State Championship Week: Dakotas Pick Em' & Key Players to Watch

DAKOTAS- This weekend is a massive weekend when it comes to high school football in the Dakotas. With this article for the Prep Redzone Dakotas subscribers, we give out our 11 picks for each state championship game across the Dakotas. Not only that, but we give you 89 players to watch that we have watched plenty of film on that in our eyes, will be impact players to hopefully lead their teams to a high school football player’s dream, to be crowned a state champion. I hope you enjoy the festivities, as I too will be in attendance at the North Dakota State Football Championship games this Friday at the FargoDome, where I will have live coverage from Friday on our Twitter (@PrepRedzoneDAK) and plenty of write-ups to come about each game I watched in Fargo! Did you know?: Dakotas State Championship Edition North Dakota: The FargoDome in Fargo, North Dakota will be the host to all four divisions on Friday. North Dakota plays their state championship games all on Friday starting with 9-man, 11B, 11A and then closing out with the grand finale, or this year I am coining it "The West Fargo Bowl" in 11AA. South Dakota: The Dakota Dome in Vermillion, South Dakota will have the kickoff party for both states as they start with the 9-man state championship games on Thursday starting with 9B, 9A, and then at night with 9AA. Friday will be very similar to Thursday in South Dakota, with 11B, 11A, 11AA. The grand finale between Brandon Valley and Harrisburg will take place on Saturday night at 7:30. It’s Time for the Prep Redzone Dakotas Pick Em’, State Championship Edition With hours and hours of film watching for now over a year now with Prep Redzone Dakotas, with watching just about all of these teams & players, we unleash our picks for the state championship finals across the Dakotas. (And yes, you can poke plenty of fun at me when I become wrong wherever that might be!) Let’s start with the analytics from my picks this year: 11-Man: 13-5 (72%) 9-Man: 5-1 (83%) Fun Fact: These will be my first picks of the season in the state of North Dakota, so with a 0-0 record on the season, it will be really awesome to figure out where we stand vs. South Dakota at the end of the season. North Dakota LaMoure/Litchville-Marion (12-0) vs. Cavalier (14-0) 9:00 AM, Friday My Prediction: LaMoure/Litchville-Marion Key Players to Watch: LLM: [player_tooltip player_id="56561" first="Colton" last="Ness"], WR/DB (2023), Brady Lettenmaier, RB (2023), Corban Potts, QB (2022) Cavalier: Brysen Cleem, QB (2022), Trevor Hinkle, LB/WR (2022), Jacob Steele LB/RB (2023) Kindred (11-1) vs. Hillsboro/Central Valley (11-1), Noon, Friday My Prediction: Hillsboro/Central Valley Key Players to Watch: Kindred: Max McQuillian, QB/DB (2022), Trey Heinrich, RB/LB (2023), Ty Roesler, LB/RB (2022) HCV: [player_tooltip player_id="151178" first="Jack" last="Paulsrud"], LB/TE (2022), Jace Leshuk, RB/LB (2022), [player_tooltip player_id="101163" first="Riley" last="Olsen"], QB/DB (2023), [player_tooltip player_id="101158" first="Cole" last="Hebl"], FB/LB (2023) Jamestown (9-2) vs. Bismarck St Marys (10-1), 2:30 PM, Friday My Prediction: Bismarck St Marys Key Players to Watch: Jamestown: Adam Kallenbach DB/WR (2022), [player_tooltip player_id="231115" first="Payton" last="Hochhalter"] QB (2023), Colton Mewes LB/TE (2023) BSM: Isaac Felche, LB/RB (2022), [player_tooltip player_id="151164" first="Brit" last="Senftner"], DB/WR (2022), Nate Fedorchak, WR (2022) West Fargo (9-2) vs. West Fargo Sheyenne (11-0), 6:30 PM, Friday My Prediction: West Fargo Sheyenne Key Players to Watch: WF: [player_tooltip player_id="56453" first="Carson" last="Hegerle"], WR/DB (2022), [player_tooltip player_id="223092" first="Josh" last="Balstad"], LB/FB (2023), [player_tooltip player_id="77454" first="Parker" last="Nelson"], RB/DB (2022), Caden Zepeda DB/WR (2022), Dorien Tarley, RB/DB (2022) WFS: [player_tooltip player_id="151175" first="Matt" last="Treib"], LB/FB (2022), [player_tooltip player_id="223084" first="Karter" last="Menz"] WR/DE (2023), Josh Henricks, FB/LB (2022), [player_tooltip player_id="119069" first="Brennan" last="Sellheim"] OL/DL (2022), [player_tooltip player_id="56479" first="Grant" last="Warkenthien"], QB/DB (2022), Kaden Rahr, RB/LB (2023) South Dakota Potter County (10-2) vs. Dell Rapids St Mary (7-3), 10:00 AM, Thursday My Prediction: Dell Rapids St. Mary Key Players to Watch: PC: Grant Luikens, QB/DB (2022), Cooper Logan, RB/LB (2022), Colt Wieseler, ATH (2022) DRSM: John Pica, G/LB (2022), Nic Gaspar, RB/OLB (2024), [player_tooltip player_id="160908" first="CJ" last="Smith"], QB/DB (2023), Gabriel Lindeman, ATH (2023) Herreid-Selby Area (12-0) vs.Howard (11-0), 2:00 PM, Thursday My Prediction: Herreid-Selby Area Key Players to Watch: HSA: [player_tooltip player_id="56549" first="Brenden" last="Begeman"], RB/DB (2023), [player_tooltip player_id="56526" first="Trey" last="Sayler"], LB/FB (2022), Trevor Gill, DB/TE (2024), [player_tooltip player_id="56535" first="Chance" last="Gregg"], OL/DL (2022), [player_tooltip player_id="56527" first="Trevor" last="Sayler"] LB/TE (2022) Howard: [player_tooltip player_id="56465" first="Jace" last="Sifore"], DE/TE (2022), John Callies, FB/LB (2022), Karsyn Feldhaus FB/CB (2024), Taiden Hoyer, QB/DB (2024), Canistota-Freeman (7-4) vs. Platte-Geddes (9-2), 7:00 PM, Thursday My Prediction: Platte-Geddes Key Players to Watch: CF: [player_tooltip player_id="160914" first="Noah" last="Kleinsasser"], RB/LB (2023), [player_tooltip player_id="205269" first="Tage" last="Ortman"], QB (2024), Isiah Robertson, RB/DB (2022), Will Ortman, WR (2023) PG: [player_tooltip player_id="149446" first="Grayson" last="Hanson"], OLB/RB (2022)- Hanson is for sure the "it" factor in this game. As the leader of the Black Panthers, and having an outstanding year even with injuries all around him he has shown why all year he’s one of the most prominent players in 9-man football in South Dakota on both sides of the football. Bridgewater-Emery-Ethan (8-3) vs. Winner (11-0), 10:00 AM Friday My Prediction: Winner Key Players to Watch: Winner: [player_tooltip player_id="77463" first="Riley" last="Orel"], RB/DB (2023), [player_tooltip player_id="93075" first="Kaden" last="Keiser"], RB/DB (2022), Joey Cole, DE (2022), [player_tooltip player_id="105505" first="Aiden" last="Barfuss"], RB (2024) BEE: [player_tooltip player_id="56448" first="Koby" last="Kayser"] RB/LB (2022), [player_tooltip player_id="93076" first="Kaden" last="Klumb"], QB (2022), [player_tooltip player_id="160934" first="Aguer" last="VanSickle"], LB/TE (2023), Sam Hofer, FS (2023) Milbank (8-3) vs. Madison (11-0), 2:00 PM Friday My Prediction: Madison Key Players to Watch: Milbank: Kaden Krause, QB (2022), [player_tooltip player_id="93094" first="Marshall" last="Voeltz"], RB/LB (2022), [player_tooltip player_id="151165" first="Connor" last="Bender"], T/MLB (2022) Madison: [player_tooltip player_id="93078" first="Nate" last="Ricke"], QB (2022), Trey Smith, LB, RB, K (2022), Bruce Galde, RB/LB (2023), Dillon Bickett, WR/DB (2022), Cam Buchholz, DL/OL (2022) Tea Area (11-0) vs. Pierre (9-2), 7:30 PM Friday My Prediction: Pierre Key Players to Watch: Pierre: [player_tooltip player_id="56570" first="Lincoln" last="Kienholz"], QB (2023), [player_tooltip player_id="223096" first="Jack" last="Merkwan"], WR (2023), Trey Lewis, RB (2024), [player_tooltip player_id="231745" first="Christian" last="Busch"], Guard (2023), [player_tooltip player_id="231746" first="Jacob" last="Mayer"], Safety (2023) Tea: Chase Van Tol, RB/LB (2023), Klayton Sattler, WR/TE (2022), [player_tooltip player_id="151300" first="Jaxon" last="Weber"], RB/CB (2022), [player_tooltip player_id="223087" first="Reis" last="Kirschenman"], DE (2023), Cael Lundin, QB (2022), [player_tooltip player_id="204775" first="Thomas" last="Ostrem"], DE/T (2022) Brandon Valley (10-1) vs. Harrisburg (11-0), 7:30 PM Saturday My Prediction: Harrisburg Key Players to Watch: H-Burg: [player_tooltip player_id="56447" first="Jacob" last="Knuth"], QB (2022), [player_tooltip player_id="56494" first="Carter" last="Bahrenfuss"] DB/WR (2022), Lincoln Carlson, WR (2022), [player_tooltip player_id="56536" first="Cade" last="Larson"], LB (2022), [player_tooltip player_id="152384" first="Tyman" last="Long"], LB (2022), [player_tooltip player_id="56546" first="Gavin" last="Ross"], RB (2023), [player_tooltip player_id="56449" first="Andrew" last="Walter"], WR (2022), [player_tooltip player_id="56475" first="Mason" last="Jacobson"], OL/DL (2022) BV: [player_tooltip player_id="56537" first="Noah" last="Thompson"], DB/ATH (2022), [player_tooltip player_id="151230" first="Peyton" last="Carroll"], WR/TE (2022), [player_tooltip player_id="205263" first="Brady" last="Koupal"], OL (2022), [player_tooltip player_id="93091" first="Ryan" last="Doll"], OLB (2022), [player_tooltip player_id="56459" first="Jordan" last="Johnson"], RB (2022), [player_tooltip player_id="101217" first="Lucas" last="Slack"], QB (2022), [player_tooltip player_id="93090" first="Sam" last="Scholten"], WR (2022), [player_tooltip player_id="77493" first="Navarro" last="Schunke"], OL (2024), Jack Thue, QB (2024)