North Dakota Preps

Twas the month before Christmas, and all through the state
a three-division setup was another year late.
The Board of Directors, with all their great care
had failed once more to grow a good pair.

With oil and influx flexing its might
Watford City looks forward with unwavering fright
As 325 draws closer each day
The Wolves must conclude they will soon be Class A

And Stanley, and Beulah, and Hazen, and more
Could soon see the back of the great B-shot door
While Grafton and Casselton smile in great glee
Thinking they will forever be playing Class B

In March will come tourneys, as seasons run out
With Oak Grove and Shiloh's wins too many to count
As Finley and Richland watch games on the tube
Trinity and Ryan are hitting their groove.

It doesn't matter that their towns are massive
The pushing to move them is, at best, just passive.
And with dollars flowing like water at the gate
The league gets a charge as a private wins state.

Devils Lake, Valley City, Kindred, and more
Could so easily fill up the middle class store.
There's Grafton, and Cass, and parochials, its true
And Watford City could sure dance a great tune.

But alas, the 50's are still in effect.
With supers drinking Kool-Aid, as they grin and reflect.
So smile and move on, walk away from the light.
Merry Basketball to all, to competition, good night.

Pretty creative!

I will admit that is pretty good writing

Well done Ryan!

Well done and very true.

And the WC Wolves have already passed the magic enrollment number and are in the process of preparing for the move to Class A in 2016-2017. Thats even without the Alexander coop numbers. Alexander is dissolving the coop and are big enough again to on their own. Gonna be pretty crazy for us WC coaches!!

http://www.watfordcitynd.com/?id=10&nid=2835

Watford City began the year with nearly 700 students in grades K-5. Their district is already larger than Valley City and Wahpeton, and it will soon outgrow St. Mary's, Fargo Shanley, Devils Lake and Belcourt if it hasn't already.

The article says it will be prudent for WC to plan for a high school of 800 students and to begin construction on another elementary school.

I'm sure a vocal group will continue to support three divisions. That's fine. I'm coming around. I just don't think Watford City alone is the game-changer. They are already among the largest of the schools that you'd have in mind for a middle division in North Dakota, and they will continue to leapfrog schools that have been class 'A' for generations.

I had a lot more written about the class 'B' landscape, and I deleted it. I know I'd get myself sucked into a never-ending debate. Maybe we need three divisions soon, maybe we don't. Y'all can kick that around. I just decided to focus on Watford City, and I posted it here because I like Heimer's poetry so much.

Get ready to embrace Watford City as a legitimate class 'A' town. It'll seem crazy when Bismarck High makes its first basketball road trip to Watford in 2017 or so. By 2025, it won't be crazy at all.

Bisonguy06 wrote:http://www.watfordcitynd.com/?id=10&nid=2835

Watford City began the year with nearly 700 students in grades K-5. Their district is already larger than Valley City and Wahpeton, and it will soon outgrow St. Mary's, Fargo Shanley, Devils Lake and Belcourt if it hasn't already.

The article says it will be prudent for WC to plan for a high school of 800 students and to begin construction on another elementary school.

I'm sure a vocal group will continue to support three divisions. That's fine. I'm coming around. I just don't think Watford City alone is the game-changer. They are already among the largest of the schools that you'd have in mind for a middle division in North Dakota, and they will continue to leapfrog schools that have been class 'A' for generations.

I had a lot more written about the class 'B' landscape, and I deleted it. I know I'd get myself sucked into a never-ending debate. Maybe we need three divisions soon, maybe we don't. Y'all can kick that around. I just decided to focus on Watford City, and I posted it here because I like Heimer's poetry so much.

Get ready to embrace Watford City as a legitimate class 'A' town. It'll seem crazy when Bismarck High makes its first basketball road trip to Watford in 2017 or so. By 2025, it won't be crazy at all.

Bisonguy06. The bold statements above are some things that I never thought I would hear from you. You have always been pretty adamant about your feelings towards 3 classes. I have always tried to interject that it makes a big difference which side of the fence a "town" is on when discussing the 3 class system. I would never expect one of the larger towns in the current B class to want a 3 class system. But as the landscape changes, it will be interesting to watch who embraces a 3-class system now. Not meant to be derogatory, just remember debating numerous topics with you over the years and what your stance was.

I have always said that Valley City and a couple others were misfits in terms of their enrollment.perhaps too big for class B athletics, perhaps too small for class A, but North Dakota hasn't had 16 or more schools that I felt would fit a middle division.to me, this was a true statement ever since the Northstar conference dissolved.

Now, we have Valley City, we have Watford City, and a few others, and some more schools on the rise in the oil patch. Stanley, Newtown, DesLacs Burlington, the Heart River co-op…all of these could be approaching the magic 325 number by the year 2020 or so. To me, that is the tipping point, to have several schools flirting with 325, on either side of the line, all at the same time.

I don't peek at this board all that often anymore, and I don't intend to go back and forth on this all season long. But yes, we may have the numbers for a healthy middle division sometime down the road in North Dakota.

I'll give you the 9-12 enrollment range of 200-650 students and any source you'd like (NDHSAA membership directory, football male enrollment x2, ND Hoopster), and you will not find 16 schools in that middle division. If you like that enrollment range, I'd argue that you'd find several in the 200 range that have no history of dominance in B, you'd find a school in West Fargo Sheyenne at the top end that clearly doesn't belong, and you'd find a couple parochials that may want to continue to move up and out of the middle.

Take the range 250-850 and you'll come up short of 16, and your schools at the top end will be Legacy (new), Sheyenne (new), and Dickinson (new middle school, record K-12 enrollment.)

NDHSAA legal counsel has advised against a weighted enrollment for private schools because it likely would not withstand a legal challenge. Six of the state's eight private high schools are well below 200 kids grades 9-12. Most would like to see these schools out of the small school class, and I've never denied that they have built-in advantages. But they can't be cherry-picked to form your middle class. It has to be based on enrollment.

I have been very consistent. Show me a true middle of 16+ schools based on enrollment, and I'll show you a yes vote on a three class plan. If you show me 2A football, I'll show you nearly half a dozen football co-ops that don't exist in the other sports. ND has big, small, and not enough in between (yet) to support 3 classes. I have played these points like a broken record.

Bisonguy06 wrote:I have always said that Valley City and a couple others were misfits in terms of their enrollment.perhaps too big for class B athletics, perhaps too small for class A, but North Dakota hasn't had 16 or more schools that I felt would fit a middle division.to me, this was a true statement ever since the Northstar conference dissolved.

Now, we have Valley City, we have Watford City, and a few others, and some more schools on the rise in the oil patch. Stanley, Newtown, DesLacs Burlington, the Heart River co-op…all of these could be approaching the magic 325 number by the year 2020 or so. To me, that is the tipping point, to have several schools flirting with 325, on either side of the line, all at the same time.

I don't peek at this board all that often anymore, and I don't intend to go back and forth on this all season long. But yes, we may have the numbers for a healthy middle division sometime down the road in North Dakota.

The only problem is that the standard has been to error on the side of going over the cutoff, not under.

Hazen-Beulah wrestling is a perfect example. Way, way, way over 325, yet allowed to participate in B wrestling. Grafton signing it's mega softball co-op (what are we up to, six schools in that one) yet allowed to be "B".

We make exceptions all the time. But try to tuck one more team into B basketball (a team that did not advance past the opening round of the state tournamen.......wait, I mean, your "regionals", and the sky is falling......in District 5.

Lets go 325 or nothing, in all sports. That would at least show me that the number means something.

Totally agree, I don't understand the exceptions made to the 325 cutoff in the other sports. My love affair with 325 is well-documented. I'm all for a firm and consistent 325 across the board.