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The final Friday of football locally until August came & went with a classic between Minot & Shanley to end the night after North & Kindred rolled to the AA & A titles!
While the final victory went the way Minot, a Landon Meier touchdown pass eclipsed the state single-season scoring record.
From across the River D/G/F, Barnesville & Fertile/Beltrami kept their seasons going into the state semi-finals. F/B will go Thursday morning against Kingsland at the Purple Palace with Barnesville set to face Jackson County Central first thing Friday while the Rebels hook Stewartville, Saturday afternoon.
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The week's conclusions also brought accolades
Peder Haugo was named AA Senior Athlete of the Year. Adam Roland got Coach of the Year.
Jordan Leininger was named Co-Senior for AAA.
While it receives much less fan-fare, the water made a pair of splashes as Shanley's Jackie Snyder was named Coach of the Year. Sheyenne's Brooklyn Keney was the Girls Senior Athlete of the Year.
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Local girls also earned the maximum number of spots at the state tournaments with Northern Cass & May/Port/C/G making the Class B while Sheyenne, Shanley, North & Davies earned the seeds in that order. They will face Bismarck, Jamestown, Century & Legacy.
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From those endings to closer to the beginning, Fargo's hockey team remains on a tear as they have now amassed the most points in the 16-team League while remaining undefeated in regulation. Zam Plante, Mac Swanson & Leo Gruba are among the top scorers in the League but it's the goalies that are stealing the show with Anton Castro & Hampton Slukynsky coming in as the two two and the only ones allowing fewer than two goals/contest so far!
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NDSU also checked-in with their most complete performance of the season on Senior Day but just as substantive is that Carson Wentz has another chance to prolong his playing career, taking a check on the team which originally passed on him.
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The mat also earned top-7 mention with junior Gaven Sax being named Wrestler of the Week following one of the best outcomes of his career against Nebraska's Elise Brown Ton.
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The Purple made more memories as Josh Dobbs showed more of his tantalizing athleticism and his infancy in the team structure. The latter was only a surprise in that it was on display in the second half while the former has been a revelation from his first snap last weekend. Like the rest of us, O'Connell is learning about his quarterback along with the rest of us. I'm not going to say it's unprecedented but I can't imagine there are abundant examples like the one were are living through in the League's history. That could lead to some frustrations along the way but so far has been all kinds of fun!
The latest game also included the best effort by TJ Hockenson of the season and since joining the team. Skepticism about his extension was decently well-founded but now he has some history to justify it as the most prolific TE in a single half all-time!
All deference to Kirk Cousins who was on an MVP-level run but the system that O'Connell has put together is just on another level! Who knows what they will be able to cook-up over the eight weeks that remain before the playoffs (bye-week included).
With the team, as in life, we will keep on learning!
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Another impressive week for the Fargo area sports scene!