The Gopher Conference Preview

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hayfield and Maple River are on the thrones and that will continue. Kenyon-Wanamingo and NRHEG made a run last year and will look to take another step. Today it's the Gopher Conference Preview!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Conference Commentary</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Top Ten in State:</strong> Hayfield, Maple River</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hayfield won a state title for the second year in a row, and they have enough to make another run including last year's Class A Player of the Year in [player_tooltip player_id='962284' first='Isaac' last='Matti']. They are right there and ready to roll. Maple River is a Class AA top ten team with three returning all league players. What's even better is that one is a PG, one is a big, one is a wing, so there is experienced quality talent all over.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Compete with Most</strong>: Triton, Randolph, NRHEG, Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton, USC, WEM</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Triton and Randolph both have a few starters returning and both have a chance to push for the runner-up spot in the West. Randolph actually won the second match-up last year and has a bit more experience back at each spot. [player_tooltip player_id='1284116' first='Daxter' last='Lee'] will keep NRHEG in a good spot and there are some young guards that will step in a play good roles but with four starters graduated NRHEG won't quite be what they were, but still good. JWP losing [player_tooltip player_id='1284169' first='Landon' last='Dimler'] to a transfer to Mankato West after a 15-12 year would be close to triggering a rebuild but JWP still has starters coming back and the league is not incredibly deep so they can still win a decent amount of games. USC lost their best player but has half their line-up back including a couple starters. WEM lost seniors but they were an injured team last year so some younger guys got time. What they will be is kind of a mystery.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Rebuilding</strong>: Kenyon-Wanamingo, Bethlehem Academy, Blooming Prairie, Medford</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Kenyon-Wanamingo lost a huge senior class that was very good and the heart of the program. There are a few pieces returning to still be good but you don't lose that type of senior class and not have to rebuild some. BA won ten games last year but only four league games and they lost their best few players to graduation. They will likely take a step back. The Blossoms leaned on their best player Drew Kittelson last year a lot, and they won four games. Drew is gone so it's a rebuild. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>22-23 Conference Predictions</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Power Rankings</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list {"ordered":true} --> <ol><li>Hayfield</li><li>Maple River</li><li>Randolph</li><li>NRHEG</li><li>Triton</li><li>Kenyon-Wanagmino</li><li>Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton</li><li>USC</li><li>Waterville-Elysian Morristown</li><li>Bethlehem Academy </li><li>Blooming Prairie</li><li>Medford</li></ol> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>East</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list {"ordered":true} --> <ol><li>Hayfield</li><li>Randolph</li><li>Triton</li><li>Kenyon-Wanagmino</li><li>Bethlehem Academy</li><li>Blooming Prairie</li></ol> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>West</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list {"ordered":true} --> <ol><li>Maple River</li><li>NRHEG</li><li>Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton</li><li>USC</li><li>Waterville-Elysian Morristown</li><li>Medford</li></ol> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Preseason All Gopher Conference</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>First Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='962284' first='Isaac' last='Matti'] of Hayfield (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='962272' first='Mason' last='Schirmer'] of Maple River (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1226403' first='Ethan' last='Pack'] of Hayfield (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='962242' first='Will' last='Sellers'] of Maple River (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='962308' first='Hayden' last='Niebuhr'] of Maple River (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Second Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1284116' first='Daxter' last='Lee'] of NRHEG (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1284234' first='Zander' last='Jacobson'] of Hayfield (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Quinn Sabila of Randolph (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Memhis James of JWP (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1341718' first='Tyson' last='Cooreman'] of Randolph (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Third Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>NIck Bushlack of USC (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>AJ Higginbottom of Kenyon-Wanamingo (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2119578' first='Pierce' last='Petersohn'] of Triton (soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Sam Olson of NRHEG (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Karson Lindsay of JWP (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->