The opinions expressed are those of Ryan Cunningham, and do not represent I3G Media or it’s sponsors

As the fall high school sports season draws to a close over the next two weeks, some thoughts on what we’ve seen and what we can expect before we turn the page.

1)  This Football Plan is a Keeper

This has been, by far, the most exciting post-season we’ve had in high school football in recent memory.

Cavalier goes on the road and defeats the top-ranked nine-man team in the semis. Central Cass wins three consecutive road games to go bowling Friday. Fargo North, a five-seed, makes the dance in the 11-A final, and Bismarck Century is in a state title game as an eight-seed with a 5-6 overall record.

Can we finally admit that we have football aligned properly, with the right procedures?

If we can, we won’t, and it has to do with the capital city. Bismarck football coaches, two in particular, have been very vocal about this plan for two straight years. They are making it tough where it hurts, which is scheduling.

Bismarck, Bismarck Century, Bismarck Legacy, Bismarck St. Mary’s, and Mandan played a grand total of three inter-divisional games this past season. In a sport with uneven numbers of teams in each region, inter-divisional games are a way to make scheduling easier without the miles. Some schools have decided to find other options to fill their schedule.

Those that worked on the current football plan, which favors parity and competition over just hitting easily divisible numbers in a conference, have seen their work find success this year. The grumbling behind the scenes, however, gets a lot of attention in the North Dakota sports media.

2)  Football Can Simplify Basketball Tournaments

Speaking of the Dakota Bowl, Central Cass and Velva/Drake-Anamoose/Garrison will kick off at 9:10 AM Friday for the 11-B title.

While we’re considering three divisions of basketball, let’s concentrate on that start time for a moment. If we can start a state championship football game at 9:10 AM, why can’t we start a first-round state tournament basketball game at 8:30 AM?

This is a valid question, as one of the hangups to the three-division proposal is how to run tournaments. People seem to believe there’s no way to hold a combined boys/girls event on one floor without adding a fourth day, and Wednesday seems to upset our clergy.

If you’ve ever attended an NAIA national tournament, back before the regional sites, they played eight college basketball games a day for the first two rounds. Teams in the next game got 10 minutes of warm-up time during halftime of the previous game, then 10 more between games.

If we can get eight college games in in one day, we can get eight high school games in in one day, and that eliminates the need for another floor.

Again, if 9:10 AM works for a football title game, 8:30 AM should work for a first-round basketball game. I remember the phrase, “If I were playing for a state title, I’d wake up anytime they told me,” when they were selling condensing the Dakota Bowl into one day. Perhaps we should extend that to another sport.

3)  Volleyball–the Sequel

If the seeds hold in the Class B regional volleyball finals, whenever the matches are finally played, the State Class B volleyball tournament will feature Northern Cass, Thompson, Linton, Langdon Area, Garrison, Rugby, Dickinson Trinity and Kenmare-Bowbells.

The tournament doesn’t change much, as five of these are usual players in the state tournament. Half of this field would qualify for the middle division of basketball under the proposed three-division system. The proposal being considered for basketball doesn’t include volleyball.

This type of field really inspires a person to embrace the concept of relegation, even for the proposed plan of basketball. If the half of the field that would be middle division, consisting of Northern Cass, Thompson, Rugby, and Dickinson Trinity, were to add Langdon Area and Linton due to relegation, and see the likes of Kindred, Central Cass, Shiloh Christian, or others fill out the field, that would be a stacked tournament.

And the door would open for others, like a May-Port-C-G, who’s ranked fifth in North Dakota, and will have to play the match of their lives to get past Thompson in Region II.

It’s worth mentioning that May-Port-C-G is on the written record as being against three divisions of basketball.  Maybe they will change their mind if Thompson edges them this week.

4)  Rivals to Meet in Round 1?

Again, assuming the seeds work out in the regional finals, seeding the state tournament could be interesting.

Northern Cass dropped one match all year, but that match was to Thompson at home in the regular season. Thompson would have a quality win over them.

That being said, Northern Cass is the most battle-tested. They played Langdon, Central Cass, May-Port-C-G, Linton, and Thompson, winning at one point over all of them, including multiple wins over Langdon and May-Port-C-G. These opponents represent the #1, #4, #5, #6, and #8-ranked teams.

The Jaguars should be the top seed. Linton would follow. Kenmare, despite another weak schedule in the regular season, would likely be the third seed. That would leave Thompson and Langdon to meet in the opening round in the four-five matchup.

The Garrison-Shiloh winner, the Rugby-Our Redeemers winner, and the Trinity vs Glen Ullin-Hebron winner would be the random draws.

5)  Make or Break for the Most Recent Sports Add

Wrestling has a make-or-break season this year. That season is for the girls.

No, the season won’t affect whether or not there is girls wrestling in the future. But, it will be a year to test the sport’s credibility.

The state was told that girl’s wrestling was one of the fastest growing sports in the country. Now that it is added, it’s important that it grows.

Girls wrestling will likely face the same uphill climb as other girls sports, like girls hockey. Fargo North and Fargo South combine for one hockey team. Grand Forks Red River and Grand Forks Central do as well. West Fargo and West Fargo Sheyenne are one unit. Bismarck is only breaking up it’s Demon-Patriot-Sabre-Saints-Skyhawks co-op due to pressure from elsewhere.

Is wrestling destined to live the same life cycle. If so, perhaps it doesn’t look as odd, as the sport has an individual component to it that hockey doesn’t have. But it seems we’re struggling to get the girls to play, and coaches from many sports would tell you that.

We should probably start to ask girls about that.