Section Strength: 4A

This is the third story covering another tough section in the State of Minnesota. This is a section coming out of class 4A, which has produced many Division One athletes along with Class 6A and 5A. This Class seems to be different from the other classes, the reason being that no one team has established themselves as a dynasty for too long. No team has won a title more than two times in the past five years, the last team to do so was the Becker Bulldogs back in the '13 and '14 seasons. With all that to bring into play, picking the toughest section in this class was tough to decide. In the end, I decided that the toughest Section for this season was Section 5 based on the points each team scored in a game and the points they gave up. SMB Wolfpack The Wolfpack had a perfect season in its first season of existence, averaging 29 points a game on offense and gave up 15 points on defense to ride their way to a Prep Bowl Title. SMB mixed three schools and received a variety of talent for the 2018 season, with their top 3 athletes already committed to big schools to play at the next level I will list the following two key players that they will return in 2019, these players include: Defensive Back- <b>Deonta Thomas</b>, awareness, does his job on defense, keeps his receiver in front of him and wraps up to make the tackle. Kicker- <b>Theo Crosby</b>, leg and accuracy, it's hard not to highlight a kicker with this kind of leg and accuracy in high school. Providence Academy Lions The Lions finished the season at 9-1, seeding second in the Section tournament, averaging 38 points a game on offense and giving up 6 on defense. The Lions can play on both sides of the ball, pitching seven shutouts on the year. Key athletes they will return next season are: Defensive Back- <b>Hakim Daniels</b>, ball-hawk, flies around the field and finds the ball and makes plays. [caption id="attachment_8250" align="alignnone" width="300"] Hakim Daniels- Hudl[/caption] &nbsp; Offensive Lineman- <b>Colin Nguyen</b>, speed, quick off the snap and gets to his blocking assignment fast. Holy Angels Stars The Stars finished the season at 7-2, capturing the third seed in the tournament, averaging 25 points a game and giving up 13 points. Holy Angels likes the ground-and-pound, small ball game, they will take their time driving down the field. They will also be returning a strong crew of seniors next season including: Linebacker- <b>Alex Knoll</b>, intensity, plays each down like it will be the last one, reads keys and flows to the football. Orono Spartans The Spartans received the last home-field playoff seed, finished their season at 6-4, averaging 26 points a game and giving up 20 points a game. Orono has a pretty basic playbook, keeps it simple in order to drive the ball down the field at any pace. They will return a handful of seniors for the next season including: Defensive Lineman- <b>Danny Striggow</b>, power, drives through the blocks and finishes through the ballcarrier, also is pretty scrappy. Defensive Back/Wide Receiver- <b>Nick Ruhland</b>- speed, gets into the open field and turns on the jets, on defense, he does his job and reads the play and makes it. Mound Westonka White Hawks The White Hawks were the fifth seed in Sections, finishing the season at 6-3, averaging 27 points a game and giving up 13 points a game. Mound Westonka has an RPO offense, keeps the pass routes simple out of it when they choose to through but like their threats out of the backfield when they run. The 2019 season will almost be a complete rebuilding year as I was not able to find a returning starter. Benilde- St. Margaret's Red Knights The Red Knights had a tough regular season and had to play every Section game on the road, they were able to find a new gear and make it to the Section Finals and taking it to the SMB Wolfpack, only falling by two points. Benilde- St. Margaret's finished the season at 7-4 averaging 29 points a game while giving up 20 points a game. The Red Knights will be tough for the whole season in 2019 if there are no injuries, as they will return key players such as: Quarterback- <b>Nick Peterson</b>, field general, has the arm strength, accuracy, agility and always keeps his eyes downfield to make the big play. Offensive/Defensive Lineman- <b>Elijah Brown</b>, strength, has power and quickness off the ball, sheds blocks quickly and hits the ballcarrier with a lot of force. Richfield Spartans The Spartans are a good team with a really tough schedule stacked against them every season. Even though they are in a drought, they are still a young team, and in that sense they will return a steady crew for the 2019 season, players include: Quarterback- <b>Ryan Miles</b>, agility, primarily used as a runner, doesn't shy away from contact, a little more development and he will be a scary dual-threat Quarterback. Running Back- <b>Davion Taylor</b>, field awareness, knows where his blockers are and waits for them to develop and explodes into the open field, keeps driving his feet until brought down, usually by more than one defender. &nbsp;