The Northland Preview

<p>Nevis and Cass Lake-Bena - top ten Class A teams - split the Northland Conference last year.  We explore the 2021-22 season now.  Another split? Who is the favorite?</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Conference Commentary</strong></p> <p><strong>Top Ten</strong>: Cass Lake-Bena, Nevis</p> <p>Picking between the Panthers and Tigers is tough.  We give the slight edge to Cass Lake-Bena because they one the second of the games last year.  Both teams lost a couple all league pieces but I think the loss of Derek Lindow is pry the biggest of either teams so that hurts Nevis a bit more.  These teams will still be neck and neck in the league, they will both compete for the section title (5A and 8A respectively), and both are gunning for a state title with the tools to do so.  </p> <p><strong>Compete with Most</strong>: Red Lake, Blackduck, Pine River-Backus, Northome/Kelliher</p> <p>Red Lake is going to look a bit different.  They lost the best player in the league as well as another all conference player from a 12-8 team.  Not to mention, graduation took a lot of their size away (and a player just transferred to Deer River, as did a big from Cass Lake-Bena).  They still have talent but they are likely in that group behind the leaders. Can Blackduck match last year’s two games over .500 season?  I think so.  I think they have some good young players and enough talent to stay upper half of the league.  Pine River-Backus will take a step forward, maybe a big step forward.  They have most of their talent back and should give everybody a tough game.  Northome/Kelliher isn’t to the level of some of these others but they have enough back to give teams games.  They seem kind of stuck in the same spot. </p> <p><strong>Rebuilding</strong>:  Walker-Hackensack-Akeley, Laporte</p> <p>WHA lost their best player from a 3-16 team.  The rebuild continues.  They could surprise people here and there but still an uphill battle. Laporte was winless in the league last season so it’s a start over, rebuild again this year. </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>21-22 Conference Predictions</strong></p> <ol> <li>Cass Lake-Bena</li> <li>Nevis</li> <li>Red Lake</li> <li>Pine River-Backus</li> <li>Blackduck</li> <li>Northome/Kelliher</li> <li>Walker-Hackensack-Akeley</li> <li>Laporte</li> </ol> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Preseason All Northland Conference</strong></p> <p><strong><u>First Team</u></strong></p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="958847" first="Leroy" last="Fairbanks IV"] of Cass Lake-Bena (sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="958734" first="Eddie" last="Kramer"] of Nevis (sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="1284127" first="Dominic" last="Fairbanks"] of Cass Lake-Bena (so)</p> <p>Mathias Warrington of Nevis (sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="1284165" first="Kaydin" last="Lee"] of Cass Lake-Bena (so)</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><u>Second Team</u></strong></p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="1284136" first="Gerald" last="Kingbird Jr"] of Red Lake (so)</p> <p>Oliver Stroeing of Blackduck (jr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="1284159" first="Joe" last="Houchin"] of Nevis (so)</p> <p>Brady Bristow of Pine River-Backus (sr)</p> <p>Ben Reiger of Northome/Kelliher (sr)</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><u>Third Team</u></strong></p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="1284161" first="John" last="Paul Benson"] of Nevis (so)</p> <p>Joshua Graves of Red Lake (jr)</p> <p>Jared Hamilton of Pine River-Backus (jr)</p> <p>Kainen Arp of Blackduck (jr)</p> <p>Cain Mitchell of Nevis (sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="962299" first="Rian" last="Struss"] of Pine River-Backus (jr)</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><u>Fourth Team</u></strong></p> <p>Trayvaughn Lee of Cass Lake-Bena (jr)</p> <p>Leo Kingbird of Blackduck (jr)</p> <p>Carson Travis of Pine River-Backus (jr)</p> <p>Landan Charnoski of Northome/Kelliher (sr)</p> <p>Carson Strosahl of Walker-Hackensack-Akeley (sr)</p> <p>Caine Richardson of Laporte (sr)</p>