tower City, Fingal), Burke County, Nedrose and South Prairie?

Great answer. You have eight of the nine. Burke Central has been represented because both Columbus and Portal made the State B before being consolidated into the BC school district.

Anyone have another guess on the ninth school?

Lewis & Clark-North Shore-Plaza? They made Class C tournament but not Class B...

Wasn't Alexander with Watford City before they became a new high school recently?

Run4Fun2009 wrote:

B Historian wrote:

The Schwab wrote:Thompson, Solen, Tioga, White Shield, Velva, Maple Valley (Oriska, Tower City, Fingal), Burke County, Nedrose and South Prairie?

Great answer. You have eight of the nine. Burke Central has been represented because both Columbus and Portal made the State B before being consolidated into the BC school district.

Anyone have another guess on the ninth school?

Lewis & Clark-North Shore-Plaza? They made Class C tournament but not Class B...

Wasn't Alexander with Watford City before they became a new high school recently?

Yes, North Shore is the 9th school on my list!

I didn't include Alexander for exactly the reason you stated.

Wilbur wrote:Any way you spin it, Wishek still has a high school, and has never been to the State Boys’ Tournament on its own or with a co-op. The South Border co-op has not gone to State in Boys’ Basketball.

I see what you are saying, which is why I included my caveat. There are several other instances of this as well, like Hatton-Northwood.

New trivia questions:

This man coached three different Class B teams to state tournament appearances in the 60's and 70's. Who is he?

1976 LaMoure is widely regarded as one of the top teams in Class B history. However, LaMoure was not the top-ranked team coming into the state tournament that year (the Loboes were ranked 2nd). Who was #1 team in the final poll?

Hatton's Jim Howson won almost 600 games in his coaching career but never appeared in a state tournament. His team played in three region championship games but lost to the same school each time. Who was that team?

I would guess Jerry Meyer for the coach, even though I don't think that is correct.

My guess for the number one team in the final poll would be New Town. If I get a second guess it would be Napoleon, which was unbeaten going into the region.

Third question answer is Hillsboro. No doubt in my mind.

B Historian wrote:New trivia questions:

This man coached three different Class B teams to state tournament appearances in the 60's and 70's. Who is he?

1976 LaMoure is widely regarded as one of the top teams in Class B history. However, LaMoure was not the top-ranked team coming into the state tournament that year (the Loboes were ranked 2nd). Who was #1 team in the final poll?

Hatton's Jim Howson won almost 600 games in his coaching career but never appeared in a state tournament. His team played in three region championship games but lost to the same school each time. Who was that team?

Q1: before my time so I'm not sure

Q2: This is before my time...but I do know Lakota & New Town were both undefeated that year...I'm going to say New Town was #1 and that's who they defeated in the Title...I feel this is a bit of a trick question.

Q3: Most likely Ed Beyer and Hillsboro.

scc wrote:

B Historian wrote:New trivia questions:

This man coached three different Class B teams to state tournament appearances in the 60's and 70's. Who is he?

1976 LaMoure is widely regarded as one of the top teams in Class B history. However, LaMoure was not the top-ranked team coming into the state tournament that year (the Loboes were ranked 2nd). Who was #1 team in the final poll?

Hatton's Jim Howson won almost 600 games in his coaching career but never appeared in a state tournament. His team played in three region championship games but lost to the same school each time. Who was that team?

2. Lakota, although LaMoure had one more first place vote.

This is correct. Lakota was 26-0 going into the state tournament that season. This was Lakota's second straight trip to state, but from two different regions. They won Region 4 in '75 and Region 2 in '76.

Run4Fun2009 wrote:

B Historian wrote:New trivia questions:

This man coached three different Class B teams to state tournament appearances in the 60's and 70's. Who is he?

1976 LaMoure is widely regarded as one of the top teams in Class B history. However, LaMoure was not the top-ranked team coming into the state tournament that year (the Loboes were ranked 2nd). Who was #1 team in the final poll?

Hatton's Jim Howson won almost 600 games in his coaching career but never appeared in a state tournament. His team played in three region championship games but lost to the same school each time. Who was that team?

Q1: before my time so I'm not sure

Q2: This is before my time...but I do know Lakota & New Town were both undefeated that year...I'm going to say New Town was #1 and that's who they defeated in the Title...I feel this is a bit of a trick question.

Q3: Most likely Ed Beyer and Hillsboro.

The answer to Q1 is Bill Fruhwirth. He led Parshall to state in '65 and '66, Fessenden in '72 and Larimore in '75, '78 and '79. He also led Flaxton to the state C tournament in '63. He only coached for 20 years but had seven state appearances at four different schools which is quite impressive.

The answer to Q3 ties in with Q1. Fruhwirth's Larimore teams defeated Hatton in the Region 2 title game 46-45 in '75, 31-24 in '78 and 42-33 in '79.

New question:

Class B has had it's own all-state team since the 1976-77 season (before that there was one team for both A & B). Since '77 there has been one instance when a team had two players named first team all-state but did not win the state championship. Can you name the team, players and year?