Bison
There are still a few more days before the national 10 go up against the rest of the best in the country. In the meantime, some more accolades have fallen on the head of the Bison Mountain. Payton Otterdahl and his coach, Justin St. Clair, were both voted the best of the year for the Midwest region by the coaches assocation. Considering the level of success, it shouldn't be much of a surprise but there are plenty of higher profile universities in the region so it's absolutely worth noting! At this time next week, NDSU will likely have more All-American's to add to it's list! Go get em.
Twins
After a Thursday game where the Twins got a taste of their own medicine, they reeled off three more wins. The pitching showed the potential issue in today's series clincher but the offense did just enough. Even with as explosive as they can be, it's not a guarantee that they can do that every time so the thoroughly discussed need within the roster may get an answer or two soon. With the impressive debut by young Devin Smeltzer, an answer for solidifying the staff could already be in the pipeline. Hopefully they get aggressive and look for outside options but if they can get even better from within their own ranks then all the better!
High School Sports
It was the final championship week of the school year and Fargo area school managed plenty of hardware! Before getting into state finishes, Moorhead high had a 44 year old record broken on Saturday as Claire Howell won the section 8AA 400 m by nearly a half second better than the previous best. Things that are best in a half century deserve lead off attention!
As does going undefeated and winning a championship. Shanley's girls Soccer can boast that after they won 2-1 over Minot on Saturday afternoon. If you're a Deacons fan it's even better because both of the goal scorers are players that will be back for the 2020 season. Haley Von Bank is only an eighth grader and gave them the first lead while Hadley Huber is a junior, she got it back from 1-1.
Continuing West, WF's Softball team regained the position that they had held a strangle hold on for most of the last decade. They came back from losing in last year's playoff and they came back from being down by three runs late in yesterday's finale. The winning run came thanks to a single by Sophie Ochocki as they scored the final five runs of the game.
And last but not least, the class B Softball championship came down to a duel between Central Cass & Kindred. The two perennial powers met for the third time in the championship game since the sport was added in 2012. Kindred had taken both of the previous meetings but each of them have accumulated three trophies over those years. The Vikings jumped out to a 2-0 as they looked to make it three wins over the Squirrels. Central Cass didn't waste much time in tying up the game then taking control on the way to a 6-2 win to get their first in the rivalry. Lexi Buhr did her part from the plate and the circle with a pair of hits & runs while throwing a complete game.
On the boys side of the action, West Fargo & Shanley made it to the third place game, with the Deacons coming away with the victory, 10 - 1.
Redhawks
The Rojo's continued the recent trend of successful team's from Fargo doing well in Texas with a sweep over the Airhogs to remain in the mix with the rest of the North Division. The season is still very early but by the looks of it, it's going to be a dog fight all Summer!
Invaders
Now for your weekly update on a "top 100 quarterback" and his team. This week Johnson completed 37.8% of his passes with 143 yards, 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. The QB Rating was two points over 45, out of a possible 158.3. All those numbers look like rock star stats when compared against the 5 total yards that were netted by the running backs. Both the touchdown receptions went to Jon Baune who also finished with a team high 71 yards. So he may be the star of the week but Josh Gatlin also threw his hat into the ring with a pick six. Add in three field goals by Lezan Tehir & the Invaders were able to squeak out a 29 - 21 win over the Northland Bulls in Hudson. They'll be in Sioux City on Saturday before making their 2019 debut at Shanley 13 days from now, against those Bulls. I'm going to keep emphasizing the preposterousness of the quarterback's comments from last Saturday but the team is undefeated and may be able to take the title back, though with only 4 teams now in the NEFL, it's not quite the challenge that it was
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