Stephen-Argyle

[north_border_eagles2106]

I would put the best stephen-argyle team from their 4 year state run recently, which is probably the first or second team to win it against the best high school football team from ND in the past 4 years from any class.  The main advantage they have over teams is that they always have a dominating offensive line.  Their stud running back blake szepanski started as a sophomore and rushed for over 1,000 yards.  He is a great running back but how many times does a high school sophomore rush for 1,000 yards on a team that everyone knows is going to run the ball.  Their line usually averages about 220-230 pounds in weight and they are probably the 5 strongest players on the field when they are on the field at the same time. 
     Every year there are probably 3 or 4 stephen-argyle seniors that go on to play college football somewhere.  The reason all the SA athletes are ahead of everyone is that they have a manditory weight program for the offseason and it basically says if you don't do it, you won't play.  The tradition of winning in stephen is so great and all the young kids look up to the older kids and want to be able to impress them when it's their chance to play varsity.  They also have one of the best high school coaches i've ever heard of and seen coach before.  In the past 13 seasons he has lost THREE regular season games.  He's lost in the state championship game two or three times and the year before their four year run they lost in that game so they could be on a 5-peat right now.[font=verdana] 
      [color=black]As far as the "saving yourself for basketball" debate, there are some athletes from SA that don't go out for basketball so they can lift hard and get ready for the next football season and they usually have a very solid basketball team every year as well.  For the last 4 years going to the alerus center to watch the minnesota section 8A championship game has become a tradition for me and some of my friends at north border.  We would get out of school early to go watch this game and it was always a great game.  The Kittson Central Wolfpack has been the second best team in the state for as long as Stephen Argyle has been around.  Every year they play them, that is stephen argyles best test and closest game.  They will have a 2 or 3 point win against Kittson Central and then roll through the rest of the playoffs.[/font] 

Stephen Argyles traditional quote that the whole football team goes by:

                           "Tradition Never Graduates"[/color]

[dmdp]

And Stephen-Argyle would be in 1A in North Dakota - though they'd probably still dominate there.

[north_border_eagles2106]

guaranteed

[Number7]

Another reason Stephen-Argyle is so successful and this has to do with the high participation percentage is the football mentality the whole community has.  They will do whatever it takes to start on friday night under the lights for that football team.  Their dads and grandpas expect ehm to put in the effort cause the whole area lives 9-man football.

[ndfan]

I'd put my money on the 02 or 03 Cavalier Tornadoes team to beat any of those SA teams. Don't get me wrong SA is great I just think those Cavalier teams were pretty talented themselves.

[The Schwab]

agreed

[itsallabouteddie]

S-A had a lineman this year who i think made 9-man all-state and he has a prosthetic leg

[north_border_eagles2106]

yeah, kolby gruhot, he's been in the grand forks herald a few times in the past year and they've interviewed him for the wdaz news.  Had SA and Cavalier played it would've probably been one of the best football games ever seen.  If I had to make a prediction I would say that the Stephen Argyle would've beat cavalier because I think going through the playoffs in minnesota to the state championship is harder then in north dakota and I believe SA is just a better football team overall. 

[Shocker]

yeah, kolby gruhot, he's been in the grand forks herald a few times in the past year and they've interviewed him for the wdaz news.  Had SA and Cavalier played it would've probably been one of the best football games ever seen.  If I had to make a prediction I would say that the Stephen Argyle would've beat cavalier because I think going through the playoffs in minnesota to the state championship is harder then in north dakota and I believe SA is just a better football team overall. 

I guess I'd have to disagree with you. I've seen quite a few MN HS games lately, and I think that with the exception of the very big MN programs (4 and 5 A) there isn't much of a difference in quality between them and ND teams. There are more quality teams at the top of the bigger divisions than in ND, but that's the only difference I see. I honestly believe that Fargo South could compete with Eden Prairie. As for it being tougher to get through the playoffs, in MN for 9 man there are 64 teams. In ND there are about 50. I don't see that as a huge difference. Minnesota allows every team to make the playoffs, so the best teams usually have at least 2 cupcake games to start things off so it may look tougher due to the larger bracket. I think that saying that SA could have taken down Cavalier is an extremely bold statement. They were an extremely talented team, and they  played 11 man football for years. To jump up from 9 man and win against a team like that would be a lot to ask.

[tenbelow]

i wouldn't go that far sayin fargo south could compete with eden prarie...maybe a rochester school or st. cloud but when you start talkin 5A in minnesota then its way out of ND's 2A league....back to stephen argyle- i think they could have matched up with cavalier...some of SAC's state teams had very good athletes that you usually wouldn't find in a single year in a small school...minnesota playoffs are much more difficult then ND's...there are over 64 teams now. 9-man is the biggest class in MN football

[ndfan]

If you take the 02' team you have 3 AA players of the year in Sundby, Trenbeath, and Oksendahl and Anderson who was class A player of year all on the field at the same time and I have yet to name the big boys up front on the O & D line who were studs.

[Shocker]

i wouldn't go that far sayin fargo south could compete with eden prarie...maybe a rochester school or st. cloud but when you start talkin 5A in minnesota then its way out of ND's 2A league....back to stephen argyle- i think they could have matched up with cavalier...some of SAC's state teams had very good athletes that you usually wouldn't find in a single year in a small school...minnesota playoffs are much more difficult then ND's...there are over 64 teams now. 9-man is the biggest class in MN football

If you look at the enrollment from the 5A schools in MN, I don't think it's that much different from some of the class A schools here. Eden Prairie (2nd biggest HS in MN) has an enrollment of about 2500 students (male and female). South (ND's largest HS) had about 1100 males enrolled. There isn't that big of disparity. I'm not saying South is better or would dominate EP or anything, I'm just saying I think it would be a close, competitive game. South is bigger than most schools in MN 5A.

Just because there are more teams in the playoffs doesn't necessarliy make it tougher. If you have to play SA it's probably tougher, but if you are on the other side of the bracket, it's not. Like I said earlier, every team in MN makes the playoffs. Even the ones with 0 or 1 win. The good teams hardly even break a sweat in the first couple rounds. By the way, 9 man is the biggest class in ND football too.

[thundastruck.]

How easy is it to forget that just a decade ago, North Dakota had its own Stephen-Argyle in 9-man football: NEW ENGLAND-REGENT.

The Tigers won 3 straight, could have won a fourth but lost in a blizzard, in the semifinals, without its all-state RB, C  and DT and playing with an injured QB. 

SA broke NE-R's national nine-man consecutive wins record (47) just this season. But, I like what the previous poster said about SA having enough kids to be a Class A school in ND. True, NE-R was the same way when they were at their height. They had more boys out for football than most schools in the class above them.  Some coaches beleived the 95 and 96 NE-R teams could have beat most teams in all classes those years if they'd have played 11-man (except the really good Big-school teams).

whats new englands records now days, sac wins all the time year in year out.  no comparision.

[toughregion2]

what about velva they have to be mentioned somewhere

[tenbelow]

good point about sac winning year in and out...they have not only won 4 straight but also another state title in 1999...aside from those they have made it to the state playoffs for the past 10 years....there is no school in my eyes from ND that you could compare to that type of record....its unbelievable that a small school like that can produce that many good teams year in and year out!

[Shocker]

good point about sac winning year in and out...they have not only won 4 straight but also another state title in 1999...aside from those they have made it to the state playoffs for the past 10 years....there is no school in my eyes from ND that you could compare to that type of record....its unbelievable that a small school like that can produce that many good teams year in and year out

I'm guessing that you must be from MN (probably Stephen or Argyle). Velva's 7 championships in the last 10 years are very comparable.

[thundastruck.]

good point about sac winning year in and out...they have not only won 4 straight but also another state title in 1999...aside from those they have made it to the state playoffs for the past 10 years....there is no school in my eyes from ND that you could compare to that type of record....its unbelievable that a small school like that can produce that many good teams year in and year out

I'm guessing that you must be from MN (probably Stephen or Argyle). Velva's 7 championships in the last 10 years are very comparable.

ya it would be velva, harvey, cavalier thats about it...

[tenbelow]

no i am from north dakota but stephen argyle isn't too far away...i just follow MN sports more because I feel they are more competitivie and fun to follow..nothing bad to ND sports but I just feel that way

[the low down]

no i am from north dakota but stephen argyle isn't too far away...i just follow MN sports more because I feel they are more competitivie and fun to follow..nothing bad to ND sports but I just feel that way

Not hard to do if you live in the Grand Forks area.  It seems that the sports on the west side of the river takes a back seat to the sports on the east side, unfortunately. I think, athlete for athlete, they would be compared to a periennial Velva or Harvey team. I don't think any team would be inferior to the other in this instance.

[north_border_eagles2106]

Every year for the past 4 years of Stephen-Argyles run they've had multiple seniors go on to play football for good colleges.  Brent Halfmann is the punter at UND and he's one of the best punters in the conference.  Matt Gratzek signed to play at NDSU and is just completing his freshmen year of college.  Nick Safranski is an offensive linemen for the FIGHTING Sioux.  Blake Sczepanski has offers coming out of his ears and hasn't decided where he'll play next.  These are just the players I know of off the top of my head but there are numerous amounts more that go on to play at the college level.  I would also put Coach Kroulik (spelling) up there with the best coaches from North Dakota.  Another Intersting fact about Stephen-Argye is that in 2002, the year before the 4-peat, they were in the state championship game and got beat.  They could easily be on a 5-peat right now.  The only thing more dominant that I can think of is Napoleon's wrestling program the last 5 years.  Unless guys have seen Stephen-Argyle play and the teams in North Dakota play you can't really give a fair comparison to each.  I've seen SAC play numerous times and I went to quite a few of the Cavalier football games from 2003-2005 and my personal opinion is that Stephen-Argyle would win.  Cavaliers best chance to beat them would've been with the 2003 team which was the best team they had during their run without a shadow of a doubt.  2004 and 2005 would've been victories for the "Storm".