 By Jeff Baranick
In this first week of September, there was North Dakota
prep sports action galore for fans to enjoy on multiple
fronts including football, volleyball, boys' soccer,
boys' tennis, girls' golf, and cross-country. On the
gridiron, there were several great matchups to follow in
all divisions of play, with KDKT Sports Radio spending
Friday evening in Velva to cover the Division A Region 3
clash between the 2nd-ranked Aggies of
Velva-Drake-Anamoose-Garrison (VDAG) and the Stanley
Bluejays. When the scoreboard showed triple zeroes at
game's end, the Aggies walked off the field with a
resounding 34-6 win. Leading VDAG's offensive attack was
the duo of Sr RB Logan Vincent and Fr QB Payton Weidler.
Vincent scored 4 touchdowns total on 3 runs and a
blocked punt, amassing 130 rushing yards on 20 carries,
while Weidler completed 11-of-20 pass attempts for 125
yards and a TD. The scoring pass went for 32 yards to
Soph WR Isaiah Hackman. In other Division A Region 3
encounters, Ray-Powers Lake steamrolled South
Prairie-Max 57-0; Des Lacs-Burlington drilled Tioga
42-8; and Bishop Ryan/Our Redeemers beat Bottineau 23-7.
On the Division A Region 4 scene, Beulah blitzed Heart
River 60-12; Southern McLean topped Bowman County in
overtime, 22-20; Dickinson Trinity nudged 5th-ranked
Central McLean 20-18; and Hazen humbled Killdeer 48-6.
And in other notable Division A contests, Harvey-Wells
County overwhelmed top-ranked Langdon Area-Munich 41-13;
3rd-rated Ellendale-Edgeley-Kulm mashed
Mayville-Portland-Clifford-Galesburg 44-6; Thompson
trounced Turtle Mountain 47-12; Grafton crunched
Carrington 26-7; and Oakes whitewashed Hillsboro-Central
Valley 33-zip. Elsewhere, in a much-ballyhooed
interdivisional showdown pitting AAA's top-ranked team,
West Fargo Horace, against AA's #1 squad, Kindred, the
Vikings of Kindred blitzed the Hawks of WF Horace 39-7.
In AA football encounters over the weekend, Bismarck St.
Mary's nearly doubled up Grand Forks Red River 27-14;
Devils Lake held off #3 Central Cass 21-19; Watford City
outpaced Wahpeton 40-28; co-#4 Grand Forks Central
jolted Jamestown 40-14; co-#4 Dickinson demolished
Williston 57-8; and #2 Minot North dispatched Fargo
South 41-6. On the AAA scene, 2nd-ranked Fargo Davies
defeated Century 35-28; 3rd-rated Bismarck blanked Fargo
North 35-0; co-#4 Fargo Shanley raced past Mandan 56-40;
co-#4 Legacy swarmed West Fargo 46-19; and West Fargo
Sheyenne outlasted Minot 31-28. Furthermore, in 9-man
matchups this past Friday, #1 New
Rockford-Sheyenne-Maddock routed Larimore 54-18; #2
LaMoure-Litchville-Marion walloped Wyndmere-Lidgerwood
50-6; 3rd-rated Linton-HMB blasted Beach 60-6; #4 Divide
County was upended by TGU 36-28; and #5
Napoleon-Gackle-Streeter gouged Grant County-Flasher
48-6. Additionally, Hettinger-Scranton held off
Hettinger County 22-14; New Salem-Almont stomped
Standing Rock 56-6; and Kidder County outlasted
Richardton-Taylor-Hebron 30-24. Then in 6-man play last
Thursday evening, Parshall survived Trenton 52-47 and
Center-Stanton whipped White Shield 52-0. Now turning
our attention to the pitch in West Region boys' soccer
play, Century secured a pair of shutouts—8-0 over
Jamestown and 3-nil at the expense of Mandan-St. Mary's;
Minot North blanked Williston 3-zip; Minot held off
Bismarck 6-4; Mandan-St. Mary's and Legacy finished tied
at 0-0; and Dickinson and Legacy played to a 1-all tie.
On the court in West Region boys' tennis, Century downed
Minot North 5 matches to 2; Legacy dominated Jamestown
8-1; Mandan handled Bismarck by the same tally; and
Minot disposed of Williston 7-2. Moving to the links, in
a Class B girls' golf invitational meet hosted by
Garrison, Des Lacs-Burlington topped the 6-team field
with a low score of 367. And the Lakers' sister-duo of
Laila and Lauryn Christianson were the top-two
individual finishers carding respective 18-hole rounds
of 76 & 84. Moving on to volleyball action, in some key
Class AA matches, Century defeated Williston 3-0 and
Mandan 3-1; Bismarck downed both Dickinson and St.
Mary's by 3-0 tallies; and Legacy beat both Minot North
and Minot 3 sets to none. In some other encounters,
Hazen edged Beulah 3-2 and handled Nedrose 3-0;
Dickinson Trinity thumped Watford City 3-0 but fell to
Linton-HMB 3-1; Des Lacs-Burlington nudged Beulah 3-2;
and winning by 3-0 tallies were Watford City, Flasher,
Central McLean, New Salem-Almont, and Richardton-Taylor,
respectively, over Shiloh Christian, Mott-Regent, both
Surrey & Velva, Strasburg-Zeeland, and Mandaree.
Additionally, there were a couple of cross-country meets
staged within the past few days in Mandan and Beulah;
but at the time of this writing, we have no results to
report to you. Finally, KDKT will have a pair of
football broadcasts for your listening pleasure in this
new week. On Thursday, it will be Dickinson Trinity
hosting Killdeer in Division A Region 4 play at DSU's
Biesiot Activities Center with kickoff scheduled for
7:00 pm CT/ 6:00 pm MT. Then on Friday, our featured
game has Southern McLean entertaining Shiloh Christian
in another Division A Region 4 clash also beginning at
7:00 pm CT.
Filed
by Veteran KDKT Sportscaster Jeff Baranick
Listen for Jeff on Friday Night Live - Friday
Nights 9pm/Central
Check Out
This Season's NDHSAA Broadcast/Game Schedule
 This
Week's Wrap-Up: The Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks
won its midweek series against the Sioux City
Explorers 2-1. The Redhawks won the opening game of
the series 9-6 and followed it up with a 2-1 victory
in the second game. Sioux City closed out the series
with an 11-3 victory over Fargo-Moorhead. This
weekend, the Redhawks are on the road taking on the
Lincoln Saltdogs. Fargo-Moorhead's offense dominated
the opening two games of the series with the
Saltdogs as they won the opening game 13-6. The
Redhawks followed it up with a 12-7 win in the
second game of the series. Fargo-Moorhead closes out
the series with Lincoln on August 23rd before they
travel back to Newman Outdoor Field to host the
Sioux Falls Canaries on August 25th-27th. In the
Northwoods League, the North Dakota teams all
finished the bottom half of the Great Plains West
Division. The Bismarck Larks finished with a 34-35
overall record and ended up fourth in the division.
The Badlands Big Sticks ended the season in fifth in
the division with a 31-39 overall record. The Minot
Hot Tots finished last in the division with a 26-44
overall record. On the gridiron, the UND Fighting
Hawks named their five captains for the 2026 season.
Lance Rucker and Sam Standell return as captains for
UND this season. Michael Devereaux, Jerry Kaminski,
and Trace Thaden are the newly appointed captains.
The Fighting Hawks open their season against the LIU
Sharks on August 27th at 7:00 pm. The NDSU Bison
open their season inside the Fargodome as they host
Jacksonville State. Junior Defensive Lineman Keenan
Wilson was named to the Chuck Bednarik Award
Preseason Watch List, which is presented to the most
outstanding defensive player in college football.
Wilson claimed FCS All-America accolades from three
different outlets last year after starting all 13
games and recording 8.0 tackles-for-loss and 4.0
sacks. In the Northern Sun, the Minot State Beavers
were picked to finish 10th in the preseason coaches'
poll, and the UMary Marauders were picked to finish
11th. In the North Division, Minot State finished
fifth in the coaches' poll, and UMary finished
sixth. Minot State opens the season on August 27th
at 6:00 pm against Emporia State. UMary opens its
season against the Rocky Mountain Battlin' Bears on
August 27th at 7:30 pm.
Filed
by KDKT Sportscaster Josh Coleman
Listen for Josh on Friday Night Live - Friday
Nights 9pm/Central
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