Football/Wrestling
Posted: Thu Nov 03, 2011 3:32 pm
I am surprised to see only 1 of 4 teams remaining in 9-man play-offs have wrestling at their school. In 2008 going into the Semi-Final weekend of football, 14 of the remaining 16 teams from 9-man through AAA had wrestling programs at their schools. Looking back this year, 6 of the 8 Eastern ND Playoff teams do have wrestling, but none from the West do.
I bring this up only because I was reading some references on these boards about basketball players who are making their mark on the football field, especially for North Star who was last year's Basketball State Champions. As a wrestling coach, I am always trying to convince football players to come out for wrestling in the winter. There are a lot of statistics that show why they should-
Top 15 Wrestling teams from last year (2010-2011) and how they also did in football: (Because of co-ops for wrestling, this actually leads to 17 football teams)
Oakes (Did not make play-offs)
Lisbon (Lost 1st round playoffs to Carrington)
South Border (won 1st round playoffs, Lost to Thompson in 2nd round. Thompson has wrestlers who compete for Red River.)
Carrington (Beat Lisbon in 1st Round playoffs, Lost to Devils Lake in Semi-finals)
Napoleon (1st Round Bye, lost to Wyndmere Lidgerwood in 2nd round)
Watford City (Made it to Semi-Finals before losing to Velva)
Killdeer (Beat Harvey 1st Round, Lost to Watford City in Quarterfinals)
New Salem (Did not make play-offs)
Central Cass (Did not make play-offs)
Rolla/Rock Lake/St. Johns (Rolla/North Prairie beat MVE 1st Round, Lost in Quarterfinals) (St. John's won 1st round by 32 vs. surrey, Then beat Richardton-Taylor in 2nd Round, lost to wells county in Quarters)
Hillsboro (1st Round bye, Beats Dak. prairie in 2nd round, Loses in quarters to W/L)
Linton (Beat Park River 1st Round, lost in quarterfinals to Milnor/NS)
Harvey (Lost 1st round playoffs to Killdeer)
Velva (Class "A" State Champions)
North Border/Cavalier (Cavalier was undefeated until Semi-final loss) (NB won 1st rd. by 30, then beat kidder cty in 2nd round, loses in quarters to Thompson)
Not sure the order of finish, but these were the 8 teams who made it to state Basketball last season:
North Star (Made Play-offs, lost in Quarterfinals)
Grafton (Lost 1st round of playoffs)
Dickinson Trinity (lost 1st round of play-offs)
New Town (didn't make Play-offs)
Minot Ryan (Didn't make FB Play-offs)
Oak Grove (Did they win a game in FB last year?)
Standing Rock (Did not make play-offs)
Linton (Also a top wrestling school- Lost in quarterfinals in FB)
So in comparison- Just 2 of 8 schools who qualified for state basketball made it past the 1st round of the playoffs and one of them was also a top 15 wrestling school. 14 of 17 of the top Class "B" wrestling schools made it past the 1st round of the play-offs or lost in the 1st round to another wrestling school.
I know through efforts I've made to recruit more kids to join the wrestling teams that I have coached, I have also done research like this in past years to show kids why wrestling and football go hand in hand and it's always overwhelming to compare the good football programs to the good wrestling programs.
over the past 10 years in Class "B" Wrestling, the top teams would be: Napoleon, Hillsboro, Carrington, Velva, Linton, Lisbon, Watford City, Killdeer, Hettinger, Central Cass, North Border/Cavalier, and Oakes to name a few. It's not a coincidence that just about every one of those teams has also been dominate in football over that same time span.
Last year (2010-2011 season) no less than 11 All-State (State place-winner) wrestlers signed letters of intent to play collegiate football. I believe there were a few state qualifiers for wrestling who didn't place who signed to play FB as well.
23 members of last year's Shrine Bowl team were state qualifiers in wrestling, 20 of them were state place-winners in wrestling, 5 were state champions, 3 were high school all-americans, and one was the Mr. Wrestler award winner.
2010-2011 All-State Football players:
7 AAA All-State FB players were also state qualifiers in wrestling.
11 AA All-State FB Players were also State qualifiers in wrestling (14 All-East Region and 13 All-West Region players were Wrestling state qualifiers)
9 A All-State FB Players were also State Qualifiers in Wrestling
8 9-man All-State FB Players last year were state qualifiers in wrestling
Grand Total = 35 State Qualifying wrestlers in 2010-2011 were named as All-State Football players.
I bring this up only because I was reading some references on these boards about basketball players who are making their mark on the football field, especially for North Star who was last year's Basketball State Champions. As a wrestling coach, I am always trying to convince football players to come out for wrestling in the winter. There are a lot of statistics that show why they should-
Top 15 Wrestling teams from last year (2010-2011) and how they also did in football: (Because of co-ops for wrestling, this actually leads to 17 football teams)
Oakes (Did not make play-offs)
Lisbon (Lost 1st round playoffs to Carrington)
South Border (won 1st round playoffs, Lost to Thompson in 2nd round. Thompson has wrestlers who compete for Red River.)
Carrington (Beat Lisbon in 1st Round playoffs, Lost to Devils Lake in Semi-finals)
Napoleon (1st Round Bye, lost to Wyndmere Lidgerwood in 2nd round)
Watford City (Made it to Semi-Finals before losing to Velva)
Killdeer (Beat Harvey 1st Round, Lost to Watford City in Quarterfinals)
New Salem (Did not make play-offs)
Central Cass (Did not make play-offs)
Rolla/Rock Lake/St. Johns (Rolla/North Prairie beat MVE 1st Round, Lost in Quarterfinals) (St. John's won 1st round by 32 vs. surrey, Then beat Richardton-Taylor in 2nd Round, lost to wells county in Quarters)
Hillsboro (1st Round bye, Beats Dak. prairie in 2nd round, Loses in quarters to W/L)
Linton (Beat Park River 1st Round, lost in quarterfinals to Milnor/NS)
Harvey (Lost 1st round playoffs to Killdeer)
Velva (Class "A" State Champions)
North Border/Cavalier (Cavalier was undefeated until Semi-final loss) (NB won 1st rd. by 30, then beat kidder cty in 2nd round, loses in quarters to Thompson)
Not sure the order of finish, but these were the 8 teams who made it to state Basketball last season:
North Star (Made Play-offs, lost in Quarterfinals)
Grafton (Lost 1st round of playoffs)
Dickinson Trinity (lost 1st round of play-offs)
New Town (didn't make Play-offs)
Minot Ryan (Didn't make FB Play-offs)
Oak Grove (Did they win a game in FB last year?)
Standing Rock (Did not make play-offs)
Linton (Also a top wrestling school- Lost in quarterfinals in FB)
So in comparison- Just 2 of 8 schools who qualified for state basketball made it past the 1st round of the playoffs and one of them was also a top 15 wrestling school. 14 of 17 of the top Class "B" wrestling schools made it past the 1st round of the play-offs or lost in the 1st round to another wrestling school.
I know through efforts I've made to recruit more kids to join the wrestling teams that I have coached, I have also done research like this in past years to show kids why wrestling and football go hand in hand and it's always overwhelming to compare the good football programs to the good wrestling programs.
over the past 10 years in Class "B" Wrestling, the top teams would be: Napoleon, Hillsboro, Carrington, Velva, Linton, Lisbon, Watford City, Killdeer, Hettinger, Central Cass, North Border/Cavalier, and Oakes to name a few. It's not a coincidence that just about every one of those teams has also been dominate in football over that same time span.
Last year (2010-2011 season) no less than 11 All-State (State place-winner) wrestlers signed letters of intent to play collegiate football. I believe there were a few state qualifiers for wrestling who didn't place who signed to play FB as well.
23 members of last year's Shrine Bowl team were state qualifiers in wrestling, 20 of them were state place-winners in wrestling, 5 were state champions, 3 were high school all-americans, and one was the Mr. Wrestler award winner.
2010-2011 All-State Football players:
7 AAA All-State FB players were also state qualifiers in wrestling.
11 AA All-State FB Players were also State qualifiers in wrestling (14 All-East Region and 13 All-West Region players were Wrestling state qualifiers)
9 A All-State FB Players were also State Qualifiers in Wrestling
8 9-man All-State FB Players last year were state qualifiers in wrestling
Grand Total = 35 State Qualifying wrestlers in 2010-2011 were named as All-State Football players.