What's the differences in classes in North Dakota football?

[andy_7]

In 9-man i know that if you have a number of athletes all you have to do is have a spread offense and you have a great team.  Having the extra two people on the field has to make a diffrence in those two classes.  In that what is the major diffrence in 9-man, A, AA, and AAA?

[ndfan]

Numbers is probably the biggest difference. AAA ya just have better all around teams. AA and A I don' think their is a lot of difference they can have very good players just like AAA but don't have the same depth all the way around like AAA , AA's lower half teams are better then the lower half of A teams probably would depend on the year.

[rep]

when i did an interview with linton's tyson bodvig last fall i asked him the biggest difference between 9-man and the class a 11-man and he said it was the difference in play between a speed game and a power game.

in 9-man it is all about speed. get to the outside and you are gone. in 11-man the game is plugged up with a few more players and it is more of a power game.

that said, a team like napoleon, runs a '3 yards and a cloud of dust' type of offense where they are bigger than you and they are going to run the ball. they had a pretty respectable season, losing to the eventual state champion richland squad in the playoffs.

i agree there is no difference between a and aa. basically when i was in high school in the mid to late 90s at mayville (which is class a now) we played carrington, central cass, grafton, lisbon, oak grove, rugby and valley city (who are all class aa) along with lamoure and kindred (both class a). maybe things have spiraled out of control since i graduated, but i kind of doubt it.

i agree with the depth completely. most 9-man teams have little to no depth and one or two injuries can cripple a team. at the class aaa level, if i had to guess there is probably one to three injuries on the team per game and they just keep trucking along.

at class aaa a real legit athlete may be able to break a game, but certainly not in the same way that someone like a tyson bodvig (for example) put up rediculous-video-game-type stats. bodvig averaged something like 50 yards a punt return (i'm pulling that off the top of my head and so it might not be quite accurate) and that is probably unheard of stat-wise for class aaa. what did dressler put up return wise in high school? he is the first person that comes to mind that may have put up something comparable, yardage wise.

coaching wise, i don't know if there is a drastic difference in ability offensively. it isn't like running the option or a pro-style running game is ground-breaking. there are only so many ways to get a running back the ball. passing-wise, i don't know how a team's playbook from say richland would stack up against a team from class aaa...if there are any players out there that could offer input, that would be helpful.

defensively, there might be a bit more to a class aaa strategy when it comes to linebackers and stuff, but it all depends on who you are facing i would think.

athletes are athletes regarless of the class and good football is good football. i have no doubt in my mind that a 9-man kid could hang with a class aaa kid, and maybe a team could do the same on a given year and if properly motivated, but for the most part, the longer you keep throwing fresh kids with speed at a team that is getting tired, the better your chance to win.

[Wild Wolves]

In comparing teams, back in the late 80's New England returned a kick-off in the last seconds to defeat Beulah.  New England won the 9-man title either that year or the next and Beulah won the 11-man title, the year after New England won(I think they beat Mayville team that included Ross Amlie, played TB at UND). 

The game was played with the Tigers playing 9-man O and 11 man D.  The opposite for Beulah. 

I have seen several games in which AA has played A teams and have not really noticed a huge difference in the level of play.  However, the AA team has won all of the games I have seen.  I haven't heard of 9-man teams playing many 11 man teams.  Same goes for AAA teams playing AA or A.  AAA gets two non-conference games and it has appeared that the lower teams match-up and the upper teams match-up, in terms of east and west games.

[kel20Nd]

I believe dressler had 44 touchdowns his senior season

[Edward III]

  I agree that depth is the big factor in the class of Football. I think 9 man and "A" are comparable as New Salem has bounced back and forth and were competitive in both classes. The difference in A and AA are a little more difficult to find. The larger schools that have good programs usually are better as the season goes on because of the depth. The smaller the school the more chance that in the case of injury the smaller or (not so good) program will have to put a young , not  as experienced player in. That is why AA school get beat by A schools more often. By the way, at the risk of bringing up the "T" word--- in the late 90's and 00, Trinity played Wahpeton and I believe split over the two years. Wahpeton was the EDC champ one of those years.

[point/center]

In A vs AA games there is no way that AA teams win. By win I mean this:
if AA wins they were supposed as they are a higher class. If A team wins it's similar to a playoff type win for the smaller class team.

[Edward III]

  I won't argue with that point at all. That is why the AAA schools do not play AA at all. It is lose/lose for the bigger school. You should win so if you do--it is nothing to gain. If you loose--then the other team reacts like they won the Super Bowl. The AA and A schools have no choice because of schedules and availability of games or want to keep the rivalries alive.

[Wild Wolves]

I disagree p/c, with travel and the distruction of the natural rivals the AA v. A games bring in big crowds and they reduce travel distance and they don't mean squat in terms of the play-offs.  Also, I don't think that the majority of the fan base realizes the ever changing classification of teams.  It is just the rival game. 

[ndsportsfan98]

Lisbon and LaMoure have a very good rivalry going as a Class A vs AA opponent.  You can throw the records and preseason predictions out the window when those 2 teams play.  These two teams normally play the game down to the wire no matter what either of the two teams bring back for players.  Another rivalry that's similiar is Rubgy/Harvey.  I know Harvey was always a heavy favorite when they were making their state championship runs in the 90's, but even today i believe it's a pretty good rivalry.