North Dakota Preps

Who will be the top 4 teams in region 1 next year

1. LaMoure
2.Richland
3.W-L
4. N-GS
5. SB
6. Hankinson
7. SC
8. S-Z
9. Oak Grove*

*Placing Oak Grove last in Region 1 on account of I've never seen them play.. Interested to watch and see how they will adjust to 9 man football though.

Flanker23 wrote:1. LaMoure
2.Richland
3.W-L
4. N-GS
5. SB
6. Hankinson
7. SC
8. S-Z
9. Oak Grove*

*Placing Oak Grove last in Region 1 on account of I've never seen them play.. Interested to watch and see how they will adjust to 9 man football though.

I think you have Hankinson and Oak Grove way to low. They will both be in the playoffs. I'm c:urious to see how WL plays. They have a great tradition, but lost most of their top guys, didn't they?

Would be interesting to hear how the JV programs did last fall for these teams. I know some don't have enough numbers for a JV program, but a few of them do I am sure.

Woah, You are way off. You must just being throwing this out there. You have know idea whating youre predicting. Accurate predictions are
1.Lamoure
2.Hankinson
3.Richland
4.Sargent Central
5.Napoleon
6.South Border
7.Oak Grove
8.Strasburg-Zeeland
Based on returning players and JVs I have seen this will be an accurate prediction, they all lose big key parts of the puzzle, those 3-6 teams will be great games to see. And who knows, if they get working and get into shape right away anything can change.

Nodak21 wrote:Woah, You are way off. You must just being throwing this out there. You have know idea whating youre predicting. Accurate predictions are
1.Lamoure
2.Hankinson
3.Richland
4.Sargent Central
5.Napoleon
6.South Border
7.Oak Grove
8.Strasburg-Zeeland
Based on returning players and JVs I have seen this will be an accurate prediction, they all lose big key parts of the puzzle, those 3-6 teams will be great games to see. And who knows, if they get working and get into shape right away anything can change.

And W-L would be the 9, they lost their whole team. I dont see them standing a chance to anyone besides OG or SZ. sorry Warbirds

^bulletin board material^

That's interesting that LaMoure-LM is picked first. Certainly they have talented backs returning, but their line was nearly all lost to graduation. And they had no depth at line in 2012. So the question will be if they can slap together a respectable line.

I did think WL had a pretty good JV last year with good numbers.

I just do not understand why people are picking LaMoure #1. They have a good young lineman, but that is about it up front. Their JV last year was as poor a JV as I have ever seen. I know 9 man is a wide open game with a lot of green, but you still need some sort of O line. Someone who has picked them first, please explane how or what you have seen that makes you think they will finish on top. I think the region is to good to have a team with a major weakness take first.

Theilges and Olson would be my guess, and the younger Theilges. Just a guess though.

footballislife15 wrote:Theilges and Olson would be my guess, and the younger Theilges. Just a guess though.

Alright, but try find 6 more to through out there. How many spots can you hide a player in nine man? It is much easier to hide a couple players in 11man.

Who did Lamoure lose off of last year's team?
Do they have the best skill position players in the region?
I think the region is going to take a step back from the last 2 seasons.

They will lose 8 seniors. They will have two seniors and 3 juniors on next years team. IMO they will have two sophomores that will play at a varsity level next year.

I think they will have some (2) of the better skill kids in the region. I don't think they have the best running back though. The Richland kid is IMO.

I agree, the region will not be as strong, tip to bottom.

I think LaMoure has the best backfield overall and the best running back by far in the region- Brady Thielges.

Did Richland lose much off the line? What does South Border have coming back in the backfield? What did Hankinson lose? What guys from W-L's JV will be able to step up next year? Thoughts on Napoleon too?

SportsYearRound wrote:I'm sorry I have to respond to some of this ridiculousness. Brady Thielges is heads and shoulders better than any running back in the region. (I can see an argument for Kayne Griffith being closer than heads and shoulders, but you have to be foolish to say he's better than Brady.) He's an absolute beast who works his tail off. Classic example of actions speak louder than words. Anthony Olson is a top player who as we saw at the state b is electrifying and makes some athletic plays. I bet he gets even more athletic too. Drew Thielges is a good lanky fast athlete too. Barring injuries LaMoure's backfield will be one of if not the best in the state. Luckily for LaMoure you only need 3 linemen. It'll definitely be their weakness. I wouldn't doubt Andy working on it right now either.

Really, you think Olson will be more athletic as a junior than he was as a sophomore? Way to step out on a limb there.

As far as Brady goes, I would say he was a better back than Griffith if we were talking about 11 man, but we aren't. Griffith is much faster and that is a big deal in 9 man. I do not know Brady's stats but would appreciate seeing them. Griffith did not have nearly as good a line or team last year, but still ran for 2467 yards and 29 tds.

How familiar are you with the team? I think last year they were easily the best team in the region at the end of the year, and they did give the state champs their best game in the playoffs. But remember how they struggled early in the year when their line was not at full strength? Their line this year will not be as good as it was last year when they were not at full strength.

I think that playing with only 3 linemen (splitting the ends out wide) is a viable option, but do they have anyone that can throw the ball? I am not sure.

There are no absolutes,but one thing tends to hold true in high school football. The team with the better line tends to win the game.

Offense A: great line, average skill position players
Offense B: average line, great skill position players

Offense B is better every time.

Great line and poor skills beats a poor line and great skills every time. All you need is 3 1/2 yards a carry and you will score every time you have the ball if you do not turn it over.

And I disagree with you flip. An average line can get dominated and if you do not have time to throw or are having your backs meet defenders two yards in the backfield, you are screwed. It doesn't matter how talented your backs are. They may make a play or two, but you will spend most of your time punting.

Just a couple of notes, sprinkled with my opinion.

The "average" line that Lamoure will have next year will boast 6'2, 300 lb sophomore (give or take) Quin Alo, who, in my opinion could potentially play D1 football when its all said and done. I am not sure who else will be in the mix at OL, but they have a special player to build around.

Anthony Olson is the best athlete in 9 man, period. I wouldnt be surprised to see him playing safety for the Bison (or another D1 team) at some point either. He is an absolute difference maker and Coach Delabarre will find all kinds of creative ways to employ his skills.

Brady Thielges is the best all around football player in the Region. He is also an exceptional leader and, as stated, has a great work ethic. Griffith is a fast, special 9 man running back, no doubt, but I'll take Thielges, especially when we start talking college prospects.

Drew Thielges is another very good, athletic kid who will help in some fashion, perhaps at QB.

Lamoure has other good athletes in the mix as well but they will be undersized after Alo. There are ways of dealing with that and the Lamoure coaching staff is as good as any. Also, Lamoure has established a culture of winning in all sports, dont discount this as a factor.

We will see come the fall but I wouldnt bet against them with some of the talent they have.

I had a bunch of stuff typed out last night and then preps went down for some time, but just to be clear I wasn't indicating Lamoure would have an average line. I don't know enough about any team to say what they'll be. I was just making a point that skill position players trump non-skill position players.

Im guessing Griffith had way more carries than theilges did.

I would be surprised if he didn't. He had one game in particular that he had something like 40+ carries. That was out of the ordinary though. I also would guess the Loboes spent much less time playing defense.

There were several times that Griffith would only need 1 carry to go 60+ yards for a touchdown. Richland's defense wasn't very strong either so opponents would be on offense longer or score quickly (which explains many of the high scoring games for Richland). I think I remember one games was 9 carries for around 300 yards...that's pretty efficient running if you ask me...even with a semi-weak line.

LaMoure has two backs with legitimate d-1 opportunities. d_fense's post about them not have definitively the best backfield/let alone back riled me up. I understand their line could hurt them, but I see successful athletes in LaMoure and have no reason to believe they won't find a way. Pretty sure from state basketball there is a Stemen that's an athlete too and he hasn't even been mentioned. With everything I've said, there is no doubt that Kayne Griffith is a great speedy running back. I'm not discounting him as a good running back.

d_fense wrote:They will lose 8 seniors. They will have two seniors and 3 juniors on next years team. IMO they will have two sophomores that will play at a varsity level next year.

I think they will have some (2) of the better skill kids in the region. I don't think they have the best running back though. The Richland kid is IMO.

I agree, the region will not be as strong, tip to bottom.

3 sophomores. Sherman, Alo, Theilges.