Oakes, ND – With playoff football nearly upon North Dakota its time to look at the standings and clinching scenarios for some of the teams in Region 1.
Current Region 1 Standings:
- x-#2 Kindred (5-0, 6-0)
- x-#5 Central Cass (5-1, 5-1)
- Lisbon (3-2, 4-2)
- Oakes (3-2, 4-2)
- EEK (3-2, 5-2)
- Hillsboro-CV (2-5, 2-5)
- May-Port-CG (1-4, 2-4)
- Northern Cass (0-6, 0-7)
(x-clinched playoff, y-clinched Region, italics-eliminated)
Hillsboro-CV, May-Port-CG, and Northern Cass are eliminated from playoff contention.
#2 Kindred and #5 Central Cass have clinched playoff spots as they both hold tie breakers over Lisbon and Oakes. Even if they both lose out the rest of the season they will be in the playoffs. For Kindred to earn the top over spot they need to win only one game of their last 2. For Central Cass to earn the top spot they need to win both games and Kindred to lose both games.
Lets take a look at the last two spots where there’s a 3-way tie for 3rd.
Lisbon Broncos
Lisbon takes on Oakes this weekend. For them its a simple win and in. If they don’t win and EEK does beat #5 Central Cass they are not out of playoff contention yet. It would come to the final week of play where they take on May-Port-CG where it’d be must win and they would need EEK to lose to #2 Kindred. If both they and EEK don’t win this weekend it’d remain win and in for the Broncos in the next weekend.
Oakes Tornadoes
Its the same for the Tornados. If they beat Lisbon they are into the postseason as the #3 seed. If they don’t win and EEK does beat #5 Central Cass they are not out of playoff contention yet. It would come to the final week of play where they take on Northern Cass where it’d be must win and they would need EEK to lose to Kindred. If both they and EEK don’t win this weekend it’d remain win and in for the Tornadoes in the next weekend.
Ellendale/Edgeley/Kulm Thunder
It’ll take some help for the Thunder to make the playoffs for the first time since 2018. They also have the hardest remaining schedule of the Region 1 teams as they need to win at least one game against either #5 Central Cass or #2 Kindred and they would need Oakes or Lisbon to lose their last 2 games. If they beat the Squirrels this Friday they would be 1 game above either whoever lost in the Oakes-Lisbon game. They would then need to either beat the Vikings or have the loser of the Oakes-Lisbon game lose to their opponent. If they were to lose to the Squirrels this Friday they would be tied with either Oakes or Lisbon. They would then need that team to lose their following weeks game and beat Kindred.
This weekend will shed a lot of light on the postseason picture as EEK is fighting for their life and Oakes and Lisbon are fighting for a more favorable opponent in the First Round of the playoffs. As it stands right now the #3 seed in R1 will take on the #2 seed in R2 which is Carrington in Carrington while the #4 seed would take on R2’s #1 seed and #4 team Statewide Langdon/Edmore/Munich.