Defending the Title- Who’s Back (ND)

Here’s the North Dakota branch of the stories. I’m unfamiliar with the ND football landscape so this will be a good first story for North Dakota. Like the SD and MN stories, I will be mentioning this year’s State Champions as well as their key players leaving and key players returning. All teams players will be mentioned by the amount of film I can find on them. I will also do reports on each team mentioned for a more in depth analysis. <em>Class AAA- Bismarck Century Patriots (10-0)</em> The Patriots had the perfect season this year. They had a mix of close games and blowouts, ultimately just finding a way to win. They have a good mix of Seniors and underclassmen, which means they’ll have a good chance to have a good season next year. Key Players Lost: <strong>OL [player_tooltip player_id="56229" first="Andrew" last="Leingang"], RB/LB [player_tooltip player_id="56271" first="Cade" last="Garcia"], OL Hunter Harvey, TE/DE [player_tooltip player_id="56303" first="Thomas" last="Jeske"], WR/DB Ian Ely.</strong> Key Players Returning: <strong>DT- [player_tooltip player_id="56455" first="Lucas" last="Schweigert"]</strong> <strong>FB- [player_tooltip player_id="56488" first="Jaden" last="Braun"]</strong> <strong>DB- Jacob Renz</strong> <strong>LB- Jacob Bosley</strong> <strong>RB- Peyton Arndt</strong> <em>Class AA- Bismarck St. Mary’s Saints (11-0)</em> St. Mary’s showed a strong performance this year, pitching five shutouts and only giving up 25 points in the regular season. There was three games this year that the scores were 10 points or under, the last two playoff games being a part of that stat. Also always finding ways to win in key situations in big games. Key Players Lost: <strong>QB Jackson Uhler, WR Cullen Curl, OL Zach Haas.</strong> Key Players Returning: <strong>LB- Brit Senftner</strong> <strong>DL- Jack Weikum</strong> <strong>LB- Isaac Felchle</strong> <em>Class A- Langdon Area/Munich Cardinals (13-0)</em> Langdon Area/Munich showed that they were the team to beat in Class A. They put up over 30 points in all of their games this season, the closest game they had was two touchdowns, the State Championship game. Key Players Lost: <strong>QB/DB [player_tooltip player_id="56256" first="Simon" last="Romfo"], RB/LB [player_tooltip player_id="56315" first="Grant" last="Romfo"].</strong> Key Players Returning: <strong>WR/DB- [player_tooltip player_id="101169" first="Markus" last="Kingzett"]</strong> <strong>DE- [player_tooltip player_id="56563" first="Jack" last="Romfo"]</strong> <strong>QB/DB- Rayce Worley</strong> <em>Class 9-man- Linton/HMB Lion- Tigers (9-2)</em> Linton/Hazelton-Moffit-Braddock had no shortage of scoring this season, dropping their only games in high scoring, shootouts. Playoffs were also no different, putting up many points and making enough stops to be crowned the 9-man State Champions. Key Players Lost: <strong>QB/DB Lucas Schumacher</strong> Key Players Returning: <strong>FB/LB Dean Vetter</strong>