The Pine to Prairie Preview

<p>The Pine to Prairie Conference was highlighted by Mahnomen/Waubun (South) and Fertile-Beltrami and Win-E-Mac (North) last year, two of them will be state title contenders</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Conference Commentary</strong></p> <p><strong>Top Ten</strong>:  Fertile-Beltrami, Mahnomen/Waubun</p> <p>When you see the preseason rankings both Fertile-Beltrami and Mahnomen/Waubun will be listed. Both are contenders, either could earn a trip to state, either team could actually win the state title.  Both teams are coming off of great seasons and both return the vast majority of their team including all league players.   Mahnomen/Waubun defeated Fertile-Beltrami last year 81-59 in the season opener so they come in with the early edge but that was ten months ago.  </p> <p><strong>Compete with Most</strong>: Win-E-Mac, Fosston, Bagley, NCE/UH, Lake Park-Audobon, Ada-Borup-West</p> <p>Win-E-Mac was a top team a year ago but their rotation was almost entirely seniors so it’s going to be almost a fully new squad.  They are a good program so they should be solid but it’s going to be a new team. Plus [player_tooltip player_id="1284164" first="Justin" last="Courneya"] transferred to the school from Frazee.  Justin is one of the better young guards in Northern Minnesota. </p> <p>Fosston is the squad we look to as one that could make a huge jump.  They return their best players who are now juniors.  Lake Park-Audobon will improve on their 7-11 record as they have one of the best returning players in the league and he’s running their offense. </p> <p><strong>Rebuilding</strong>: Park Christian, Climax-Fisher</p> <p>Park Christian was 3-17 playing some young talent so they should take another step forward in the rebuild.  Climax-Fisher won one game a season losing each night by an average of 26 points a contest. </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>21-22 Conference Predictions</strong></p> <p><em>North</em></p> <ol> <li>Fertile- Beltrami</li> <li>Fosston</li> <li>Win-E-Mac</li> <li>Bagley</li> <li>Climax/Fisher</li> </ol> <p><em>South</em></p> <ol> <li>Mahnomen/Waubun</li> <li>Lake Park-Audubon</li> <li>Ada-Borup-West</li> <li>Norman County East/Ulen-Hitterdal</li> <li>Park Christian</li> </ol> <p><em>Pine to Prairie Power Rankings</em></p> <ol> <li>Mahnomen/Waubun</li> <li>Fertile-Beltrami</li> <li>Fosston</li> <li>Win-E-Mac</li> <li>Lake Park-Audubon</li> <li>Ada-Borup-West</li> <li>Norman County East/Ulen-Hitterdal</li> <li>Bagley</li> <li>Climax/Fisher</li> <li>Park Christian</li> </ol> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Preseason All Pine to Prairie Conference</strong></p> <p><strong><u>First Team</u></strong></p> <p>Loden Clark of Mahnomen-Waubun (sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="1284126" first="Derek" last="Sorenson"] of Fertile-Beltrami (so)</p> <p>Tanner Pazdernik of Mahnomen-Waubun (sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="1284094" first="Caiden" last="Swenby"] of Fertile-Beltrami (so)</p> <p>Rylin Petry of Fertile-Beltrami (sr)</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><u>Second Team</u></strong></p> <p>Trent Bjerke of Lake Park-Audubon (sr)</p> <p>Cameron Spaeth of Ada-Borup-West (so)</p> <p>Aaron Norland of Fosston (jr)</p> <p>Rolando Ellis of Mahnomen-Waubun (sr)</p> <p>Everett Balstad of Fertile-Beltrami (sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="1284164" first="Justin" last="Courneya"] of Win-E-Mac (so)</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><u>Third Team</u></strong></p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="1144131" first="Connor" last="Nelson"] of Norman County East/Ulen-Hitterdal (sr)</p> <p>Cullen Norland of Fosston (jr)</p> <p>Darren Skala of Fosston (jr)</p> <p>Sam Zima of Mahnomen-Waubun (sr)</p> <p>Keian Wibbels of Norman County East/Ulen-Hitterdal (sr)</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>