The Arrowhead Preview

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Cherry has been the top team in the Arrowhead Conference. Can somebody knock them from the top spot? We have a look now!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Keep in mind, I am not sure if there have been changes to this league. The standings are not listed on websites like the others. I am just going off what the schools listed for the Breakdown book when it comes to the list of teams here. </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>: Cherry</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Cherry Tigers have been in the final four of the state tournament the last two seasons and they come into the 2023-24 the Class A favorite to win state. Why? They have one of the best couple players in the state in [player_tooltip player_id='1288733' first='Isaac' last='Asuma'] and they return everything from last year's 27-win team. Cherry has the ultimate goal in mind this year and that is to sweep league, section and state. And they can do it. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Top Ten in State Potential</strong>: North Woods</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>North Woods does lose five of their top eight from a 17-win team but they have their leading scorer returning along with another starter and a key reserve. This should be enough to keep them competing near the top of the league and fighting for an outside shot at the top ten if chemistry is there. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Compete with Most</strong>: Ely,  Littlefork-Big Falls</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Ely has an outstanding sophomore in [player_tooltip player_id='2121361' first='Jack' last='Davies'] who teamed with three quality seniors last year to win 20 games. Those seniors are gone and this is now Jack's team. He returns with a starter and some reserves as Ely tries to match last year's 20. Littlefork-Big Falls had a winning record last season and they bring back their two best players (as well as another starter). They are in a great position to take control of the Northern Lakes while also battling with the best here in this league. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Rebuilding</strong>: Mesabi East, International Falls, Mt Iron-Buhl, Northeast Range</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Mesabi East won only three games total last year as they are building with a good class of 2025 kids. It might be another year before they can push the better teams in the league but they should be better. International Falls lost games by nearly 50 points a night last year. They played a lot of young kids but it might take another year or two before the scores aren't ugly. Mt Iron-Buhl isn't going to rebuild in a fall to the bottom way because they do have a few players back and a JV that had an outstanding season. That said, when you have Asher Zubich for so long along with his class, you have to reset things and enter a new era. Northeast Range was winless in 13 games last season. I am not exactly sure why they only played 13 games but at 0-13 we will call them rebuilding and see where things go. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>23-24 Arrowhead Conference Predictions</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list {"ordered":true} --> <ol><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Cherry</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>North Woods</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Ely</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Littlefork-Big Falls</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Mt. Iron-Buhl</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Mesabi East</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>International Falls</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Northeast Range</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --></ol> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Preseason All Arrowhead Conference</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>First Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1288733' first='Isaac' last='Asuma'] of Cherry (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2099491' first='Jonah' last='Burnett'] of North Woods (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1579911' first='Carson' last='Brown'] of Cherry (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2121361' first='Jack' last='Davies'] of Ely (soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1579910' first='Noah' last='Sundquist'] of Cherry (jr)</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='2126128' first='Isaiah' last='Asuma'] of Cherry (fr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1601068' first='Noah' last='Asuma'] of Cherry (soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>AJ Knaeble of Littlefork-Big Falls (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Thomas Larson of Littlefork-Big Falls (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2446759' first='Hayden' last='Sampson'] of Mesabi East (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Third Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Seth Donner of Littlefork-Big Falls (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2103402' first='Andrew' last='Staples'] of Cherry (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Caid Chittum of Ely (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2109915' first='Louie' last='Panichi'] of North Woods (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hendrix Torgerson of International Falls (sr) </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Cameron Jones of Mesabi East (jr) </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Fourth Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Micaden Clines of Mt. Iron-Buhl (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Landon Ruotsalainen of Cherry (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Landin Budris of International Falls (soph) </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Erron Anderson of Ely (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Luke Will of North Woods (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Cooper Sickel of Mesabi East (jr) </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->