While the football game dominated the conversation this week but was far from the only development in the Herd. To start the week the League announced the preseason 🏀 polls & awards for both men & women. The releases pretty much fell-in-line with the consensus opinion about the local teams for this Winter.
🏐 started the week's competition with a 3 - 0 win over Denver but were defeated 3 - 1 by Omaha Saturday. They have not slipped to third place in the standings.
⚽️ salvaged what they could with a 2 - 0 win Sunday in Grand Forks.
NDSU also cut the ribbon on their new behemoth practice facility Friday.
Moorhead State started the week with the announcement of the schedule for the conference champions, beginning November 11th in Nebraska and remaining on the road until December when Conference action begins in earnest.
This past weekend 🏐 lost Friday to Southwest & Saturday to Sioux Falls.
⚽️ started with a loss against Winona St. but came back Sunday to tie with Upper Iowa.
🏈 did not enjoy their visit by Bemidji St..
The Cobbers week began with senior running back Peyton Mortenson being named Offensive Player of the Week by the Conference following a three-score performance. He added his eighth score of the season against Bethel but that would be extent of their production this past Saturday.
The Wednesday before the women's ⚽️ team got their first conference win of the season, 1 - 0 over St. Kate's. They followed that with a 1 - 1 draw against Augsburg on senior day. The men did one better against the Burg as Sheyenne's Kai Black sealed the second conference victory of the season.
On the 🏐 court it was a Friday/Saturday split with the victory coming over St. Mary's before returning home.
Minnesota ended the preseason with a debut of their Two Towers and then went into final preparation for the season. The first move was a transfer of contracts from AJ Lawson to Luka Garza. They further bolstered their Iowa squad by signing Emmanuel Mudiay, Matt Lewis & Phillip Wheeler to contracts. Every team wants to have as much talent in their atmosphere as possible but few have more than Minnesota right now! Two of the main members of the talent pool are Anthony Edwards & Jaden McDaniels, who had their fourth-year options officially exercised but the clock til their pay days next Summer was already ticking. Their journey to become the second most popular team in the state begins Wednesday with a visit by Oklahoma City.
Prior to their first two-game weekend of the season the Bolts were forced to trade forward Tyson Gross. They then went on the road to add another pair of wins over Sioux City & Sioux Falls. They will be back at home Thursday against Tri-City as their only action of the week.
Reminder that scores and recruiting news are updated regularly so check back often!
Now for this week's highlights
The week started with Moorhead 🏐 getting pushed to five sets by Alexandria but prevailing in the end. The Orange & Black got a shutout win in their first action of the section boys ⚽️ tournament over Elk River. They will take on Bemidji Tuesday evening at home. Further East and on the court Hawley, Lake Park/Audobon, Ulen/Hitterdal, Barnesville & Fertile/Beltrami all got shutouts, with the last three each doing it twice. Park Christian added another 0-fer to their resume as well.
Across the River Shanley, Sheyenne, West Fargo & South all added wins in the shortest amount Tuesday. Thursday it was North, Shanley & West Fargo that had shutout performances. WF completed the sweep with a shutout of Davies Saturday. The Cass Counties also swept the week, as did May/Port/C/G while Maple River got a 3 - 0 on Hankinson. The same is true of Hillsboro & Thompson.
On Friday night South took apart Wahpeton while Sheyenne cruised by Bismarck. Davies came from behind against Century to add another win to their resume. D/G/F, Fertile/Beltrami & Barnesville also padded their resumes with blowout victories to ensure that they will remain high in the rankings.
In the water the Taters took down South by 89. Moorhead also got a great performance from Katryna Hansen as she finished second in the section singles 🎾 tournament, good enough for a spot at the MN State Meet. Her accomplishment ends an at least 25 year old absence streak.
The week also included the announcement of the Class A All-State Girls ⛳️ team.
