Round 1- What to Watch

[ChickenNuggets]

I wasn't too shocked by the seeding. I thought Sargent County would be #1 and was thinking South Border might be #2 overall, but #2 and #3 really don't make a huge difference as they're on the same half of the bracket.

I do think that with the 4 regions this year we might get some much more competitive 1st round games than we have had in the past. I also think it's too bad that they didn't seed the #1 and 2 seeds from each region out to 8 places as I think that would have changed the brackets in a big way as I think that North Prairie and Grant County-Flasher are the 2 best #2 seeds right now and they both end up on the same half bracket with the #1 seed. Here's my 2 cents on what I think we might see.

First Round
Saturday October 21st
G1 - (5-3) R2#4 Nelson County @ R1#1 Sargent County (9-0)
I do think that Nelson County is the best #4 seed in the state so Sargent County isn't getting any favors as the #1 overall seed getting to play them right off the bat. Nelson County is pretty athletic, physical, and well coached. That said, Sargent County is the #1 overall seed for a reason and they get home field advantage. I'm predicting a Sargent County win by a couple scores.

G2 - (6-2) R1#3 Wyndmere-Lidgerwood @ R2#2 North Prairie (8-1)
Wyndmere-Lidgerwood is coming off a disappointing loss in a very competitive game against LaMoure. Now they have to pack their bags and hit the road to North Prairie who at one point was the #1 ranked team in the state and if not for an overtime loss to #2 ranked New Rockford they still might be as they have been looking the part ever since that setback to New Rockford. I'll take North Prairie to win by 20+ in this one.

G3 - (6-3) R4#4 Linton-HMB-Strasburg-Zeeland @ R3#1 Westhope-Newburg-Glenburn (9-0)
Here's one that might be my game of the week. WNG ran through their Region 3 opponents this year, but I still have some questions about how strong that region actually was. I do think WNG is a very good team and has one of the best players in the state, but this #4 seed out of Region 4 might just be the best team that WNG has seen this season. Linton went through a 3-game skid where they lost to the top 3 teams in this region, but two of those games were very competitive. Only South Border really took it to them. Linton pretty much blew out everyone else they went against. I don't see this being a sure win as a #1 vs. #4 seed, but I will predict WNG gets it done at home in the first round. WNG wins by a pair of TD's in this one.

G4 - (7-2) R3#3 Central McLean @ R4#2 Grant County-Flasher (7-2)
I'll admit that Central McLean is probably the one team I know absolutely nothing about. Looking at their results, they played WNG in Game 1 of the season and hung 40 on them. They did give up 64 in that contest however. They seem to have a strong offense scoring 47 points per game, but they haven't exactly been spectacular defensively giving up 32 points a game. If they can't stop the lower end teams in Region 4 from scoring, I don't see them stopping GCF either and I think they're going to see the best defense that they have seen all year long. Grant Count-Flasher wins this one handily at home.

G5 - (5-4) R1#4 Hankinson @ R2#1 New Rockford-Sheyenne-Maddock (8-0)
Hankinson has played solid football all season long to get to this point and earn a playoff birth. Unfortunately they have secured a trip to New Rockford to take on the #2 overall seed who has been playing phenomenal football all year long and I don't see that stopping now. I see New Rockford winning this matchup and I don't see it being particularly close. NRS wins by 30+

G6 - (6-2) R2#3 North Star @ R1#2 LaMoure-L-M (7-2)
Here's another game that could be a really good first round matchup. North Star has played well in arguably the toughest region in the state. I did hear that one of their main players may be injured which could hurt them. LaMoure is also coming off a big win to secure this home game for them. LaMoure has had a lot of playoff success recently while North Star's playoff track record is less than stellar recently. I'm going with the Loboes in this one, but I wouldn't be shocked if I got this one wrong.

G7 - (6-3) R3#4 Mohall-Lansford-Sherwood @ R4#1 South Border (9-0)
I think that this might be the most lopsided 4 vs. 1 game that we see in Round 1. South Border is playing at a very high level and has dominated everyone they have played to this point. No one has come within 3 scores of them. MLS has 3 losses and two of them were lopsided games against teams that I do not feel are as good as South Border. Add in a very long road trip and I'm predicting a game that ends in Running Clock in a win for the home team.

G8 - (6-3) R4#3 Hettinger County @ R3#2 Alexander (8-1)
Hettinger County has been a huge surprise for me all season. I didn't really have them pegged as a playoff team in the preseason in their region. Then they started 1-3 on the year. All they've done since then is win 5 straight games. Alexander has been another cinderella type team this year. They had just 1 win in 2020 in 6-man and 1 win in 2021 when they moved up to 9-man before going 4-5 last year. This year they go 8-1 and earn a home playoff game. While I do think there are going to be many competitive games in Round 1. This is the one game that I am going to predict the road team gets a win. Hettinger County is hot right now winning 5 straight and only giving up 1 score in each of their last 4 games. I think they have seen better competition week in and week out and that is going to make a difference. Again, I wouldn't be shocked to be wrong here, but I am picking Hettinger County to win a tight one.

Based on my predictions- Here is how I see Round 2 looking:
North Prairie @ Sargent County
Grant County-Flasher @ Westhope-Newberg-Glenburn
LaMoure @ New Rockford
Hettinger County @ South Border