Section 8A: First Look

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The West continues to control the East in Section 8A. Will that continue this season?</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Summer Summary</strong></h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Eastern part of Section 8A is in somewhat of a turnover.&nbsp; Cass Lake-Bena and Win-E-Mac lost pieces that have been a key part of their success for 4-5 years, but they also have a few starters back each that can score, which is more than what you can say for some others.&nbsp; Teams like Fosston and Clearbrook-Gonvick have the most back and should take a jump forward.&nbsp; But we still think the Panthers and Patriots are the favorites in the eastern half.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>As for the west they have been making all of the state trips since 2018.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Ada-Borup West (now in 6A), Badger/Greenbush-Middle River, Sacred Heart and Fertile-Beltrami have represented the group the last six years and this year we think Red Lake County is the favorite. With two all state caliber players in [player_tooltip player_id='1490631' first='Owen' last='Chervestad'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1628768' first='Connor' last='Duden'] coming back from a 25-4 team, they seem like heavy favorites. Fertile-Beltrami and Sacred Heart will contend too as they have good players back and some coming up, plus Kittson County Central was a young team along with [player_tooltip player_id='2109876' first='Ty' last='Vig'] who is a post standout, they could be very good too.&nbsp; But it seems like it's Red Lake County's turn.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Top 3 8A Players</strong> </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1490631' first='Owen' last='Chervestad'] of Red Lake County</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1628768' first='Connor' last='Duden'] of Red Lake County</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1560792' first='Preston' last='Hanson'] of Fertile-Beltrami</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Three Teams That Should Improve Their Record</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Fosston (10-16)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Clearbrook-Gonvick (7-21)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Kittson County Central (13-13)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Three Teams That Might Not Match Last Year's Win Total</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Cass Lake-Bena (21-7)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Goodridge-Grygla (20-7)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Fertile-Beltrami (27-7)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->